A Cry That Finds Mercy
Sunday, March 22
PSALM 130:1-4
I recently heard of a Scream Club that has been meeting for months in Chicago, inviting people to come stand near the beach in community and scream. It has grown into a global movement, and I am all for it. Their website expresses their mission: “We now gather in cities around the world to share a simple yet powerful ritual: releasing stress, grief, tension, and whatever else we’ve been carrying through collective vocal expression.”
In today’s psalm, the psalmist is painfully aware that they are in need. And so they cry out. But their cry is not solely expressed into thin air; it finds a landing place. “Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord” (v. 1, NIV).
How often we are tempted to carry our pain in silence, when God’s ears are attentive to our cries for mercy. Desperation, pain, and sin do not have the final word when we allow ourselves to cry out, to repent, and believe. Our muscular reflex and gut reaction can direct our cries to the Lord who meets us, sees us, and forgives us.
Lord, we know that you hear our cries for mercy. We know that you see our pain. We trust that your forgiveness abounds. Please help us to receive your grace, presence, and peace. Amen.
Waiting With Hope, Watching For Light
Monday, March 23
PSALM 130:5-8
“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope” (v. 5, NIV).
Have you ever been on night duty? Maybe you were responsible for keeping a campfire alive through the night or caring for a group of kids at a lock-in. Maybe you worked the night shift in a warehouse or were sleeping on a cardboard box in solidarity with those who were unhoused. You were probably eager for that sunrise to come. You watched and waited and knew that it would come in time. Maybe not as soon as you wanted, but the sun always rises and sets. Its rhythm is predictable and it never fails. The psalmist uses this imagery to point us to God’s character. God’s love is unfailing and God always redeems us from sin. Wait and put your hope in the Lord as one who knows that the sun will come.
How great it is to know and experience your unfailing love, O God. As we wait on you, lead us this day. Amen.
Tell These Bones What’s Up
Tuesday, March 24
EZEKIEL 37:1-14
“Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’” (v. 12, NIV).
Death and life. Bone and flesh. The Spirit of God moves and provides. God’s breath brings together the bones and creates new sinews, muscle, and skin, creating an army and empowering God’s chosen people to live again.
What does it feel like to once again be breathed into by the living God who desires life? In my own way, I envision God saying to Ezekiel, “Prophesy. Tell these bones what’s up. Remind these bones who they are and what God can do. God will open their graves. God will put God’s Spirit in them and they will live. God will bring them out of exile into their own land. Recognize what God will do through you.”
Lord, when it feels like all I see is death around me, remind me that you breathe life into your creation. May I join you in that work Amen.
From Hope For A Sign To Faith In The Son
Wednesday, March 25
JOHN 11:1-27
Too often we reach for the sign and miss who the sign points to. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask” (vv. 21–22, NIV). You can hear the hope Martha has for the sign of her brother’s healing.
Martha’s assumption is that God will resurrect the faithful followers of the Lord on the last day. Jesus does not dismiss this point, but he offers her a fuller understanding. “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (vv. 25–26).
Martha responds in faith, and her statement resounds with affirmation of who Jesus is. The sign we’re hoping for may or may not come, but the One to whom the sign points is already here.
God, we thank you that in you we have eternal life that starts here and now. As we follow you each day, we pray for your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Made Alive In The Land Of The Dying
Thursday, March 26
JOHN 11:28-45
As we read about Mary, Martha, the mourners, and Lazarus, maybe we can relate, asking, “God, where are you in this? What are you doing?”
And yet this passage is all about who God is. Even though Jesus knew that he could raise Lazarus from the dead—and that he was going to—he entered into the felt experience of the people he loved. Jesus doesn’t tell Mary to stop crying. He allows himself to be impacted by her tears and by the pain of death.
The Greek word here for “deeply moved” is embrimaomai, or “the snort of a horse.” It describes outrage, anger, fury. Jesus is outraged and troubled, and he lets himself express that. He’s not angry at Mary or Martha or the people mourning—he is angry at the experience of death that causes his loved ones to suffer.
Jesus does not just resurrect; he is the resurrection. He does not just give life; he is life. Jesus enters our pain with tears and outrage, yet he is the resurrection who brings life where death once ruled. This is our hope: as we reach out to Jesus, we find that Jesus doesn’t rebuke us in our questioning or release us to final death. Jesus resurrects us.
Jesus, because of your life on earth, your death, and your resurrection, we feel hope. You grieve with us even as you are ultimately victorious. What a good God you are. Amen.
Breath By Breath, Led By The Spirit
Friday, March 27
ROMANS 8:6-11
Like a grandparent who holds deep wisdom for the younger generation, Paul speaks to the church in Rome as one who has experienced firsthand the reality of living in a temporal body and being filled with the Holy Spirit.
This physical body will not be forever. I was made aware of that when I received a diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma in June 2021. The word “cancer” on my chart felt like the floor dropped out from beneath me. The following weeks opened a new season of life: calling friends and family to be my support team, shaving my head with loved ones by my side, and beginning a regimen of chemotherapy that would last six months. My body felt so temporal, but I also realized how significant it is to be embodied. What a gift to have strong arms and legs and lungs that breathe, a mind that remembers, and a heart that beats.
All the while, I felt the Spirit leading me. I felt the prayers of my church, colleagues, family, and friends. In an unexplainable way, I felt the invisible God holding my physical hand. My husband and I held onto the hope that the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead would lead us in life, come what may, both now and into eternity.
Holy Spirit, you abide in us and remind us that we are citizens of heaven as well as this earth. Give us the strength you know we need to walk in your ways and to depend on you. Amen.
Honest Hunger, True Bread
Saturday, March 28
JOHN 6:35-40
Through the Gospel of John, Jesus makes many “I am” statements connected to visual objects. “I am the living water” (John 4). “I am the good shepherd” (John 10). “I am the vine” (John 15). Jesus is repeatedly pointing to himself as the Messiah.
After feeding the multitudes of people he had been teaching, he broke bread and multiplied it so that all could eat and be filled. God knows our deepest hunger and need is ultimately met in God. The people found some measure of satisfaction that day, but like the manna in the desert, this bread would spoil too. Jesus, on the other hand, was the bread in their midst that could fill them beyond their understanding.
The people were honest about their hunger. Perhaps that’s the first step to meeting with God. What is it that you are hungry for?
We are all in need of bread that does not spoil. Acknowledging our hunger helps us to receive the One who truly feeds us. In this receiving of the bread, we find life.
Thank you, Jesus, for being the bread of life who feeds us. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us for the times when we look to other things to satisfy. Amen.
