From Now Until Easter - Righteous and Merciful

From Ash Wednesday until Easter, I will post from Lent and Easter devotionals offered online. Today's post features excerpts written by Darcy Lovgren Pavich, chaplain at Veterans Village of San Diego, ministering among homeless and at-risk veterans and their families.

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I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, save my life!” Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.

Psalm 116:1-5

This is a song of gratitude and absolute awe and wonder. The desperation and brokenness experienced by the singer is a lonely and hopeless place. The exact causes of the suffering are unknown, but the anguish is very apparent. Something that is not so clear is that this is a request for mercy, not a simple request for help. Mercy, pardon, and grace are gifts offered to those who have found “sorrow and trouble,” usually by their own actions and choices. Self-defeat keeps them from feeling worthy, and so they continue to follow the pathway into deeper misery and darkness. The way out becomes obscured.

By grace, the word of a friend, the memory of another time, and a glimmer of light appears. A small crack opens in the walls we create, revealing an avenue to venture and a voice of prayer is found. The psalmist remembers a promise and prays: “I implore you. … I beg you to save me.” The prayer is not conditional. It is not “If you save me, I will follow you.” The prayer embraces the assurance that God will deliver salvation. The response to the deliverance is gratitude, a promise to continue to call upon the Lord, a promise to remember, and a wondrous understanding of humility.

The psalmist extols grace and mercy and is suddenly impacted by just how big this is. God is righteous and merciful. How is this possible? Righteousness is often synonymous with justice. Justice is more often associated with consequences and punishment and rarely associated with mercy, grace, and pardon. How great is God who unconditionally forgives, accepts, and restores one who is not righteous or just!

In our deepest, desperate moments of life, the Lord “inclines his ear” to our prayer, reaches toward us, and sets us free.

Prayer: 

Lord, 

         May we be humbled by Your mercy and set free to rejoice in Your grace. Direct this day in gratitude, for the blessings we have received are that we may be a blessing to others and a faithful servant in Your kingdom. Amen.

It Bears Repeating - Right or Righteous

Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder.
Romans 12:9-12 The Message

Practice playing second fiddle? Okay, confession time. I've been angry for most of a week…at the same person. I think I get over it and he comes back a little later and does the same thing or something in the same vein, and I'm angry all over again. I haven't hit him, I didn't swear. I didn't throw anything. I didn't yell or scream.

I've been patting myself on the back, thinking, 'What a good girl am I' because I didn't hit him, I didn't cuss. I didn't throw anything. I didn't yell or scream. Pitiful… Pathetic... PA – THET – IC! 'Ick' being the operative sound there. I was thinking that I was being angry and not sinning…after all, I was right and I knew I was right. Self-righteous, filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6, But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…

Do I want to be right or do I want to be in right-standing with God? Our text for today reads a little differently in the King James. Verse 10 reads, Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another... There was no way my actions could even remotely be misconstrued as preferring one another in honor...

James 3:17-18 reads ...the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Right or Righteousness? And as my heart is convicted within me...

Father,
           Forgive me, O God, according to Your Word in 1st John 1:9, that if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The only thing I have to be right about is being right with You. Help me, Father. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen

Psalm 34 - NLT

I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the Lord;
let all who are helpless take heart. Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together.

Psalm 37:1-3

4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.
He freed me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;
no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
6 In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;
he saved me from all my troubles.
7 For the angel of the Lord is a guard;
he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

8 Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
9 Fear the Lord, you his godly people,
for those who fear him will have all they need.
10 Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry,
but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.

11 Come, my children, and listen to me,
and I will teach you to fear the Lord.
12 Does anyone want to live a life
that is long and prosperous?
13 Then keep your tongue from speaking evil
and your lips from telling lies!
14 Turn away from evil and do good.
Search for peace, and work to maintain it.

15 The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right;
his ears are open to their cries for help.
16 But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil;
he will erase their memory from the earth.
17 The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.

19 The righteous person faces many troubles,
but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.
20 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous;
not one of them is broken!

21 Calamity will surely destroy the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be punished.
22 But the Lord will redeem those who serve him.
No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Prayer:

Father,

          Thank You for Your Word - alive and powerful and always ready with an answer to whatever comes our way. Let it go deep into our hearts and produce righteous fruit. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen