Los Lunas Cornerstone

    Good morning, and welcome to our last Holy Week devotion. I do hope you’ll join us for service tomorrow, Resurrection Sunday, as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ and what that means for those who follow Him. Today is an interesting day in Holy Week because there is little to no record of what occurred. What we have is resounding silence in the physical realm. There was a battle raging in the spiritual realm, but for us, silence.
    Sometimes it does seem like God is silent. Maybe you’ve felt like that before, or even now, that God is silent and you’re not sure why. That often leaves us feeling uncertain about what He’s doing or what He might do next. Rest assured, you aren’t alone. Sometimes, the waiting times we go through find us struggling to discern the ways of God in those moments. Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us of this, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”
    Those days and details that are left out of the recordings in the Bible always make me curious. What were the people doing? What were they thinking? What were they feeling? This especially true of God because I know He’s always working, even if we might not see it or feel it.
    Just like the disciples might have felt that Saturday, the second day after Jesus’ crucifixion and death, sometimes we’re tempted to feel hopeless, confused, discouraged, and stuck in a pattern of waiting and waiting. We maybe unsure of what to do because we don’t want to move outside of God’s will. While we might feel like this during those times, God is still doing things that we can’t even imagine. He’s working in hearts to turn them towards Him. He’s working to bring about His Kingdom!
    Today, I want us to put ourselves in the disciples place, sitting with what had happened the day before on the cross, thinking it was all over and the hope they’d had was gone. How might this Psalm, Psalm 139 bring them comfort?
    “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you. If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
    This Psalm would have been a very simple reminder that God saw them, wholly and completely, even as they were left in confusion, doubt, and silence. Just as He sees us, wholly and completely, even in our confusion, doubt, and silence. This Psalm would have reminded the disciples that He was still there in the silence, still with them. Just as He is always with us in the silence. This Psalm would have reminded the disciples that He is working things out to overcome evil and to bring glory to His Name. Just as He reminds us that He has already overcome evil and His working to bring glory to His Name.
    Today, as you continue to walk with Jesus and look forward to Resurrection Sunday, sit with this Psalm, and ask Him to search you. To see if there is any way in you that is offensive to Him, and to lead you in His way.