Words of Reflection
Waiting is not a theme we necessarily associate with Lent. In fact, waiting is often seen as the exclusive theme of the Advent season as we prepare to celebrate Christ’s first coming and also anticipate his second. During Advent, waiting is a theological reality tied up in God’s grand plan of salvation. It is powerful and unique and filled with the promises of God.
But the kind of waiting we think about during Lent is different. It’s tied to the wilderness, and it’s a waiting that brushes up against some darker themes and harder places. As we contemplate our sin and our need for God we are often brought to the very end of ourselves, and that can often be a very barren place, spiritually speaking. Lent strips away our masks and our coping mechanisms and asks us to be honest about where we are and what we need.
And it asks us to wait on God in the midst of our self-examination.
This is not a bad thing, but it is a difficult thing. God is patient with us, but we are not always patient with him. We often forget that spiritual formation is a lifelong journey, and that sometimes the progress seems slow. But when the way seems hard it is there that God is often doing his most important work—it is there that he is bringing to death any reliance on ourselves so that we might rely only on him. Through it all we need to remember that God is purifying us and calling us back to what is central: his love for us and his desire for us to dwell in that love. In the midst of our waiting we cling even more tightly to the promise that the work God is doing within us both necessary and good, and we trust that through this season we will be drawn closer to Jesus so we can be made more like him.
During Lent we give the Holy Spirit permission to pry our fingers away from anything to which we hold on too tightly, so that we may find ourselves being held by the one who will never let us go.
Scripture for Meditation:
The poor and needy search for water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the Lord will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.
I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together,
so that people may see and know, may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
—Isaiah 41:17-20 (NIV)
Song: O Love That Will Not Let Me Go (lyrics here)
Today we offer two versions of this hymn, one classic hymn arrangement and one modern tune.
Classic Hymn Arrangement
Modern Tune Arrangement
Questions for Reflection
How is your Lenten journey exposing the places in your heart and soul where God is inviting you to deeper trust and deeper surrender? Do you find that difficult? How are you waiting on God through this season?
Isaiah 41 speaks of God bringing refreshment to those who are thirsty, who find themselves in a “desert place.” How has God shown himself faithful to you in desert seasons? Spend some time in grateful prayer for those oases of spiritual nourishment.
Today’s song is a hymn rich in meaningful imagery. Spend some time prayerfully considering these lyrics and how they speak to you:
—I give thee back the life I owe
—I yield my flick’ring torch to thee
—I cannot close my heart to thee
—O Cross that liftest up my head