Lent for everyone: day 2

Psalm 31:1-49, Habakkuk 3:1-18, Philippians 3:12-21, John 17:1-9

Though the fig tree 

does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Habakkuk 3:17ff

"I hope I win the American Girl doll!" my daughter said as she placed her tickets into the basket at her schools fundraiser. She had already made plans with her bus mate the day before; she would win the doll and then give her friend the one she had now. Her bus mate reluctantly agreed and I am told tears and words of anger were exchanged. 

Over dinner that night we talked about hoping for things, and raffles, and what the money was being raised for but behind all that blah, blah, blah, I was her dad telling her that not all dreams and hopes come true. 

Breaking a child's heart is the last thing a loving Father wants to do. 

Have you ever felt like your heavenly Father has broken your heart? 

I would venture to say that many of us would answer yes. 

where were you when.....

why did you let....

I prayed for this...

Is this because our faith was not even as small as a mustard seed, 

or that we didn't know how to pray? 

I wish I could give you all the reasons why things happen but I can't. 

I can tell you that God is good and does not want harm to come to us. 

He bore all of our burdens, and pains, and sorrows. Sin, the bible tells us, has caused deep brokenness between us and God, and between us and our neighbor, and even the earth does not work right. 

So how can God say he has plans for good and not harm? Is he not paying attention? 

He is. Have no fear. 

The prophet Habakkuk asks us a question today on our 2nd day of lent. 

Will you still rejoice in God even when things look their worse?

We can do this because our future, those of us who have come to new life with Jesus, are living with Hope. This is not the hope my daughter had with the American Girl Doll. Her hope was a feeling. The hope that God gives us is a noun, and a proper noun at that. 

His name is Jesus. 

So I ask you today on this second day of Lent. 
Is your trust in God based on who God is, or your situation in life? 

There are no ashes left on your forehead today but your promise to die to your agenda remains. 

Did the promise wash down the drain withe ashes,

or did they trickle down into your heart?   

NB
I am not in anyway downplaying real emotion or real pain. I have experienced both and if we could sit over a coffee I would tell you my stories. I am saying that eternal life-God full life, is not about what happens after we die. It is about what happens when we live the life we are offered. It is in dying to our selves that we can know God.