Thursday, March 24, 2016

Holy Week on Thursday

                                                                                                  Thursday, March 24, 2016

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What can I offer the Lord for all he has done for me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord’s name for saving me.
I will keep my promises to the Lord in the presence of all his people. 
The Lord cares deeply when his loved ones die.
O Lord, I am your servant; yes, I am your servant, born into your household; you have freed me from my chains.
I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.
Psalm 116:12-17(NLT)

As a preteen who knew everything, whenever Dad said up, I, of course, said down

One time when our family was out for a drive, we were coming to our favorite dip in the road.  We boys always considered it fun to close our eyes and have our hearts leap into our throats when Dad went over that dip without slowing down.  I hadn't been paying attention, so I didn't know we were near that part of the road.  

Dad spoke to my brother and me over his shoulder: 

Close your eyes, boys.  

I asked:  Why? 

Dad said, Just do it, you'll be real surprised.

I don't want to

Do it, Russell.  (Whenever he said Russell I was close to the edge). 

Do I have to? 

It was days later before I stopped arguing.  Needless to say, I missed the surprise. 

King David had been in enough tough spots in his life.  From the time he was a young shepherd facing wild animals that wanted lambs out of his flock, to fending off the murderous intentions of King Saul chasing him relentlessly through the dessert, David knew what it was like to be rescued by God’s intervening hand.

His thankfulness translated into being God’s servant.  Granted, there were times when David lost his way and crossed over the line of rebelliousness, but in the end, his heart always softened and turned back to God in simple and humble obedience.

While David was an object lesson of humanity in success, failure and repentance, Jesus Christ, born of a woman who was a direct descendant of David, was entirely obedient to the will of God the Father; there was no rebellion…at all! 

That’s hard for any of us to imagine.

As well as we know our hearts, the idea of completely bending our will to anyone else’s, God included, causes us to stumble over our words and look for the closest exit door.

But Jesus looked for no exit; indeed that was settled long before his birth in a manger.  As the ever-living Son of God, eternally-existent in heaven with the Father and Spirit, Jesus made the decision of the ages – without stumbling – to be obedient to the will of His Father; he came to the cross with no rebellion, no detours, and no regrets.

He loved us that much.

For You Today


As you think about Thursday in Holy Week, the cup and bread must come into view.  Like David, we say:  I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord’s name for saving me.

Whatever rebellious attitudes we’ve been through, or wrong things we’ve done, the chains of those sins have been broken by the cross; today is a day to return in humble, simple obedience.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…and have a blessed day!


[1] Title Image:  By Andrew A. Shenouda from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (It's the Holy Week!), via Wikimedia Commons

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