One Word

Today’s Lent reading comes from Numbers 21:4-9. I must admit that it has been a very long time since I read a passage from Numbers! But the passage very quickly became significant to me. Before I share about that part, I want to share with you something I read not long ago. It’s part of a letter Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his brother-in-law in 1936. I share it because what he describes in his letter is connected to my experience today as I read this passage.

One cannot simply read the Bible, like other books. One must be prepared really to enquire of it. Only thus will it reveal itself. Only if we expect from it the ultimate answer, shall we receive it. That is because in the Bible God speaks to us. And one cannot simply think about God in one’s own strength, one has to enquire of him. Only if we seek him, will he answer us. Of course it is possible to read the Bible like any other book, that is to say from the point of view of textual criticism, etc., there is nothing to be said against that. Only that that is not the method which will reveal to us the heart of the Bible, but only the surface, just as we do not grasp the words of someone we love by taking them to bits, but by simply receiving them, so that for days they go on lingering in our minds, simply because they are the words of a person we love; and just as these words reveal more and more of the person who said them as we go on, like Mary, “pondering them in our heart,” so it will be with the words of the Bible. Only if we will venture to enter into the words of the Bible, as though in them this God were speaking to us who loves us and does not will to leave us alone with our questions, only so shall we learn to rejoice in the Bible. (Bonhoeffer, Eric Metaxas)

As I approached the passage today, there was one word that totally stood out to me. That was all it took… one word and I knew what Jesus was trying to communicate to me. It made the passage come alive. I approached without my own idea of what the passage would say, and expecting to hear from Jesus- to hear from one I love. In doing so, I believe I heard his words. I believe that because his word caught me off guard and pointed out to me what I know in my heart I need to submit to Him. It was a powerful time with Jesus’ words…

Wondering what word stood out to me? Well, I’m not going to tell you! I think you should read the passage without my idea of what it says. You should read it and just listen for what Jesus wants to say to you. What stands out to you? What stops you in your tracks? What is it that comes alive to you and how is Jesus using that to communicate with you? What are the words from the one who loves you? Ponder them today….

Losing To Gain

Scripture passage: Mark 8:31-38

There are a lot of elements today in my Lent reading that stood out to me. I think it is one of those readings that will take me a couple of days to really process. One of the things that enhanced the reading for me was the inclusion by the devotional writers of a poem by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer happens to be my favorite theologian.

I have been fascinated by his story for a long time. Bonhoeffer was a young man in Germany at the time of the Nazi regime. He came from an influential and very educated family. He saw early how detrimental the Nazi government was and he spoke against it. Eventually, he was arrested and executed because of his involvement in a plot to assassinate Hitler.

He fascinates me because he so strongly believed that his call to follow Jesus meant he had to do all he could to stop evil from prevailing. He was extremely dedicated to being a disciple of Jesus and helping others to be disciples. He had opportunities to leave Germany but he stayed because he was dedicated to living as a disciple of Jesus with the people he was most connected to. His commitment to being a disciple of Jesus in the place where God had put him caused him to lose his life. He understood what it was to lose his life.

I read about his life and then I read this passage and I am challenged. Do I really understand what it is to lose my life for the sake of the gospel? Am I willing to let go of all my ideas about how life should be in order to pursue being a disciple of Jesus? As I think about this, I cannot get away from the first part of the Mark passage… Jesus himself understood what it means to lose his life. He knew what was coming for him- death- and yet he was willing to go forward. He does not call me to anything that he himself has not already been through….

I CANNOT DO THIS ALONE
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

O God, early in the morning I will cry to you.
Help me to pray
And to concentrate my thoughts on you;
I cannot do this alone.

In me there is darkness,
But with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me:
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways,
But you know the way for me…

Restore me to liberty,
And enable me to live now
That I may answer before you and before men.
Lord, whatever this day may bring,
Your name be praised.
Amen.