Author: Rick Schupp

Read: Isaiah 55:1-6

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. ³ Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

⁶ “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.

During Lent, Isaiah 53 is a passage we often focus on. In it Isaiah speaks the word of the Lord looking forward to the Messiah coming and dying for the iniquities and transgressions of his people. Here in Isaiah 55, he invites us to share in the blessings of the Messiah’s work.

God’s invitation is given to two groups of people. In verse 1, he invites “everyone who thirsts…who has no money.” God invites the thirsty and the poor to come to him. They represent people who have thirst in their souls. They feel dry. Dead. Empty. Dissatisfied. They know there is more to life and they can’t get to it.

God invites the thirsty; the ones who have no money; no strength; only a longing for something more. Come. Come in your poverty and your longing and find in me what your soul desires.

The second group is also thirsty, but they have resources. In verse 2, they spend their money, their energy, their time seeking something, but it never satisfies. They buy bread, that isn’t bread. They work and it’s never enough. These are people who keep striving for meaning; for purpose; for something elusive and at the end, their hearts are still empty; their souls are still dry. They may have all the bells and whistles; all the things the world says makes them something; and yet there is a chasm of longing still in their souls.

Two kinds of people – the thirsty who have and the thirsty who don’t. One thinks they are self-sufficient; the other knows they are spiritually bankrupt. Where do you see yourself? We all fit in one or the other group.

God invites us to come to the waters. He says, “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Water, wine, and milk. Three beverages. One refreshes. One invigorates. One nourishes. Water restores our souls (as we saw in Psalm 23). Wine revives us and gives us energy. Milk gives us nutrients which strengthen.

One pastor writes, “Verse 1 says is that God is willing to revive us from the heat of Death Valley with the miracle of his water; and make us strong and healthy and stable with the miracle of his milk; and then give us endless and ever-fresh exhilaration with the miracle of his wine.”

God calls to us. He says, “Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” God offers to us food that will satisfy our deepest hunger; drink that will satisfy our most extreme thirst. It is good; it is rich. It satisfies and there is an abundance of it!

Then in verse 3 God says, “Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.” God is the only one who can satisfy our soul; our heart’s deepest desires. He is the only one who can sustain us. David wrote, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26). God is the one who supplies all our needs from his riches (Philippians 4:19). God is the one who strengthens us with power to endure with joy (Colossians 1:11).

How do we experience this blessing? John Piper points out that there are twelve commands in these three verses. Three times we are called to listen carefully. Then, we are told to 1) Come; 2) Buy; 3) Eat; and 4) Enjoy.
Take time to reflect:

1) Come. Do you feel distant from God? Do you long for more than what you’re experiencing with him? Draw near. Consider the pattern of your relationship with him and press in for more. What’s one thing this week you could do to draw nearer to God?

2) Buy. Have you drawn near but are holding back? You are still considering what to do. There is no charge. The price is free. But you must receive the water, the wine, and the milk by faith. Jesus paid the price at the cross, and now we can take and drink freely from the blessings God offers. Are you all in for Jesus? Where can you find more of him in your day?

3) Eat. Have you said yes to Jesus? Have you trusted in him and “bought” the water, wine and milk? You need to eat/drink. You need to consume it; to experience him. It isn’t enough to “know” about him. How are you pursuing Jesus? Is he inviting you to something more?  

4) Enjoy. If you have “eaten”, you’ve pressed in for more and more of Jesus; now you can rest. Enjoy. Delight yourself in your Lord. Join the psalmist in saying, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

Read: Psalm 23

¹ The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. ³ He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousnessfor his name’s sake. ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ⁶ Surelygoodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

There are experiences in life that turn us upside down. Events that are thrust upon us that shake us to the core. Even things we plan for can surprise us in how they hit us in unexpected ways and places.

These experiences can be incredibly disorienting. Losing a spouse, a parent, or a best friend and suddenly having a huge hole in our hearts. Getting laid off, fired, retiring, or quitting and instantly losing a title or role that we’d worn as a badge with pride. Watching a child leave for college (or kindergarten!); walk away from the Lord and us; or slipping away through an illness or accident and leaving a chasm where our parenting used to be.

Losses of these kinds stir up all sorts of questions, but perhaps the most disorienting of all is, “Who am I?” I thought I was a spouse, parent, child, pastor, engineer, coach…fill-in-the-blank. What am I? Who am I? Where do I go and what do I do to find out?

I wonder what life experiences led David to write the twenty-third psalm. Certainly, he had served as a shepherd and was very familiar with such a lifestyle. But what had happened that caused him to view himself as a sheep in need of someone to lead him. He was a king! He was a mighty soldier! He was a great leader! He was even called “a man after God’s heart.”

But David also knew hardship. He was chased and hunted by King Saul who wanted to kill him. He had children who were messed up and made horrible choices – including trying to overthrow his reign. And he committed horrible sin by committing adultery, trying to cover it up, and then having a man killed.

Through all of this, David rooted his identity in his relationship to God. He wrote seventy-three psalms – nearly half of them – pouring out his heart to God. He knew that the Lord was his strength; his rock; his deliverer. He knew that any blessing he had come from God.

“The Lord is my shepherd” – A sheep is bought at a price or bred and raised from a small lamb. David doesn’t say the Lord will be his shepherd if he does certain things; he doesn’t say the Lord is his shepherd except in certain conditions. There is a quiet confidence. He is a shepherd.

And he is my shepherd. He is not some nebulous shepherd to the masses (well he is, but that’s not how David knew him). He is a shepherd who cares for me. He watches over me. He preserves me. The personal care and concern. The beauty of this deep love. David found comfort and security in the thought that God cares for him like a shepherd cares for his sheep.

Like David, we need to find our identity not in the roles that can be lost or shaken or changed – parent, child, success, employee, owner, husband, wife, friend. We need a shepherd. All we have, ultimately, comes from our shepherd. He is the one who cares for us. He is the one who takes us to the green pastures and the still waters. He restores our souls.

When all around us is chaos and upside down, he is the one who is the same always. He is the one who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. He is the one who supplies all our needs that we might not want. He is our shepherd.

We need not fear death; we need not fear evil. Our shepherd is with us. His presence – the One who is Lord of all and who loves me and who does not abandon me – is constant. Even when the Lord, my shepherd, disciplines me; when he pokes and prods with his rod and staff; I know it is for my own good. His discipline, his redirection, his correction is a comfort to me.

There is an invitation in this psalm. We are invited to know God as our shepherd; to experience the intimacy, love, care, guidance, discipline and reward of the one who is Lord and shepherd. He promises blessing – a table set for us; a place to dwell; goodness and mercy to follow wherever we go. We may not understand who we are or where we fit from outside factors, but we can know with certainty that we are His. His child; his treasure; his sheep.

When our life is turned upside down; when we experience loss or simply find ourself disoriented and feeling lost, let us look to our shepherd. Let us look to the Lord who is always at our side. We shall not want. We will find rest and restoration for our soul.

Take time to reflect:

When have you felt disoriented or turned upside down? What did you do? What brought you comfort?

When you think of God as your shepherd, what is stirred in your soul? If a sheep could speak to its shepherd, what would it say or ask? What would you like to say or ask your shepherd? Take time to pour out your thoughts and questions to him!

Read Psalm 23 again. What comfort do you find in these verses? What encouragement? Do you sense God drawing your attention to a particular phrase or thought? Take time to ponder that. What is your shepherd saying to you today?

Read: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Years ago, the team leader of our church planting team in Jordan received a call from a satellite television ministry asking if we would follow up on a person who had asked for more information about Jesus. There was a young twenty-something man and an older sixty-something man who had each asked for a Bible and a visit to discuss Jesus.

Conventional wisdom would say he should choose the younger man for the visit. A young man was more likely to be open to new ideas and perhaps more willing to change his beliefs. But as our team leader prayed, he sensed God nudging him to follow up with the older man.

He went to visit this man in his home in a conservative part of the city. He expected it would be a Nicodemus-like visit (one-to-one and secretive). When he walked in there were thirteen people in the room. Being a conservative area, it was customary that Muslim women would be in separate rooms from the men. But there were both men and women there.

The man began his story. He had put his faith in Jesus after watching different Christian programs on satellite TV. He’d gotten ahold of a Bible and had been reading it. Everything he read, shared with his family. The people gathered with him were his wife and children and their spouses. All of them had believed in Jesus too!

Before our friend could ask any questions the man went on to explain that everything he taught his family, they shared with others. They had seen another thirty-five people choose to follow Jesus from their witness and study! And that wasn’t all! Those thirty-five had been sharing what they learned with others and were meeting with twenty-five more who had believed and were following Jesus.

Our friend was stunned. He had gone to this meeting expecting to meet a man who was curious about Jesus. Instead he found that God had already begun a movement of the Holy Spirit! Over the next many months, God would add exponentially to the number of people following Christ as a result of this family’s witnessing.

What would have happened if our team leader had followed conventional wisdom? I imagine someone else would have eventually found this man and visited him, but we would have missed out on being a part of what God wanted to do. We would have missed out on an outpouring of the Holy Spirit unlike anything we had seen before. It was something we had prayed for many times, and we were blessed to be witnesses to God’s answer!

Samuel was sent to find a new king since God had rejected Saul after his disobedience. As Jesse’s sons were paraded before him, Eliab, Abinadab, Shammah and four others pass before him. Each one looked like a leader. Each one appeared to be the one. But the Lord rejected each of them.

More important than appearance, God looks at the heart. He looks for a person who is available and teachable. He looks for a person who is humble and trusting.

Take time to reflect:

When you are faced with a decision, what do you consider? How open are you to God steering you away from conventional wisdom?

Why does God look at the heart? What can we look at that would help us see the heart and not just appearance?

Do you focus more on your own outward appearance more than your inner life? David was called “a man after God’s own heart.” How do you cultivate a heart like that?

This week pause for a few minutes in a quiet place. Take three deep breaths. Ask God to take a good look at you. Ask him what does he see? Wait a few minutes in a posture of quiet listening. What do you sense him saying? Where do you sense an invitation from him? How will you respond?

Finish by thanking God for the work of His Holy Spirit in your life and the promise that he will bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6)!

Read: Jeremiah 2:4-13

¹² Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, ¹³ for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

In Old Testament Israel, water was an incredibly valuable resource. A cistern was an artificial reservoir which was dug in the earth or carved into the rock to collect and store water. Cisterns were very important in the land of Israel because of the long dry season and the relatively few natural springs.

Imagine going to your cistern and discovering that it was cracked! A broken cistern was practically worthless. Cracked rock or crumbling masonry could hold only a small quantity of water and what it held was usually dirty. Collecting and storing water in a broken cistern was futile. It amounted to little and what little there was tasted terrible.

Ideally, you would live near a spring, but that was rare. A spring was far better than a cistern. It’s fresh, running water was plentiful and tasted much more refreshing. If you had a choice between the spring or the cistern, you’d always choose the spring.

In Jeremiah 2, God says the people of Israel have done the spiritual equivalent of choosing a cistern over a fresh spring. They had turned away from the living God and were doing their own thing. They were no longer putting God first, but seeking after their own interests.

God offered them the spiritual equivalent of a fresh spring. He offered a fountain of living waters which would satisfy their souls and provide their deepest needs. And they knew it! They had been taught that what God offered was life giving and would satisfy their souls.

Yet they still chose to make their own way. They chose to make their own cisterns. Not only was the water bad, but they were broken cisterns. They had foolishly run turned away from their God and followed the false gods of the nations around them.

Take time to reflect:

Do you think people today are guilty of the same mistake? Have you wandered from the Living Water after another source, hoping it can satisfy? Have you built your own cistern?

There are all sorts of things we might try to build into our own cistern. We might try building a career and success as our cistern. We might use recreation and entertainment to fill that space. We might spend time seeking information through the Internet or newspapers and magazines. We might seek to build our cistern out of our family or friends or marriage.

Any cistern we might build is broken. Complete fulfillment and satisfaction can only be found in the fountain of Living Water. It can only be found in our God.

Where are you seeking to satisfy your spiritual thirst? If it’s in anything other than a relationship with God through Jesus, it’s a broken cistern. Repent and ask God to help you drink deeply from his spring of living water!

²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

John 14:27

Many of us are wondering what on earth is going on right now. The Coronavirus scare seems to be growing exponentially each day. Maybe we’ve sensed we’re in the last days for some time, but now it seems imminent!

Don’t forget, God is in control. Not even a sparrow can fall from the sky apart from our heavenly Father (Matthew 10:29). He is the creator and sustainer of life. Even when everything around us seems to be changing, he is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

God is still good. He does not fail. The promises he’s made, he will keep. We can look back over our lives; we can look back over history; and we can affirm that the God in whom we trust has never failed.

Stay grounded in Jesus. Even as the world around us is panicking and wanting to pull us down with it, we have the chance to show something different. Fear and anxiety spread even quicker than a virus. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take precautions, it simply means Jesus is with us even as we do.

Peter wrote that believers should be ready to give a reason for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15). This presupposes we have hope even at times that are most stressful and in full crisis mode. We need to root ourselves – by prayer, the word, community – in Jesus. May the world see the hope we have because we know and love the Lord of all!

In these days of uncertainty, let’s remind ourselves – and one another – constantly of God’s goodness and faithfulness. Let’s pray for the peace that surpasses understanding; the peace Jesus promised to his disciples. Jesus was on his way to the Father. It was the night he would be arrested and within twenty-four hours he would be laying in a tomb. Though their hearts would be troubled, they could trust in him.

We can too. Though our hearts be troubled; though the world around us seems to crumble; though all around us is fear and anxiety; we have the hope that death has been defeated. We have the hope that by Christ’s wounds, we are healed. We have the promise that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God.

Take time to reflect:

What kinds of things cause you to feel fearful or anxious? List them and see if there is a common theme or connection between them. Are there any truths you know about God that speak to this?

Make a list of ways God has answered prayer in your life. What are times you’ve seen him “show up”? How has he provided for you? Where have you seen his love?

Take time to tell God how you’re feeling about things going on around you. Ask him to help you remember his grace and faithfulness in your life and to stir up more and more hope for what is to come.

Read: Numbers 21:4-9

⁴ From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵ And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” ⁶ Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ⁷ And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

I once heard a story of a woman who had been asked by her husband’s doctor to come it to see her. He explained that her husband had a rare condition that was often fatal if not treated properly. She asked what could be done. The doctor instructed her, “Well, he needs plenty of sleep, so let him sleep as late as he needs to each day. He will need plenty of good nutrition, so you’ll have to cook him three big, healthy meals each day. He shouldn’t have too much stress, so he won’t be able to help much around the house for a while. He may experience aches and need a massage each evening. If you can do all of that for him, I think he has an excellent chance at recovery.”

The woman began sobbing and was obviously distraught. The doctor asked her, “What’s wrong? Your husband will get better if you follow my instructions.” She answered, “I’m going to miss him so much.”

Israel is getting close to entering the Promised Land. When they came to Edom, the Edomites refused to let them pass through their land, As a result, the trip grew longer and the people became impatient. In their frustration, the new generation repeated one of their parents’ mistakes: They began grumbling and complaining about the trip and about the food and water. They cry out against God and Moses, “Why did you bring us here to die?”

In response to their sin, God sent poisonous serpents into their midst. The people come to their senses and realize they’ve sinned and beg Moses to pray for them; which he does. In the end, God gives them a specific plan for how they can be healed from a snake bite. Moses puts a bronze serpent on a pole and puts it in the midst of the people. If a person is bit, he or she must look at the bronze serpent and they will live. But if a person refused to look, they would die.

On that day there were probably those who were bit and quickly ran to look upon the bronze serpent. Others may have thought, I will do it when I finish with my work. Others may have thought, I don’t think I need to look, I looked before. And still others may have thought, it won’t matter if I look or not. What good is a bronze serpent? While some looked, others were like the woman in the story; unwilling to follow the instructions given.

Jesus, when he spoke to Nicodemus about eternal life and being born of the Spirit told him, “¹⁴ As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” We must recognize the poison of sin in our souls and look to the cross, trusting in Jesus who died to bring us forgiveness and life.

The people of Israel kept that bronze snake. In 2 Kings 18:4 we read that when he became king, Hezekiah “broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).” They had taken a symbol intended to remind they of God’s grace and forgiveness and turned it into an idol.

While I doubt we are in danger today of making the cross an idol and worshiping it, I wonder if we forget that it should daily prompt us to seek God’s face that we might live and walk in his forgiveness. Our sins are forgiven, yet if we do not regularly take time to search our hearts and confess our sins, they can create distance in our relationship with God. Sin can keep us from sensing the prompting of God’s Spirit like a callus can harden and keep us from feeling pain.

We need to follow God’s instructions to look to the cross for forgiveness and life. We need to keep the cross before us each day, not letting sin take root in our hearts. We are forgiven in Christ! The penalty has been paid! Now we can walk in it and enjoy intimacy with our heavenly Father!

Take time to reflect:

Do you have a regular pattern of self-examination and confession? If not, take time right now to invite God to show you areas of sin in your life that need to be confessed.

It’s easy to carry guilt around when we come face-to-face with our sin, remember to also hear the words of God through John, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

The people of Israel often grumbled and complained about life’s circumstances. Take time to thank God for his work in your life. See if you can list ten specific things for which you’re thankful. A thankful heart can keep us from doubting God’s goodness and wisdom!

Read: Micah 7:18-20

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. ¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. ²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

As a child, our family always took a summer vacation. For two weeks in July or August, we piled into our green Ford station wagon and hit the road. My dad would usually try to drive all night so the kids would sleep and not be antsy, but there was always a part of the drive during daylight hours.

I remember looking at the highway and seeing shimmering pools of water ahead. Yet, when we got there the water had magically evaporated. How did that happen? Finally, I asked my parents where the pools went. When they finally understood what I was talking about, they explained the concept of a “mirage” – an optical illusion that made it look like there was water on a hot road, but wasn’t really there. It was actually caused by the refraction of light from the sky by heated air.

Sin is a mirage. It isn’t caused by light and heated air, but it is an illusion. It gives the appearance of being beautiful and fun and just what we want or need, but it kills and robs and destroys.

Time and time again, the people of Israel ran after false gods. No matter how many times God rescued them; no matter how many times God delivered them; they kept running after false gods. The allure of the shiny, shimmering sin seems so inviting, yet never truly satisfies.

“Who is a God like you?” It is a question that expects the answer, “No one!” There is no one who comes close to the true God. There is no one who can match his perfect, holy character; no one who can match his power and the magnificent deeds he has done; no one who keeps his promises always. The more we know God, the more we should trust him. The better we know God’s promises, the more we see God’s faithfulness, the more peace we have when things go sideways.

Micah’s message to Israel came at a time when everything appeared hopeless from a human perspective. Yet, Micah trusted the God who pardons iniquity and passes over trespasses. He had hope in a God who does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love; who will again have compassion on us.

During Lent, as we take time to reflect on our lives and allow the Holy Spirit to show us areas where we’ve pursued the mirage of sin and missed the real thing God has for us, we have to take responsibility. We can’t just bury our sin or sweep it under the rug and pretend like it’s not there. We have to repent – to call sin what it is, ask God’s forgiveness, thank him that in Jesus we have it, and ask for the grace to live rightly.

John wrote, ⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  The blood of Jesus has purchased our forgiveness. When we confess our sin and ask forgiveness, he promises we have it!

In fact, in verse 19 we read, he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Jesus “treads” on our sins. He subdues them. He conquers them. It no longer has power over us. He casts them into the depths of the sea.

Walter Kaiser writes,:

The last three verses of this book (Micah 7:18-20) are linked with the book of Jonah for the afternoon reading in the synagogue on Yom Kipper, the “Day of Atonement.” Once every year, on Ros Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the orthodox Jew goes to a stream or river and symbolically empties his sins from his pockets into the water as he recites Micah 7:18–20. This is the Tashlich service, named after the word “You will cast.” (shalak) It symbolizes the fact that God can and will take our sins, wash them down the streams of running water and bury them deep in the depths of the ocean. God not only forgives our sins; He also forgets them. If some object that God cannot forget our sins if He is omniscient, let it be remembered that what He does when He forgets our sins is remember them against us no more.

God loves us. He longs to have our relationship with him restored to the intimacy it was intended to have. The blood of Jesus brings the forgiveness and the forgetfulness we need to be able to start each day – and many times each day – afresh.  As John also wrote, ⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

Sin is a mirage. It looks shiny and satisfying but is empty and harsh. Though our sin be great; God’s love is greater! Who is like our God? No one!

Take time to reflect:

Do you ever feel like you aren’t good enough for God? Do you feel like you’re trapped in sin and defeated in a never-ending pattern?

Take time to think about the things we learn about God in these verses. He is a God who:

• Pardons
• Passes over my weaknesses
• Withholds His anger
• Shows mercy
• Demonstrates compassion
• Conquered the power of sin
• Casts my sin into the depths of the sea

As you look at that list, which speaks the most to you today? Take time to talk to God about it, giving thanks and asking him to help you draw closer to him!

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

What embarrasses you? When have you felt ashamed about something?

Years ago, Angie and I joined the church we’d been attending. The senior pastor was introducing all of the new members to the congregation (of nearly a thousand people). He knew me and mentioned I was in seminary at the time. Wanting to say something about Angie (who was in medical school at the time), he said she was working on her “PHT degree” which he explained was “putting hubby through”. People who knew us gasped (didn’t he know Angie was in medical school? Yes, but in the moment, he forgot).

That probably would have been embarrassing for him had it not gotten worse. He went on to another young woman, Kirstin, and as he introduced her, he asked if she was “with child”. She was not! I’m not sure who was more embarrassed – that pastor or poor Kirstin!

The message of the gospel is foolishness to the world. We don’t like being told we’re spiritual failures who can’t be good enough for God. We don’t like the idea that we can’t save ourselves. That kind of message is fine for other people, but I can take care of myself.

We don’t want to be told we are wicked; that we deserve wrath; that our best actions are like filthy rags. And yet, Paul writes in Ephesians 2, we all “were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind (Ephesians 2:1-3). We didn’t have a little sin problem, we were dead!

People don’t like to be told they have a problem. They don’t like being told they aren’t good enough. When we share the message of the gospel, it sounds crazy to people. And yet, it is the wisdom of God and the power of God. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1:18). And in the passage above from Romans 1 as well.

There are many verses I love in the Bible, but my two favorite words are “But God.” We were objects of wrath; we were dead in our sin; we were lost and without hope…⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

We need to remind ourselves each day of the beauty of the gospel. We are greater sinners than we can possibly understand; but we are loved by a God with love that is so much more than anything we can ever imagine. John Newton, the ex-slave trader who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace, wrote, “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”

We are great sinners; Christ is a great savior! Let us rejoice in the message of salvation – foolishness to the world; but the power of God to us who believe!

Take time to reflect:

Have you ever felt ashamed or embarrassed by the gospel?

How do you understand your heart condition? When you read Paul’s words in Ephesians, do you see yourself in those words?

How has God transformed you since the first day you believed? How have you seen the power of the gospel in your life?

Take a few moments to reflect on where your heart and life still need transformation. Ask God to continue the good work he has begun in you and promises to bring to completion in the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).

Read: Genesis 12:1-3 

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Living overseas for many years, from time-to-time people would send us packages and there would be treats for our family. Often our older two children were very protective of what they received. They weren’t exactly selfish – if we asked them to share with the others, they would – but they were reluctant to share their bounty with someone else.

For our son Jonathan, it was different. Part of his joy in receiving the gift was sharing it with others. He’d go around and offer each of us a piece or a bite of whatever he’d received – without being told to share! He loved blessing others with the blessings he had.

God has a similar desire for us. He blesses us – not simply for our sake – but in part so we will turn around and bless others. Someone has said, “The gospel comes to us because it’s on its way to someone else.” The blessings we receive are intended to be passed on to bless others.

In Genesis, God makes promises that reveal his purposes in the world and for our lives as well. His promises show us what is important to him. His promises help us understand what he wants.

For example, in Genesis 1:27-28, God created Adam and Eve. We read that he made them in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Then he gave them the command to, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.

Even before sin had entered the world, God reveals his plan that the earth would be filled with men and women who would give him glory and honor and worship. He wants Adam and Eve to have lots of children who will fill the earth. He wants more and more worshipers to enjoy creation and to give him glory. He had a plan for his glory to cover all the earth.

Later, in the days of Noah, things became so sinful and wicked that God sends a flood and destroys humankind. He spares Noah and his family. After the flood, when Noah and his clan are back on dry ground, we read in Genesis 9:1: And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

It’s the same command God gave Adam and Eve. Fill the earth with people who will walk with me and worship me. God’s purpose had not changed!

Sadly, we know that, once again, the people don’t obey! We get to Genesis 11 and we discover that the people of the earth have one language and they are all settling in one place. We read in verse 4, ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

Instead of obeying God’s command to fill the earth with worshipers, they gather in one place and seek to make a name for themselves. They do not fill the earth and they do not seek God’s glory. They gather in one place and seek their own.

This time, in response, God doesn’t destroy humankind and start over again. Instead, he creates a people, a nation, that will be his missionary nation. His missionary family that he will use to reach the peoples of the earth.

God speaks to a man named Abram – later he will be called Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 above. In these three verses, God’s purpose is once again affirmed as he makes a promise to God in what we call “The Abrahamic Covenant.”

In verse 1 we see God’s command: Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” God commands Abram to leave his home and go to an unspecified location. Abram obeys God’s command.

In verses 2 and 3, we see God’s promise: ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse…

Abraham, I’m blessing you, but I’m doing it for a reason. I have a plan. I’m blessing you so that you will be a blessing. You will be a light and a conduit for my love and blessing. It doesn’t end with you. It won’t even end with your offspring. My promise reveals a bigger purpose.

In the second part of verse 3, God reveals to Abraham that his promise of blessing will lead to his purpose. God’s purpose: …in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Abraham, I’m blessing you so that one day all the nations of the world will be blessed. I’m blessing you so that through you and ultimately through your offspring, all the peoples and nations and language will be blessed.

By revealing his purpose in a promise, God shows that his mission is not based on us; it isn’t based on any one person or derailed by our sin; and it doesn’t depend on our strength or ability to carry it out. It is God’s purpose and God’s promise and it will not fail.

Later in Galatians and Romans, we will discover that the blessing God gives is justification by faith. Abraham believed God in Genesis 12 and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now, all who trust in Christ (Abraham’s offspring) and accept his work on the cross share in that blessing. The righteousness of Jesus becomes our righteousness. God blessed Abraham so we could be blessed.

We need to recognize that God wasn’t fulfilling his purpose and his promise through Abraham alone. It was through a family. It was through Abraham’s descendants. Ultimately, it comes through Jesus and when we have faith in him, through us to everyone else.

The gospel comes to us because it’s on its way to someone else. Like Abraham, we are blessed to be a blessing. We have been forgiven and made holy and called to take the love of God to all peoples.

Take time to reflect:

How has God blessed you?

What have you done with your blessings? Have you kept them for yourself? Wished there were more? Complained they weren’t like other people’s? Blessed others?

Ask God to show you ways to be a blessing to people around during Lent. Resolve to obey.

Ask God if there is a way you could be a blessing to the nations during Lent. What might that look like? Will you try?