Use this devo as you are able, in whole or in part. Don’t feel compelled to read it all. Simply read and meditate upon whatever catches your attention. The goal is enjoying time with God through His Word and in prayer. Questions about the devotional elements?

Call to Prayer

Prayer of Confession

True God, who can save? So many pretenders serve up hollow promises, but it’s all foolishness. No one else can release me from my punishment; no program can set me right with you. Turn me again to Jesus, the only true deliverer, and clear me from my sin. Amen. (Prayer based on the Heidelberg Catechism, Question 14)

*Prayer borrowed from Philip Reinders’ Seeking God’s Face: Praying with the Bible through the Year

Lent Devo: Backyard Pilgrim

Throughout Lent this year we will follow along over the next 40 days with quotes from Backyard Pilgrim by Matt Canlis which gives us a daily Bible Path (the story of God’s redemption) and Parish Path (a literal path through town where you can walk and ponder what God has shown you through his Word).

Day 21: God | Read: Isaiah 64:1, 4

BIBLE PATH

How far will God go to rescue his lost children? How far will God go to act on our behalf? Can he only ask questions we fail to fully answer? 

So far God’s grace has been seen in his asking people, “Where are you?” But as the drama of Isaiah builds, the people are unwilling and unable to give God adequate responses. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and Isaiah all give partial “Here I am” responses, but they don’t last. The “Here I am’s” among God’s people are too few and too feeble. We can’t even say, much less do, what is necessary to be found. The time has come to reverse God’s question. Not from the place of human pride but from the place of need we can cry out to God: “Where are you?!” 

This is the cry of a lost child that our Heavenly Father cannot resist. When God’s children lift this cry not just for themselves but for others, the Lord draws near to answer. Isaiah 58:9 marks the pivot upon which this reversal comes. Once we recognize our sin and other’s needs . . . “then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” 

Here I AM . . . reversing the question. 

PARISH PATH 

The One who first asked us “Where are you?” is now letting us ask him the same question, and giving us his ready answer: “Here I AM.” But are these three words only words? Is this God’s comforting yet invisible presence in the dark? No, this promise will become a living presence. These three words will become flesh. God’s declaration of “Here am I” in Isaiah begins the divine avalanche of his descent to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. 

The God of heaven is declaring: “I will walk among you as I once did in the garden! We will see each other face to face as I first intended!” The surprise will be that God will not only walk among us as God; he will walk among us as one of us . But doing so will require one more “Here I am” that no man could give, nor even could God. History is about to pivot upon her story. 

Today as you walk, ask God: “Where are you?” Could it be that one reason we miss God is not because he’s far off, but because he’s so close?  

Sermon Devo

We are in our Winter series through the book of James. Each day we will dig into a different aspect of this New Testament wisdom book which will, by the end of the week, help to give you a fuller portrait of the kind of lives we are called to live as Christians.  

Read: James 4:13-5:6

Re-read the passage again today and answer the following questions:

1. What does this tell us about God?
2. What does this tell us about people?
3. What other truths do we discover in this passage?
4. What would change in your life if you lived like this passage was true?

Evening Prayer of Examen

• Where did you move with or feel close to Jesus today?
• Where did you resist or feel far from Jesus today?
• Where is Jesus leading you tomorrow? Ask for joy as you follow him.

Benediction