Wednesday - First Week in Lent
In this time of pandemic, we have become increasingly aware of the fragility of life as human beings. One thing we might learn in these difficult times is the need to comprehend the necessity of Jesus’ power in our world. More so, it urges us to witness and respond to the brilliant beauty of God’s power and love. All creation shouts the humbling and eye opening truth that we heard so loudly a week ago: we are “dust, and to dust we shall return!” Our lives are marked by the sweat of the brow and toiling of the soil; the same soil from which we came and will return. Yet all this was necessary for the glory of God we find leading up to his resurrection.
When Job underwent great suffering for a time he was given the opportunity to have his heart and eyes opened to hear and receive from the Lord. When God revealed but a bit of his glory to Job (Job 41), the response from Job is sobering and perhaps what we would expect to see in ourselves upon hearing the voice of God. His ears had heard before but but now his eyes have also seen. The response from Job produces for us an image of naked awe before God: “I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Many of us have moments where we might be able to relate to Job, falling flat on our faces in awe of the glory of our God. We know we are underserving of His grace. Yet, like the ancient Israelites, even with this understanding, we too quickly redirect the praise that rightfully belongs to God the Creator to ourselves, the ones God created by seeking glory for our selves. This is what Jesus encouraged his followers to avoid. He did not want them behaving like some of the Pharisees of their time who preferred to enjoy the achievement of their own adoration.
Jesus knew how easy it was for humans to hunger after their own glory; so much so that he continually reminded his closest followers how the “least of these” was greatest in the kingdom and, to be his disciples, they should become like these little children - full of awe for their creator. As Christ was not only speaking to followers in his time but to us as well, we must continually remind ourselves that giving God glory is for our own good!
What we often fail to comprehend is that God’s glory and our own satisfaction go hand in hand. The more time we spend in the Word, the more we understand that we are dust and that our life itself a witness to God’s abundant glory and we have no need to build ourselves up - it is God who does that.
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