Reflections on God's Gift of Law--Lent Day 10 (Week 2)

You may notice that I am posting both Friday's and Saturday's meditations on Friday. I am doing this ahead, as we have no electrical power at home. I am taking advantage of the opportunity to use the internet to do this posting.

Lent Day 10: Saturday February 27

Theme for the Week: God’s Gift of the Ten Commandments

Passage for the Day:

Exodus 20:1-4

¹Then God spoke all these words: ² I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ³ you shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Reflection: This passage from Exodus, which is the basis for the First Commandment, and an underpinning of all the Commandments reminds us both of God’s graciousness, and God’s demand that we honor God as our only God. The command part of this passage demands that we have no god other than “the Lord your God”. We often think that this is an easy commandment. Surely, we don’t make idols of wood, stone, or gold, which we worship. We wouldn’t do anything that foolish! Or would we??? Martin Luther defined a god as anything in which you “trust and believe…with your whole heart” and “that in which find refuge in all need” What do we really trust, and where do we seek refuge? Do we trust our own skill or ambition? Do we trust our savings and our assets? Do we value our home as the place of greatest refuge? In the lives of privilege and abundance which so many of us enjoy, it is easy to slip into depending on our own skills, assets and securities rather than placing our trust and dependence on God.

In the promise part of this passage, we are reminded that God brought the Israelites “out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” God heard the cry of God’s people and freed them from oppression and slavery. These words have brought hope to many peoples throughout the ages who have been wrongly oppressed and enslaved. As 21^st century Americans, we are proud of our freedom and heritage. However, we are still slaves. Even though we have political freedom, we are, as St. Paul writes, slaves to sin. In these words of promise, we hear a foreshadowing of how God frees us from the oppression that comes from being weighed down with wrong doing. God has brought us, who are “free” Americans, out of the house of slavery, a mental state in which we could be trapped by the weight of all the ways in which we have alienated ourselves from God. Even though we sin by having other gods, other things which we put our trust in, the Lord our God forgives our sin because Jesus died to free us.

Prayer Themes: Thank God for releasing us from being slaves to sin. Pray that God would strengthen you in your resolve to depend on God rather than yourself or things you possess. Pray that you may learn to trust and believe in God with your whole heart.

Reflections on God's Gift of Law--Lent Day 7 (Week 2)

God' Law: What is it and what does it mean for our lives?

This morning we begin the second week in Lent, and we will begin daily reflections on a new topic. This week we will be thinking about the role of the Ten Commandments in our lives. Descriptions of the Ten Commandments can be found in two places in the Bible: Exodus 20:1-17 and 5:6-21. There are also numerous references to Law (of which the Ten Commandments are a core part) in both the Old and New Testaments. During the next week, we will be reflecting on different Biblical passages which describe the Law and the role of the Law in our lives.

Week 2 Lenten Devotions

Lent Day 7: Wednesday February 24

Theme for the Week: God’s Gift of the Ten Commandments

Passage for the Day:

Psalm 19: 7-10

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the decrees of the Lord are sure,

making wise the simple;

⁸ the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is clear,

enlightening the eyes;

⁹ the fear of the Lord is pure,

enduring forever;

the ordinances of the Lord are true

and righteous altogether.

¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey,

and drippings of the honeycomb.

Reflection:

God gave the gift of the Law in the form of the Ten Commandments to God’s people, after they had been freed from slavery in Egypt and while they were wandering in the desert. This gift from God marked the people as God’s very own. God gave the Law to help people order their lives and to help them live as God’s people. The first three commandments described how the people were to live in relation to God and the last seven, how they were to live in relation to other people. In a world not marred by sin, life under God’s Law would be perfect. The Law as gift orders our lives and shows us how to live as God’s people. As the psalmist, envisioning a perfect world, says: God’s Law is more desirable than fine gold and sweeter than honey.

Thinking of the Law as a gift that marks us as God’s people, rather than as a set of burdensome regulations, re-frames the role of the Ten Commandments in our lives.

Prayer Themes: Pray that I am may be able to see God’s Law in the Ten Commandments as a gift that marks me as one of God’s Chosen ones, rather than as a restriction or impediment to how I live my life. Pray that God would use God’s Law to help to order my life and help me to act as God’s hands in the world.