WEEK 1| LENT DEVOTIONAL
This Weeks Readings & Devotion:
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 9:28-36
WEEKLY REFLECTION:
Our readings this week highlight God’s faithfulness, first promised, then performed, and our required response- gratitude and patience.
First, turn your eyes to Gen 15. The Lord promises to Abram to make him the father of a nation so vast that it will be a blessing to others. However, Abram disputes God’s generosity because he is childless. The Lord reiterates his promises by giving the number of the stars as the sign of His promise. Abram believed this promise counting himself righteous. The Lord then promises he gives the land he is standing to possess. Abram, believes God but asks for assurance. God meets Abram’s weakness and gives the highest guarantee possible: God Himself. You see, when covenants were made in Abram’s time, the two parties would cut animals in half and lay them next to each other with a path in between. The parties would then walk between the animals signifying that a failure to keep the covenant would incur the same fate as the cut animal. So when the Lord -manifested as the torch moves through the animals, He puts Himself on the line for Abram’s fate. Plainly stated, the Lord said to Abram: “If I don’t keep this word, I will no longer be God.” So nothing, not even Abram’s own weakness can cancel the promise God made.
Turning to Luke 9:28-36 we see the fulfillment of all of God’s promises in Jesus. After Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, Jesus takes him, John, and James to the mountain. There they see Moses and Elijah. Moses, represents the Law and Elijah, the prophets. Together they represent the sum total of God’s revelation and promises. So when they speak about what Christ was to accomplish in Jerusalem, they imply that what Christ will do, will be the fulfillment of what they had promised. Now, Moses and Elijah reiterated and advanced the promises God made to Abraham. So we are led to conclude that what Jesus is to accomplish in his death and resurrection, is the fulfillment of God’s original promise to Abram. How is this possible?
Phil 3:20-21 gives us the answer: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory.” In the face of present enemies in the Church, Paul tells the Church that our ‘citzenship’ is in heaven and then reminds us of the promise that Christ will conform our wasting body to His glorified-resurrected body. Paul implies that his promise, this guarantee is a result of the citizenship we have. Now to say that we have citizenship in heaven is to say that we are the descendants of Abraham. Because we believe that in the Cross of Christ, we are brought into Abram’s family because the true children of Abraham are those who believe (Rom 9:6-8). As for us, the promise that we will have the same bodies as Christ rests on nothing less than the same promise God made to Abraham. In fact, whereas Abram has the torch pass through, we are given Christ, God himself, crucified as a sign pledging that God’s promises apply to us. So while we, as the Church, are the fulfillment of Abram’s promise, by yet we are still the Church-in the world, assailed by Sin. So it is when Christ will come again that the fullness of promise will be realized.
In the meantime, Ps 27 is our instruction manual. The psalmist says: “Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident.” Why does the Psalmist say this because “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” The ultimate hope against present evil is the presence of the everlasting God. In fact, the Psalmist points us to Christ because Christ himself was assailed, encamped, and crucified. But in giving full trust, full faith, to the Father, he triumphs over his enemies. So as we seek to imitate Christ (Phil 3:17), let us affirm with the Psalmist that, “ I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” Though the promise of restoration and resurrections seems far off and inapplicable, remember that God promised Himself for your assurance. So, “ Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage”
Recommended Hymn: Great is thy Faithfulness