Lenten Devotion for Thursday, April 10

By Sam Fink

Read John 19:31-37

On May 1, 2012, my wife Kelsey and I were about a week away from closing on our dream house. It was a big 1920’s Tudor style home, with original woodwork, floors, tile, and charm. On May 2 we got a call from our agent, who had discovered a problem.

In short, in the foreclosure process there had been some “creative” banking, and the original owner could claim he still owned the home. This meant that no company would insure the title … and we were out of a house. Just like that.

The next few days were mostly spent in an emotional mess of tying off loose ends, and cancelling everything we had set up. We were discouraged, disheartened, and downright mad about the whole thing. We told our family and friends, and received lots of encouragement about our future. One person said “There IS a reason for this and only God knows!”

We knew that God would work through this, but were uneasy about waiting it out. Over the next few months, we watched as those words of encouragement were proven over and over.

By September, we were living in our new home, just four doors down from my best friend. We got a great deal on a small, move-in-ready ranch, and realized that we were in the perfect place … there was a reason.

In the Biblical text above, amid the gruesome account of lives ending, there is no uncertainty of the future as it pertains to God’s plan; in fact, His plan is coming to fruition. In this small, uncomfortable section of scripture, it is proven to us that Jesus is Lord, that He is God, that He is our Savior, and that He is exactly where he is supposed to be.

John writes that because Jesus had already died, and His legs didn’t need to be broken, Psalm 34 is shown to be true: the righteous will be unbroken. Next, he tells us that when Zechariah wrote about “Him who they have pierced,” his words of prophecy really were from God. God had a plan.

On the cross that day, Christ was proven without a doubt to be the Lord. In the same way, through things we don’t always understand, God proves Himself to us. As you work your way through the mystery of Lent, knowing that the promise of Easter is coming, trust that His plan is in place, that He has control, and that even amid adversity and fear, there is a reason.

We pray: Father, make us confident in Your mysteries. Even as we look forward to the promise of Easter, show Yourself to be God. Let Your Spirit, the Comforter, embrace us, teaching us to trust in You. Let us never forget that You have a plan.

Family discussion:

Have you ever had a plan? Maybe you planned a game or what your day was going to look like. Maybe you had special plans for a family get-together or even how a vacation was going to go. Did those plans ever not go as you thought? How did you feel? Did it work out better or worse? What would happen if God planned your game, day, vacation, or get-together? Would it go as He planned? How would you feel knowing God had planned your event?

Everyday object:

Hide an object in a bag and ask someone to guess what it is either with their sense of taste, smell, touch, or hearing. Are they nervous to try this? Do they trust that you would not harm them? God’s plans and ways are hidden to us often. Even when His plans are hidden we trust that He loves us and would not harm us.