“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Sometimes a song is just right. Why it hits that mark is hard to fully explain. And, different songs manage to accomplish this feat for different people. But when it happens, you just can’t forget about it. I don’t mean that it is just permanently stuck in your head. That wouldn’t be much fun at all. But rather, you keep coming back to it. Even when you haven’t actually listened to it for quite some time, you find yourself humming along with it from totally out of the blue. Today’s song of the season is one of these songs for me. This morning, I’d like to share it with you.
“But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
I occasionally get things wrong. Okay, let’s be more honest than that. Occasionally I blow it. Okay, fine, scratch that “occasionally.” I screw up a lot. Sometimes this happens in ways that are small and insignificant. Others are big and bold. Some of these are public where anyone can see them. A whole lot more are things known only to my heart and mind and borne by my soul alone. No matter what form or fashion these happen to take, though, one thing is consistent throughout: God’s love never changes or wavers. Today, I am grateful for this unbelievable truth.
“So Moses said, ‘This is what the Lord says: About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, and every firstborn male in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the servant girl who is at the grindstones, as well as every firstborn of the livestock. Then there will be a great cry of anguish through all the land of Egypt such as never was before or ever will be again. But against all the Israelites, whether people or animals, not even a dog will snarl, so that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. All these officials of yours will come down to me and bow before me, saying: Get out, you and all the people who follow you. After that, I will get out.’ And he went out from Pharaoh’s presence fiercely angry.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
In the animated film from DreamWorks Studios about the Exodus, Prince of Egypt, the real climax of the film is when the Angel of Death moves through the city inflicting the final plague on the people of Egypt – the death of the firstborns. Even for an animated offering for kids, the scene is disturbing. The animation is scary enough, but the concept is what is really horrifying. We read this dryly and move on to the next part of the story in part because we don’t want to think about what is happening here. Indeed, when Moses writes about the actual event in the next chapter, he doesn’t describe it in any more detail than we see right here. Today, though, let’s wrestle a bit with what is going on here and what to make of this final plague.
“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)
I’m away chaperoning camp again this week. That means posts will be on a slightly different schedule and will run a bit shorter than the norm. And, instead of plunging ahead into the plagues in Exodus, we’re going to reflect together on some of what the kids are learning. The theme for the week is Beyond the Surface. All week they will be learning about how God sees beyond the surface of our lives into our hearts. Because of that, what kind of a heart should we have? Let’s dig in beyond the surface today.
“I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick snatched from a fire, yet you did not return to me – This is the Lord’s declaration.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
We don’t like to hurt. And that makes perfect sense. Pain is no fun. It is a signal that something is wrong. We don’t like facing up to the fact that something might be wrong…especially if it’s our fault. What’s even harder for us to reckon with, though, is the idea that God might have caused our pain. Yet that is exactly what we find here in the next part of Amos’ prophetic record. Let’s talk about what God was doing and what it might mean for us.
The Nexus 