Again He appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
Hebrews 4:7
Today. There’s an urgency here that’s impossible to evade. Procrastination is something we joke about, but it’s no laughing matter here. I don’t know where you are today, or where you might be reading this, or what you face in your job, your family, or your marriage. This is simply something I’m writing as I worship. In a certain biblical sense, it’s my “today” before my Father in heaven. But whoever you are, and wherever you are, this is also your “today.” There’s a joy and a warning in this, isn’t there? If it’s true, that this message is for you today – that means it’s not too late for you. It doesn’t matter who you are. If you’re reading this, then my Father has allowed you to know about His love for the very worst sorts of people! Me. This is your “today” to know that whatever has gone before can be over and covered by the blood of Jesus. That whatever has passed is past, and “today” He’s telling you His love is for you. What a glorious day it is for you!
This is all sounds so joyful, so why is this verse a warning? This is also your last day. That sounds frightening, doesn’t it? You may say to me, how could you possibly know that? Of course, I don’t, but I know this: you should be reading this as though it were. Don’t harden your heart about this. I don’t doubt for someone who reads this one day in the future, that this might be their last day. Their final chance. Procrastinators can start tomorrow, but it might be under judgment. This might be the last day you are offered His love, or this might be the last day you live. I don’t know. I do know this. This hour is the day that the Scriptures are telling you about, telling you to do something about it. Lay hold of Him now, while He is still near, while He can be found. Today.
Day Thirty-One
/in Lent /by Stephanie HamblenTo know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:19
Paul’s prayers are a precious thing for us. They describe the heart of a man in love with God, exuberant and joyful, passionate and full of praise. This is one of them. So what is this knowledge that can’t be known? There’s a rule for thinking about God that we should often be reminding ourselves. You have a conception of God. Whatever it is, whether an idea of His love, His person, and His greatness, you have it. Now, whatever that is, you can know this – it’s wrong. Dead wrong. Why? Because He’s still greater than that! He is greater than any conception you come up with!
This is what knowing God is like. He’s eternal in majesty, eternal in His love, eternal in His goodness. So whatever you think or imagine, it simply doesn’t go far enough. This is what Paul is experiencing and trying to describe. As you investigate it, as you try to discover what this love of our God is like, you get lost in it. It does not end. Enter all His fullness!
As you discover more about yourself, and you see ever more clearly your sin, it only increases the wonder of His love. It’s like swimming the depths of the sea or looking into the limitlessness of space. Modern telescopes tell us that He must be bigger than bigness itself. Try imagining His perfections. It’s like counting grains of sand or snowflakes. Get lost in His love. Pray to be lost in it, amazed by it, and overwhelmed with it. This is where knowing jumps past and over knowing itself! This is where worship, awe, and joy are born! It’s what we need so much today, and it’s my prayer for you and myself. And I still can’t even imagine what I’m praying for! Praise Him!
Day Thirty
/in Lent /by Stephanie HamblenAgain He appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
Hebrews 4:7
Today. There’s an urgency here that’s impossible to evade. Procrastination is something we joke about, but it’s no laughing matter here. I don’t know where you are today, or where you might be reading this, or what you face in your job, your family, or your marriage. This is simply something I’m writing as I worship. In a certain biblical sense, it’s my “today” before my Father in heaven. But whoever you are, and wherever you are, this is also your “today.” There’s a joy and a warning in this, isn’t there? If it’s true, that this message is for you today – that means it’s not too late for you. It doesn’t matter who you are. If you’re reading this, then my Father has allowed you to know about His love for the very worst sorts of people! Me. This is your “today” to know that whatever has gone before can be over and covered by the blood of Jesus. That whatever has passed is past, and “today” He’s telling you His love is for you. What a glorious day it is for you!
This is all sounds so joyful, so why is this verse a warning? This is also your last day. That sounds frightening, doesn’t it? You may say to me, how could you possibly know that? Of course, I don’t, but I know this: you should be reading this as though it were. Don’t harden your heart about this. I don’t doubt for someone who reads this one day in the future, that this might be their last day. Their final chance. Procrastinators can start tomorrow, but it might be under judgment. This might be the last day you are offered His love, or this might be the last day you live. I don’t know. I do know this. This hour is the day that the Scriptures are telling you about, telling you to do something about it. Lay hold of Him now, while He is still near, while He can be found. Today.
Day Twenty-Nine
/in Lent /by Stephanie HamblenAnd they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”
Revelation 5:9
This seems like ugly teaching to us. We don’t buy things with our blood or make transactions in sacrifices, or profit from slaughter. This language of blood is primitive, and reeks of the messiness of an ancient religion. Priests were cutting the lambs all day like butchers, their hands slippery with animal blood to pay the price for sinners. But what spiritual value is there in lamb and cow blood? None. The value was in the meat if it was anywhere, and those sacrifices were used for the priest’s family dinner every day. However, this primitive idea of blood is the only way to understand Christ. He’s not a moral story of sacrifice, to inspire you or me to give up our lives against injustice. It has that element, but it’s incidental to the main idea.
The lesson of the priest’s daily butchering of animals, of all of that blood all over the altar, is Jesus paying for us with His blood. It’s elemental and visceral. Sinners must pay with their lives for what wrong they do. Our God has made it clear; only blood will pay. So the praise of heaven, here in this text, is this: praise Him for how He bought us with His blood. Is that your story? Purchased by blood? Is your hope this bloody business, this transaction of His blood for your life? I will become ugly about this. I will die on this hill. I will preach this ugly truth about Jesus saving sinners with blood because it’s the truth that makes me beautiful. Rejoice today; you have been made holy and gorgeous before God by the bloody business of the Lamb. Praise Him! Amen.
Day Twenty-Eight
/in Lent /by Stephanie HamblenThen Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the I AM that had been thrown down.
1 Kings 18:30
The altar is in ruins. It doesn’t take long to make a ruin. Perhaps you’ve seen recent video segments of Chernobyl, deserted twenty years ago because of a nuclear catastrophe. It’s amazing how quickly it’s all decayed.
Christians, we must beware. This message is clear. Those folks that Elijah was talking to were in a perverse slavery to evil false gods – gods that demand child sacrifice and self-mutilation. You might ask me, how can our altar be in ruins today? How is this a warning to us now? Tell me, what’s the state of your heart? What’s the substance of your life of praise, or the praise of your family? We have our ruined altars today – neglect of the cross and praise of Jesus Christ. That’s what all those altars were meant to be to begin with – little pictures of Jesus and His grace.
There might be a lot of religion around, and there might be religiosity everywhere. Perhaps there’s lots of skepticism and doubt. What must be constantly “repaired” with “upkeep” is proclaiming of Christ’s death on a cross for sinners. Jesus loves sinners with His blood. This altar has been in ruins in the church today. Let us rebuild it in our hearts, in our families, and in our community. The Son of God came into the world to save the worst sorts of people. Me.
Day Twenty-Seven
/in Lent /by Stephanie HamblenAnd whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.
1 Samuel 16:23
There is an image in our culture that music will tame the savage in us – that there is something soothing in music that will calm a wild beast. I don’t really know if it is true or not, but I do not think that is what this passage is saying. Think about it. What would David be singing? He was a songwriter and a rather prolific one. We have his songbook; it is called the Psalms. So what rescued Saul from the torture and manic fury of a demon riding his conscience and heart day in and day out? It was those Psalms, the songs and lyrics of a man in love with his God, full of praise, repentance, and love. It is the word that calmed Saul’s heart. The word of God.
I would make much of this for your own heart and life. Christian music has its place in the life of the Christian, especially when it is the scripture itself in music. Use it, and use it wisely. Find what you like in devotional music and listen to it, even better sing to yourself. Don’t be distracted by the folks who tell you not to listen to the music of the world. That is not forbidden. But be wise, because evil spirits are real. Be in the word, memorize the word, and soak in the word. Take in the word of God like it is cereal in the morning, or a sandwich at lunch, or pasta at dinner. The word set to music can do all of this. And when evil comes, it will not stay very long. Within earshot of David’s songs, no demon can linger to bother the children of God.
Day Twenty-Six
/in Lent /by Stephanie HamblenHe who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.
Revelation 2:17
Don’t you want to know what it is? Your new name? A special name just between you and Jesus, as a secret you share? I so want to be renamed by God! Maybe that’s because I got such a goofy name to begin with. But I think it’s more than that. He knows what my name should be, what my name should say about who I am and that it should show the marks that I am His. In that Spirit(?!), He will name me for His own. It’s such a strange little detail, isn’t it? A new moniker on some granite just for you. I picture holding it my hand and examining it over and over, feeling its weight and the rough engraved letters that form my new identity.
There’s a weird moment in the Bible when God appears to some folks, to tell them about their soon-to-be miracle child. It’s one of those rare glorious appearances, and the old couple asks Him His name. And He says “you wouldn’t understand it.” I feel like that about this. I don’t really understand what it means, but I get one thing. A new secret name between Him and us means amazing intimacy. When I hear that heaven will be like that, it gives me a certain thrill. There’s a joy in all the multitudes and myriads and myriads of angels that are described in heaven. It sounds glorious and earthshaking! All of them praising together! But right alongside that, as if to comfort you sweetly with a whisper in your ear, there will also be these tender and sacredly personal moments with you and Jesus. That’s what this promises. And I can’t wait!
Day Twenty-Five
/in Lent /by Stephanie HamblenDo not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Matthew 5:17
Who talks like this? We often seem to have a blind spot to the things Jesus says. This, in particular, strikes me as a very odd thing to say. Simply stated, Christ takes the Bible and talks like he could just do that. Abolish it all. But, He says, that’s not it. That’s not the play. Instead, He makes an even larger claim. He doubles down. We’re a bit self-obsessed, so we don’t easily get what it all implies. But this is His glory; He came to legitimize the whole book morally and spiritually through His words and His works.
The Bible, as a book, is fulfilled in Him! It now has its very purpose for being there. He’s saying “Look, I validate all of the prophecies and all the commands.” Who validates God’s word in Himself?! Only His Self! He’s saying “Imagine the Scripture is this huge gate, well I’m the hinge it swivels on. I hold it up.” We can be as slow and sleepy as the disciples. Christ wears His greatness and glory like an old coat. He’s so comfortable in it we forgot He has it on. To get Him big enough is to begin to worship – to enlarge your thoughts, to change your attitude, to set free your imagination with the magnitude of who He is, Eternal Son, very God and very man. He speaks the Scripture into existence! This is just the start of getting rid of that “majesty” blind spot we have with Him. What worship and confidence and joy waits for those who trust in Him!