Tags
Anxiety, Christian life, Matthew 5:43-45, Matthew 6:25-34, New life, Peace, Psalm 4:8, The goodness of God, Trust, Trust in God
Day 14: Saturday in the second week of Lent
Psalm 4:8
I will both lie down and sleep in peace;
….for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety.
I treasure the memory of my children’s childhood when they fell asleep in the car and didn’t wake as I carried them in my arms up to bed. That limp presence is precious, arms and legs hanging loosely, your child totally at peace in your arms.
Something seems to happen when we reach adolescence. We pop awake if we are touched. We become aware of our separateness. Should we become parents, such subconscious alertness serves us well. But something is lost in that journey to adulthood, only to be sensed again when there is a child in our arms.
Our relationship with the divine is not unlike the intimacy of parent and child. There is a period of naïve innocence about God. Then there often comes a time when God seems distant and abstract. Then, if we are fortunate, a time comes when we can say again: “I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety.”
That step of surrendering ourselves into the arms of the divine does not come easily. We are frightfully independent at times or “anxious and troubled about many things.” The words of Jesus not to worry can seem frightfully naïve. “Look at the birds,” he says, but the birds are constantly watching for any threat, and flee quickly at a sudden motion. “Consider the lilies of the field,” says Jesus and, yes, “Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these,” but the lilies have no nakedness they need cover. The words are easy to doubt, especially in time of war, famine, or plague – or the harsh realities of the “modern” economy.
But there is a profound wisdom in Jesus’ words, a wisdom born of a deep faith in God’s goodness. God is not looking to harm; God is looking to save. God is not indifferent to the human condition; God is seeking to bring goodness to all “and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” The divine heart is open to us. The divine hands work healing. The divine voice speaks peace, wholeness, reconciliation. When this is our foundation, when the knowledge of God’s goodness are the flying buttresses of our life, the world looks different to us. It is easier to live with open hands. It is easier to do kindness and be kind. Forgiveness comes easier. We are nearer to the world of God’s creating. We are nearer to the world of God’s redeeming.
Gracious and ever-present God,
whose mercy knows no bounds,
and whose arms are ever open to your world:
Grant us new birth as your children
And make us joyful in your service.
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Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dall_sheep_ewe_and_lamb_(5896652039).jpg U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters / Public domain