Blog
The Breaks
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, so far from the words of my groaning? Yet you are holy … and sovereignty belongs to you, the ruler over all the earth. All families and all nations worship before you; all who sleep in the earth and all who go down to the dust bow before you. – Psalm 22:1-3a and 27-29 (adapted, abridged)
Life can break you.
I don’t know whether I believe that God will never give you more than you can handle, but I know from experience that life shows no such restraints. And when life piles on, as it tends to do, sometimes we collapse; sometimes we eke through; sometimes we triumph; sometimes we bruise and bleed; sometimes we persevere; sometimes we break.
Most often, we do all of the above, in varying degrees, depending on the day. But we don’t survive this life in the grand scheme of things. Always, death comes.
Those are the breaks.
So to the One Who Brings Into Existence All That Is, we bow down.
For as long as we keep breathing through life’s breakage, we bend in prayer and humility to the One Who Holds Our Brokenness.
And when this life sends us back to the dust, when survival is no longer within our grasp, we bend in worship and witness to the One Who Continues The Story.
Life can break us. Thank God, there is One Who Remains Undeterred.
Prayer: Be with me in every dawn and dusk of this life, O God, and do not abandon me when I break.
cross-posted on the Daily Devotional (ucc.org)
Going to Battle
King Neco of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish, and Josiah went out against him. But Neco sent envoys to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I am not coming out against you today. Cease opposing God, who is with me, so that he will not destroy you.” (2 Chronicles 35:20-27 abridged, NRSV)
So there’s King Josiah, sitting successful and righteous on the throne, having returned the people to their covenant with God and to the obedient practice of the Law. He’s done well. He’s been faithful. He’s earned great acclaim.
And then.
Then, Josiah chooses to ride into battle against King Neco, who is warring against the Hittites of Carchemish. Before Josiah reaches the scene of action, Neco sends messengers to politely suggest that Josiah isn’t the only king doing holy work. “God commanded me to oppose the Hittites,” Neco tells Josiah. But Josiah doesn’t heed “the words of Neco from the mouth of God” (35:22).
And so it comes to pass that, after a celebrated 31-year reign, King Josiah dies from wounds sustained in the battle against Neco.
It prompts me to wonder how often we Christians go to battle against God simply because we don’t (won’t) recognize God’s work through the hands of a stranger.
It prompts me to wonder how much easier it is to create a new enemy than to develop a new partner.
It prompts me to marvel over our frequent choice to demonize someone because we love God. To embrace battle because we fly God’s banner. To disdain wisdom because we are right in God’s name. All with great conviction.
Josiah spent his lifetime focused on right relationship with God. He still missed the point of recognizing God in a stranger.
Prayer: For railing against enemies louder than I love my neighbor, forgive me.
cross-posted with the Daily Devotional (ucc.org)
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