2nd Week of Lent, beginning March 12. I've posted for 5 days; read and ponder at your own pace.

​Day 1 (2nd week)
PREPARE TO LISTEN: Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word.  (Ps 119:169)
READ: Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? 
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 
He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 
He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 
The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. 
The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 
The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.
MEDITATIVE WORDS
 “I lift up my eyes to the hills;” not because help comes from the hills.  In fact, the hills can be rather dangerous places for many reasons.  In the psalmist’s day, they were also places were people mounted their idols.  Looking to the hills wasn’t for comfort, but for remembrance.  The hills were created by the LORD, the only one true help.  And so the psalmist confidently prays, “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
This is a truth we all need to keep before us, especially in this day.  Politicians, sometimes pastors, maybe a significant other, hint that only they can offer help.  But, they will all “slumber and sleep” and fail to keep us safe.  Only the Lord God will keep our goings and comings “from this time on and for evermore.”
REFLECTIVE WONDERING
Where does your help come?  I don’t mean what you know as the correct answer; I mean in reality.  Lift up your eyes to the hills, and ponder.
RESPOND TO JESUS IN PRAYER. 
Lord God, Creator of All, my help comes from you and you alone.  I trust in you today to keep me from all evil; to keep my life.  You will keep my going out and my coming in and so I rest in faith in you today.  With gratitude, I pray, Amen.
BE SILENT AND STILL: For a few moments, simply be in the presence of Jesus, who loves you, regardless.
 
Day 2 (2nd Week)
PREPARE TO LISTEN: Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word.
READ: Genesis 12:1-4a
Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.  Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Abram (changed to Abraham—father of many) was married to Sarai (changed to Sarah—mother of princes).  I will, therefore include Sarai in my meditation even though she’s not mentioned in these verses.
MEDITATIVE WORDS
The story we’re a part of begins with this challenging call to Abram and Sarai—go from your country and your family “to a land I will show you.”  We’re not told why God chose Abram, only what God’s ultimate purpose was; to create, through Abraham’s family, “the means by which the problem of the human race would be resolved,” as N. T. Wright puts it.  I doubt Abram fully grasped this and our text fails to record what he thought and felt about God’s call or the incredible promises God made to him.  All we know is this: “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.”  He had no experience of God’s leading; no stories about others who trusted God and found him faithful.  He and Sarai were out there discovering God for themselves, for the first time.
Thanks to them, we now have a wealth of stories of people who experienced God and lived to tell the tale.  The journey from Abram and Sarai’s story to ours today has been long and fraught with rough terrain.  But, we now belong to those scattered families around the globe who have been blessed (received God’s salvation) because Abraham and Sarah took the risk and obeyed a God they knew so little about.
REFLECTIVE WONDERING
Put yourself in Abram or Sarai’s shoes and imagine what it cost them to leave country and family and enter the unknown.  They were people like us but willing to risk all in a radical obedience to the God who called.  What keeps you from taking your own leap of faith and obedience?
RESPOND TO JESUS IN PRAYER. 
God of Abraham and Sarah, I admire the faithful obedience of these two servants of yours and desire to copy them, but so much holds me back.  As I journey through this Lent and prepare to once again remember and celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus, lead me to a deeper faith and more willing obedience.  In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.
BE SILENT AND STILL: For a few moments, simply be in the presence of Jesus, who loves you, regardless.
 
Day 3 (2nd Week)
PREPARE TO LISTEN: Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word.
READ: Romans 4:13-17
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.  If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.  For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
MEDITATIVE WORDS
These verses can be confusing, even mind boggling.  For a moment, let go the need to understand and instead hear the Spirit speak into your heart and be amazed.  The passage begins by explaining that the promise (first made to Abraham) is this: “inherit the world!”  Too often we reduce our inheritance (and thus our salvation) to ‘heaven when I die.’  Paul stretches us to think much bigger.  In Jesus, through faith by grace we will inherit the world.  I don’t fully understand this, but it does make me think about salvation in much bigger terms and increases my desire to care for the world and all that’s in it.  This awesome promise is for all who “share the faith of Abraham,” and that’s you and I who look to Jesus for salvation.
REFLECTIVE WONDERING
The promise to inherit the world is yours.  How does or should this make you think about salvation in Jesus today?
RESPOND TO JESUS IN PRAYER. 
I stand amazed in your presence, Promise-Making God and say, Wow!  I don’t understand this, at least not very much, except you are a God who keeps promises.  Help me today to live in faith and gratitude for your gift of grace; help me freely give grace to those around me and also to myself today.  Thank you, Amen
BE SILENT AND STILL: For a few moments, simply be in the presence of Jesus, who loves you, regardless.
 
Day 4 (2nd Week)
PREPARE TO LISTEN: Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word.
READ: John 3:1-10
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.  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.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’  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?’  Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.  What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.”  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.’  Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’  Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
MEDITATIVE WORDS
Nicodemus comes to Jesus, confident he knows what Jesus is—a teacher from God.  His journey began with this knowing.  It ends with confusion and not knowing as he exclaims, “How can these things be?”
We all need to take this journey.  It begins with being sure we know who Jesus is and knowing what we believe, and then something happens that shakes our confidence.  For Nicodemus, Jesus made a puzzling demand—you must be born from above.  He took it literally (born again) and ridicules Jesus.  People can’t be born after having grown old, he mocks.  But Jesus persisted, stating the same thing in slightly different words and Nicodemus was left with no longer knowing.  I want to suggest that misunderstanding and not knowing are important stages in the journey.  Keep traveling, there is another stage, as you’ll see if you read on in the story tomorrow.
REFLECTIVE WONDERING
Think about your journey with Jesus.  What have been for you places of misunderstanding and not knowing?  What happened next?
RESPOND TO JESUS IN PRAYER. 
Lord Jesus Christ, you are truly our Teacher.  You want us to go deeper and you’re willing to risk taking us into difficult terrain because we need it.  Today, I choose to keep on following you, even through terrain that gets rough as I trust you to lead me to a deeper relationship with you.  In your name I pray, Amen.
BE SILENT AND STILL: For a few moments, simply be in the presence of Jesus, who loves you, regardless.
 
Day 5 (2nd Week)
PREPARE TO LISTEN: Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word.
READ: John 3:11-17
‘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.  If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?  No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
MEDITATIVE WORDS
The journey continues.  Because Nicodemus finally admits his not knowing, Jesus was able to teach him that he must go beyond knowing to believing.  You will notice that the word ‘believe’ is used four times in these verses.  Our journey begins with knowing Jesus and so we confidently follow him.  Then the questions and doubts arise (our own confusion and misunderstanding).  Some quit and turn back.  But those who go deeper into not knowing will hear words as amazing as our favorite Bible verse: For God so loved the world… everyone who believes in him… may have eternal life.  We’re not waiting for eternal life.  We have it right now, when we believe.  And that belief leads us into a new way of knowing and a deeper relationship with Christ.
REFLECTIVE WONDERING
I’ve skimmed over these wonderful words.  Which ones attract you today?  Sit with them in the presence of Jesus and wonder.
RESPOND TO JESUS IN PRAYER. 
God of Love, you gave your Son so I may have eternal life right now; that life that enables me to live in a loving relationship with you today.  Lord, I believe and long to know you better for the sake of Jesus, your Son.  Amen.
BE SILENT AND STILL: For a few moments, simply be in the presence of Jesus, who loves you, regardless.