Devotional Thought of the Day:

⁵  Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and ⁶  my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you— even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar. ⁷  I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me. ⁸  But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. Psalm 42:5-8 (NLT)

²  “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the LORD has punished her twice over for all her sins.” Isaiah 40:2 (NLT)

¹⁵  Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Romans 12:15 (NLT)

I sit here in my office, as prayer requests continue to role in.  There are so many people out there who are hurting, grieving, struggling.  There are families, torn apart, not just by the loss of a loved one, but by the turmoil that was anticipated, the turmoil there just below the boiling point,

I am sad, discouraged, grieving with those who grieve. Yesterday was hard, as we prepared for our serving, celebrating Christ’s last supper, the night when thoughts of death oppressed Him, our Lord. Oppressed Him as He looked upon the disciples, who hadn’t learned the lessons of serving yet. They argued about who would be first in the Kingdom. (after Jesus of course!)  Oppressed as He considered Judas, who would betray Him with a kiss, and Peter, who would betray him not once, but three times. Considering the agony of the garden, where his closest friends couldn’t pray with Him one hour, even as many refuse to do so today.   Considering that pain adds to the pain I am enduring, as tears come too often, as I consider the trauma of friends, the pains, the battles, the grief.

it seems ironic that this day, the day when He would die, when we celebrate His death, I would find joy and relief.

I came across the verses above, these incredible words of promise.  That God’s love would pour over us like the constant swell of the ocean’s waves. That the days of dealing with our sin, and the brokenness that it thrusts upon us are over. Christ has been victorious, over my sin, over the bondage of guilt and shame that Satan used to oppress us.

It will be nearly 48 hours before this sinks in, and I like that.   I need to spend some time in the awe of Christ dying for me.  You should as well.

He died for us.  Those nails that physically held Him to the cross didn’t bind Him there as strongly as the love that drove Him there… and again the words of Hebrews comes blaring back into my ears….

For the JOY set before Him!

The Joy we know, that we need to know, even as we feel discouraged, tired, betrayed; as we know grief, and pain,

and LOVE.

May you find rest and joy in this moment of contemplating His death, the death He embraced for you. AMEN!