Forever: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

                                                
                                               Forever

                                                Whole valley,

All that has gone before.

Ashes now.

Protected by His mantle.

Permanent grace.

Never more plundered.

No more battle ground.

Wholeness only future.

Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house,

                        They labor in vain who build it;

                        Unless the Lord guards the city,

                        The watchman stays awake in vain.

                        It is vain for you to rise up early,

                        To retire late,

                        To eat the bread of painful labors;

                        For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

Thank you for participating in this devotional reflection through Jeremiah 31. May this next season of Lent bring you grace and joy as you continue to journey with scripture.

                       

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Reflection:Wholeness: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1.     “For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.” Psalm 127:1 Why do we, do you, find this promise difficult to absorb?

2.     What changes in words or action would help you to live into hope this week, this year?

3.     Where do you want to build a new beginning?

           

4.     Write out a description of what that might look like. Then offer it up as a prayer over the next several days with a listening heart.

5.     Write down what God shows you as wholeness over the next several days.

                       

Wholeness: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Jeremiah 31: 40 “And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord; it shall not be plucked up, or overthrown anymore forever.”

Whole valley,

Can we leave the past, with complete trust in the Lord’s protection, so as to move forwards from our wilderness into new beginnings?

Are we ready and willing to entrust Him with all the pain and the loss and give it into His shelter?

Otherwise we too can become trapped in the wilderness unable to heal—unable to follow His light.

Yet the Lord continues to give us His grace to keep us remembering the hope He provides. And as He has carried us through loss, He will continue to carry us through new beginnings.

Lord, may we build only where You lead us to, and only by Your Spirit’s insight and timing. May Your will be done in all our days in the whole valley of our time.

Your thoughts,

Purpose: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

                                               Purpose

                                               

                                                Measuring line

                                                will go out further

                                                than we expect

                                                will climb a hill

                                                then take another turn

                                                moving straight ahead

                                                with directions

                                                to follow

                                                worn path

                                                treading through all obstacles

                                                moving with purpose.

Romans 8:39, “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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Reflection: Further: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1. What measuring line do you feel you are walking right now?

2. What word do you most hold onto, or need to hold onto, to give you emotional strength to keep going forward?

3. What hill is a friend climbing and how you can give support to them?

4. What does moving with purpose look like to you?

Further: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Jeremiah 31: 39 “And the measuring line shall go out farther straight ahead to the hill Gareb; then it will turn to Goah.”

Further,

The measuring line continues further than can be seen.  It is not a short distance and once reached it will turn towards another distance.

References say that the name Gareb means a scab, and possibly a name for Leper’s Hill. Goah means a place near Jerusalem. Two very different locations and yet both a part of the journey. The first seems to go through a path of illness or rejection, and the second a path towards holy ground.

The journey here seems to require endurance and a commitment to go out further—to go past the hill. To overcome the hill of the lepers—outcasts—those who have been turned away from community and family.

The measuring line expands beyond our comfort zones, beyond our failures, beyond our brokenness. To reach the Lord we are given His directions—no matter how far the road is in distance or how long the reach extends to accept His refuge—His love.                                                                                                                                    

Maybe we need to trust that there is a call to go further and deeper into His relationship that will lead us to grace beyond our scabs and towards healing.

Lord, we narrow things down—out hearts, attitudes, opinions, belief, acceptance of others, all things negative we sharpen with precision and target. You open up everything beyond all our comprehension to expand and embrace and look beyond the horizon to the unseen. Please replace our fears with trust and anticipation.

Your thoughts,

Days Are Coming: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

                                               Days Are Coming

                                               

                                                Rebuilt

                                                for the Lord.

                                                His purpose

                                                His plan

                                                Restored

                                                from destruction.

                                                Hear and see

                                                Hope and pray

                                                Reconcile

                                                fractured lives

                                                Hearts mended

                                                Healed by grace

                                                Rebuilt

                                                for the Lord.

                                                His protection

                                                His possibilities.

Romans 8:38, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,”

Reflection: Shall Be Rebuilt: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1. What debris is filling with you with despair?

2. What does the cost of rebuilding look like emotionally?

3. Prayerfully acknowledge what your first steps need to be to begin.

4. Choose a word of hope and commitment to remind you of His ongoing presence whenever you feel despair.

5. Take the first step to rebuild.

Shall Be Rebuilt: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Jeremiah 31: 38 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.”

Shall be rebuilt,

Sometimes it doesn’t feel as if any rebuilding is possible when only debris and rubble fill our life.

It’s hard to see restoration, or any kind of new beginnings. Especially when we are wearied in body, soul, mind, and heart.

Yet the Lord will help us to lift up our eyes from the destruction and see the possibilities through His vision for each of us. He will enable us to keep our faith steady in the days ahead.

He will keep our hearts faithful and watch over us in hope, not letting grief darken any of His light.

He will help us to rebuild, one small step at a time, steadily moving towards purpose instead of only seeing loss.

All our days are in Your care, Lord, if we would just give them over to You instead of trying to run our own lives from self-centered reasoning. Which only brings destruction whereas Your way brings restoration. Lord, we ask to live each day building into Your truth and by Your Spirit’s guidance. For Your purpose.

Your thoughts,

No Limits: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

                                                No Limits

                                               

                                                No limits

                                                to God’s mercy

                                                love infinite

                                                immeasurable

                                                expands like

                       

                                                the universe

                                                beyond grasp

                                                never ending

                                                depths

                                                of possibility.

Romans 8:37, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”

Reflection: If: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1. In what ways have you experienced His inexhaustible love towards you?

2. Or what barriers have you put up against accepting His mercy? Why?

3. How can the idea of no limits to His love bring discomfort or comfort?

4. To whom can you extend your love and compassion this week?

If: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Jeremiah 31: 37 “Thus says the Lord, ‘If the heavens above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel, For all that they have done,” declares the Lord.”

If,

If the measure of heaven be exhausted, would we be cast off too?

“The immense suggests the infinity,” says Alexander MacLaren. “The immensity of the material universe is for us a symbol of the infinity of God’s long-suffering love.”

A century ago the thought of measuring the universe was beyond comprehension. Today scientists have found more and more astonishing discoveries, and yet, the more they find, the more infinite the search becomes.

“His forgiving forbearance reaches further than the limits of the heavens.”

There are no limits to God’s love and His mercy. Despite whatever we have done.

Thank you Lord for Your unfailing grace that redeems us from all situations, and

restores life and hope into each breath. Thank you for Your immense ongoing love. May we learn to love each other with Your compassion and grace.

Your thoughts,

Cease: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

                                               Cease

                                                Fixed order

                                                centered in purpose

                                                foundation built on

                                                costly grace

                                                future must hold on

                                                continuously or

                                                forfeit new possibilities

                                                cause a broken covenant

                                                forever scattered like

                                                chaff in the wind

                                                fractured order.

Romans 8:36, “Just as it is written, ‘For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’”

Reflection: Fixed Order: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1. What has crumbled in your life recently?

2. How have you sought and found guidance in His grace?

3. Who close to you is also struggling?

4. What words of grace can you pass on in person or in prayer?

5. How can we show that costly grace is a fixed order?

Fixed Order: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Jeremiah 31: 36 “‘If this fixed order departs from before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘Then the offspring of Israel also shall cease From being a nation before me forever.’”

Fixed order,

Now scattered.

How easily we each fail to keep to the Lord’s grace for us—His plans, His order, His promises.

Then we wonder why we are often lost and crumble and wander away. And feel as if any promised possibility is lost forever.

Yet, the Lord will continue to walk with us side-by-side waiting for us to recognize and accept His way. When we turn to His fixed love that is offered in a relationship that He still gives to us one-to-one.

Especially when our paths have been shattered and broken, either by ourselves or by others, He will still show us how to move forward. In His ongoing truth and purpose which cannot be broken.

He will take all our broken pieces and shape them by His own hand in a new creation. His fixed order of personal relationship.

Lord, we have no life—no being—no breath apart from You—Your creation—Your Presence. Help us each to understand and embrace life in Your shaping hands and purpose.

Your thoughts,

Only One: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

                                                Only One

                                                His name

                                                only one to speak

                                                creation into being

                                                lit the heavens

                                                by day and night

                                                engulfing darkness

                                                designing oceans

                                                fixed order

                                                ongoing life

                                                established by

                                                His hand

                                   

                                                only power

                                                to save all

                                                creation into wholeness

                                                Light of life

                                                Holy love.

Romans 39:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

Reflection: His Name: Grace in the Wilderness: Prayers and Poetry

Reflection Questions

1. Why do we lean into forgetting that all life is from God?

2. What difference could that make in our perspective each day?

3. Where do you need His gift of light today?

4. Ask Him for His word to you.