Lent 2010 #13 - Take Heart

Chronicles 20:1-23

After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. ²Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, 'A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; already they are at Hazazon-tamar' (that is, En-gedi). ³Jehoshaphat was afraid; he set himself to seek the Eternal One, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴Judah assembled to seek help from the Eternal One; from all the towns of Judah they came to seek God.

5 Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of God, before the new court, ⁶and said, 'O Eternal One, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand are power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you. ⁷Did you not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it for ever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? ⁸They have lived in it, and in it have built you a sanctuary for your name, saying, ⁹"If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgement, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you will hear and save." ¹⁰See now, the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— ¹¹they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit. ¹²O our God, will you not execute judgement upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.'

13 Meanwhile all the men of Judah stood before the Eternal One, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. ¹⁴Then the spirit of God came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the middle of the assembly. ¹⁵He said, 'Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Eternal One to you: "Do not fear or be dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God's. ¹⁶Tomorrow go down against them; they will come up by the ascent of Ziz; you will find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷This battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the Eternal One on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem." Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and God will be with you.'

18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Eternal One, worshiping God. ¹⁹And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Eternal One, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.


20 They rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, 'Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Eternal One your God and you will be established; believe God's prophets.' ²¹When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Eternal One and praise God in holy splendour, as they went before the army, saying,
'Give thanks to the Eternal One,
   for God's steadfast love endures for ever.'

²²As they began to sing and praise, the Eternal One set an ambush against the Ammonites, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. ²³For the Ammonites and Moab attacked the inhabitants of Mount Seir, destroying them utterly; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.


THOUGHTS: 

When troubling challenges overwhelm me, it is a rare occassion that I admit out loud that I do not know what to do. I wish I did more often, though, for then I might hear words of good news in reply: Do not fear or be dismayed, for God is with you. God's steadfast love endures forever, so take heart.

I don't exactly know what to make of the notion that these challenges are God's battles and not my own, except to wonder if letting go of the attractive but false idea that I can control everything-- and therefore acknowledging the freedom of other people and of the Living God to act-- frees me to do what I need to do. A song of thanks probably isn't a bad place to start, and at times like these requires courage-- as does waiting for the dust to clear, asking for help, accounting for what I've done and left undone, and forgiving myself and others. Praise be to God, then, who promises that we will not go the road alone.

PRAYER: 

Eternal One, friend and sustainer, we ask for comfort and strength when we cry out in distress. Grant us the courage to receive your love and salvation. In your many names we pray. Amen.

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Thoughts by Ben Masters, a graduate of George Mason University and an alum of Lutheran Campus Ministry at GMU. He is currently working at Open Arms of Minnesota in Minneapolis, through Lutheran Volunteers Corps and is a proud member of the Wellstone House.

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These devotions for young adults are provided by:

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Lent 2009 #22

John 3:1-13 

¹Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." ³ Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" ⁵ Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' ⁸ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man."

THOUGHTS from Ben Masters, senior at GMU:
I feel for Nicodemus. He's a smart guy, and even though John's gospel doesn't paint a very nice picture of the Pharisees, my scant knowledge of history reminds me that at their best they helped people interpret the right way to live according to the Torah. But he's going to Jesus at night, undercover so to speak, presumably so that the people who see him during the day won't be scandalized by his association with such a questionable character. Who knows? Maybe during the day, hanging out with some other Pharisees, Nicodemus plays along with their dismissal of Jesus as crazy, or a threat, or a simple-minded peasant. Maybe it's only at night when he can approach Jesus with his questions: I know you're from God, so what's going on here? Who are you? What does this mean?

These are my questions, too. But Jesus evades the kinds of easy answers that I got in Sunday school. Instead, he replies with ambiguous statements about being "born again", "water and the Spirit", and "the wind blows where it chooses." That last one gets me: the wind blows where it chooses, and even though I can feel it I can't predict it, I can't control it. Jesus says that people born of the Spirit are like this: they can't be controlled.

Jesus won't let me control him; he won't speak the words I tell him to say or put his stamp of approval on my conclusions about him. And even though Jesus gives Nicodemus a hard time, maybe he wants the questions to be asked so that we can wrestle with them and not try to manipulate cheap answers from him. Perhaps part of Jesus' challenge to Nicodemus is that he ask these questions in broad daylight, where people try to control the Spirit. It's risky business, sure, but if that's what being free entails maybe it's worth it.

PRAYER:
Liberating God, you sent Jesus into the world not to condemn it but to save it. Send Jesus to me now, under the cover of night, so that he might help me walk freely in the day, living in right relationship and asking my questions. AMEN

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Ben Masters is a senior at GMU involved with LCM.  He plans to spend the year after graduation with Lutheran Volunteer Corps, and he blogs at http://letusbebread.blogspot.com/

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These devotions are provided by Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University .  Feel free to share them with your friends!  For more information on our ministry and events, see http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran  

You can subscribe to these devotions by RSS or email from http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com