Monday
March 23, 2009

Scripture

Genesis 49:29-33

29 Then he gave them these instructions: "I am about to be gathered to

my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron

the Hittite, 30 the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in

Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the

Hittite, along with the field. 31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah

were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I

buried Leah. 32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. [o] "

33 When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew

his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his

people.

Reflection
Have you ever looked directly into the sun? It is said that if you
stare at the sun during a solar eclipse you can go blind. I’m not
sure if you really go completely blind, but even when you look at the
sun on a normal day it can impair your vision. You turn your eyes
from it and everything seems to be in this strange dark purple kind of
haze. Everything is out of focus and its hard to see anything.

What about when you are in a dark room for a long time and someone
turns on the lights without telling you. Your eyes get adjusted to
the darkness so that you can see vague figures and shapes. Eventually
it can even seem pretty normal. But then someone turns on a bright
light and everything turns bright white and you become blind in a
different sort of way.

Sometimes the ways that God speaks to us can seem just like that kind
of light. God can either say something so incredibly different than
what we are used to hearing that we are blinded by it. To use a pun,
it blind-sides us - like the light cutting through the darkness. Or
perhaps we receive some vision of what God wants us to do, a taste of
what might be our calling. Then, in that case, everything else around
us can seem to be dimmer and frustrating.
I think of the story of Abraham. He was promised land, prosperity,
and children but it took a long time from the point where he was first
promised those things. I know that Abraham was frustrated with
waiting for God to come through on the other end of the deal. He was
tired of waiting for God to provide the things that he saw as a bright
light compared to what he had then. So Abraham took action into his
own hands and he bore Ishmael through a concubine. However, that was
not the plan or the promise that God had made with Abraham.

In this time of Lent, we may try to abstain from something as a way of
recognizing the sovereignty of God and as an act of worship in
listening for God’s voice in some new way. Sometimes, if God gives us
the vision to see what our calling truly is, it can seem like we are
surrounded by darkness when compared with the light of that vision.
But, we must not despair, because God is not slow in keeping promises.
God calls out to us in the darkness to give us hope, and God shines a
glimmer of what is in store for us so that we can persevere through
times that seem dark and troubled.

Today, pray that God will show you a small portion of what is in store
for you. Then pray that God gives you the strength and patience to
wait for it in its own due time. We can wait for the promise that God
has given, or we can rush and miss out on the fullness of the gifts
that God has for all of the children of faith.

Written by a PC Senior

Today Please Pray For:
Student Managers of Springs Campus Center