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He has risen
I don’t know about you, but a lot of times I find myself praying without a lot of hope. It seems like a lot of times my prayers go unanswered…I even become afraid to pray for big things, secretly worried that God won’t fulfill my requests. What a faithless attitude!
I imagine the women who went to visit Jesus’ tomb had a similar lack of faith. They had just seen Him crucified. They fully expected to show up at the tomb and find Him still dead.
What a surprise it must have been to find an angel who said, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:5-6). This must have caught them totally off guard. Despite the fact that Jesus had said He would rise again (as the angel pointed out), the women hadn’t understood or believed a word of it.
I’m afraid to admit that sometimes, my prayers are raised to a dead God. I don’t see Jesus as alive—as He really is! I forget that He is risen and that He is at the right hand of the Father, victorious over sin and death, the firstborn from among the dead, and the righteous Judge over all the earth. The angel challenges me, “Come, see the place where he lay” (v. 6). Jesus is no longer dead. He is alive!
I thank God that He has mercy on us despite our lack of faith. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus.” The Lord said, “Seek, and you will find” (Matthew 7:7). God honors a heart that earnestly seeks Him even in weakness. Jesus says to us, “Do not be afraid” (Matthew 28:10). He knows and understands our weakness, and His mercy comes new and fresh every morning.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).
Following the Lord in daily devotion
In a time when I was more sarcastic than I am now (yes, I have toned it down a little), I would sometimes refer to “quiet times” and “devotionals” as the evangelical Christian sacraments. It seemed to me that there was a constant obsession with them in a lot of evangelical circles — you’ve got to punch in your daily time with the Lord or else you’re a sinner!
I’ve mellowed out a bit in the last few years. One of the main reasons is that I’ve seen in my own life and in the lives of others what happens when daily Bible study and prayer are neglected. Without fail, it’s the times when we are weak in this area that are also times of sin and spiritual dryness. When my mind is not daily brought back to a dependence on God and His Word, I am prone to wander away, my eyes no longer fixed on Jesus.
Of course, another reason these disciplines are so important is because God says so:
Zephaniah 1:4-6
4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal
and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the LORD
and yet swear by Milcom,
6 those who have turned back from following the LORD,
who do not seek the LORD or inquire of him.”
Verses 4 and 5 talk about how the people of Judah have rejected the LORD in favor of other gods. Sometimes, this rejection takes the form of a fake recognition of God (v. 5) — of divided loyalties. The people have tried to keep both their bases covered by trying to please the LORD and Milcom at the same time. I see this in my own life as I try to please God and at the same time focusing on pleasing myself or others. It just doesn’t work.
The people have rejected the Lord, and they no longer follow Him. What does it look like when we no longer follow the Lord? It means we “do not seek the Lord or inquire of him” (v. 6). We don’t seek the Lord’s help by praying, and we don’t inquire of His wisdom by studying the Bible. This is a sure path to idolatry.
So, as it turns out, daily devotions are important after all. Don’t slack off!
Prayer and self-indulgence
Prayer is usually a real chore for me. It’s very frustrating to stay focused on talking to someone whom I can’t see. I often do it only because I know I’m supposed to.
While Paul is talking about the behavior of widows in the following passage, I believe that what he says can apply to the rest of us as well:
1 Timothy 5:5-6
5 She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, 6 but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.
This contrast is something I hadn’t considered before. Prayer directly opposes self-indulgence because it is an act of love toward God and toward those we pray for. The reason I struggle with it so much is because there are a million other “fun” things I could be doing instead — I would rather indulge myself in the things that provide temporary satisfaction (but ultimately kill). The godly widows that Paul knew would set their hope on God despite the fact that they were alone (v. 5).
I want to remember as I pray that I’m not doing it for my own sake but because I love the Lord. “…We make it our aim to please him” (2 Corinthians 5:9).
