Lent 5
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord ... O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
-- Psalm 130:1, 7
On the fifth Sunday of Lent, when we have examined our lives and our distance from God as we approach Easter and in response to the passage from Ezekiel that offered the image of the valley of the dry bones, this psalm speaks to us of the true source of hope in the world. A continual theme throughout the scriptures is that God is one who hears the cry of the people. It was most poignantly described in God's hearing the cry of the oppressed slaves in Egypt and initiating a plan that would set them free (Exodus 3:7-9). Ezekiel expanded on that theme to suggest that God remembered his covenant with Israel even when every human imagination of hope had been destroyed. Even when the Spirit of God had departed and the bones or structures that gave meaning to life had been totally dried up and scattered by the winds, God had the power to reconstitute them. It is at the very depth of despair, the psalmist declared, that we can cry out and be heard by God. "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord."
The psalmist further declared that our hope in God is not dependent on our faithfulness. "If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered." The lesson that needs to be repeatedly learned is that we are not in charge of God's agenda. Yet we can depend on it and therefore have the task of waiting. "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope...." Waiting seems so beyond our control. There is no way to measure it. As we come to the end of the Lenten season, if we should feel a sense of despair about the condition of life or the condition of the church, it is important to be reminded again of the value of waiting on the Lord. Like Christ, the body of Christ is totally dependent on God, and our hope is that God "will redeem Israel from all its iniquities" and, in doing so, will redeem the church as well.
-- Psalm 130:1, 7
On the fifth Sunday of Lent, when we have examined our lives and our distance from God as we approach Easter and in response to the passage from Ezekiel that offered the image of the valley of the dry bones, this psalm speaks to us of the true source of hope in the world. A continual theme throughout the scriptures is that God is one who hears the cry of the people. It was most poignantly described in God's hearing the cry of the oppressed slaves in Egypt and initiating a plan that would set them free (Exodus 3:7-9). Ezekiel expanded on that theme to suggest that God remembered his covenant with Israel even when every human imagination of hope had been destroyed. Even when the Spirit of God had departed and the bones or structures that gave meaning to life had been totally dried up and scattered by the winds, God had the power to reconstitute them. It is at the very depth of despair, the psalmist declared, that we can cry out and be heard by God. "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord."
The psalmist further declared that our hope in God is not dependent on our faithfulness. "If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered." The lesson that needs to be repeatedly learned is that we are not in charge of God's agenda. Yet we can depend on it and therefore have the task of waiting. "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope...." Waiting seems so beyond our control. There is no way to measure it. As we come to the end of the Lenten season, if we should feel a sense of despair about the condition of life or the condition of the church, it is important to be reminded again of the value of waiting on the Lord. Like Christ, the body of Christ is totally dependent on God, and our hope is that God "will redeem Israel from all its iniquities" and, in doing so, will redeem the church as well.
