Day 2 of Decrease
How precious is this new born giraffe being kissed by his mama.
Picture Jesus leaning down from heaven and kissing you this way today.
"Self cannot satisfy self, no matter how frequently it feasts. Lent is a much needed mentor in an age obsessed with visible, measurable, manageable, and tweet able increase, for it invites us to walk with Jesus and his disciples through darker seasons that we would rather avoid...grief, conflict, misunderstanding, betrayal, restriction, rejection, and pain.
Then Easter leads us in celebration of salvation as the stunningly satisfying fruits of Jesus' sacred decrease. A thoughtful Lenten journey directly confronts our modern obsession with increase and introduces us to unexpected friends of spiritual formation." Alicia Britt Chole
On Day 2 of this Lenten study the author calls us to study John 12:12-19 and to fast from regret.
The Triumphal Entry
Before you read, pray and ask as Job and David did to be taught things we do not understand..
Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray. Job 6:24
The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 'Fear not, daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!'
His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him." John 12:12-19
There were so many take aways for me.
1) "They went out to greet Him."
Good morning, Jesus! One day soon I will see you face to face!
2) Jesus rode a donkey -it was sufficient
People looked at Jesus, not at his flashing steed. Humble is he!
3) "Your king is coming!" Amen! Yes He is.
4) "His disciples did not understand these things at first."
Right after I had studied this a younger woman from church texted that her mother's blood work was causing her heart surgery to be postponed. She was very disappointed but I said, "We will praise God and thank him for his protective hand upon your mother, for God knows the perfect timing for the most successful surgery. We do not understand this delay, but we know God sees what is ahead in ways we do not have the capacity to know. He is a good, good, Father."
5) "A crowd had come to meet Jesus." (CEV)
The very moment I was writing this, last week, our daughter and two of our grandsons were arriving at Asbury University were a crowd has been gathering to meet Jesus. Revival has broken out on that campus! What a blessing it was for them to worship with these people.
I'm also taking the roots of the darker seasons we'd prefer not wade through and asking God what he has taught me and will continue to teach me in these times.
Grief- I can't go it alone, but only Jesus satisfies.
Conflict- takes more than one person.
Misunderstanding- always happens in a Hallmark movie and drives me nuts...just communicate in honesty!
Betrayal - wrenches my heart and causes me to cry out to Jesus.
Restriction - isn't my comfort zone, but is often good for me and for God's purpose for the gospel to go forth.
Rejection - is never received from Jesus by those who love him.
Pain - is real, I'm in it now, but it brings me to the feet of Jesus where I should be.
The Song
"Greater Than All My Regrets" Tenth Avenue North
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgn14PrvXo8
