For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Luke 24
What were the disciples’ responses to the news of Jesus’ resurrection? How would you have responded? Jesus had explained everything that was to come to His disciples before it happened. They never really grasped what He was saying, though. Maybe God blocked their understanding to some extent, but I think part of it was because they didn’t want to believe what He was telling them. Jesus’ rejection and death did not fit with their expectations of Messiah, so they dismissed any information pertaining to that. It’s a very human thing to do. Because they had dismissed the information from their minds, they did not recognize what was going on as it happened. Thus, they did not understand the empty tomb. It wasn’t until the angels repeated Jesus’ words to them that they got it. “Then they remembered His words.” (Lk. 24:8).
This all made me think how differently we might view life if we would only remember Jesus’ words. Jesus said in John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” What that tells me is that if we remember Jesus’ words, it gives us faith. When we have faith, anything is possible. Imagine how the disciples might have viewed things differently if they had accepted and remembered all that Jesus told them. Instead of seeing Jesus’ death as a reason to mourn, they might have suffered through the ordeal with eager anticipation of what came next.
As Jesus instructed His disciples, so God has told us what comes next. We know the end of the story. It doesn’t always make complete sense to us, but we know that it is good and it is certain. That information is meant to give us faith so that we can hold out through the hard part with eager anticipation of what is to come. All we need to do is remember Jesus’ words. Or at least work to plant His words in our hearts, knowing that God has a way of bringing them to mind when we need them.
Amos 3-4
What had the Lord done to get their attention, yet they wouldn’t return? How might God be trying to get your attention? God gave His people physical need to remind them of their need for Him. He gave them hunger, failed crops, lack of rain, disease, plagues, and death. He gave them every warning; He gave them every chance. Yet they did not turn back to the God who chose them and set them apart. You would think that a taste of being out of God’s favor when you knew what it was to be under His blessing would be enough to turn you back. But they clearly did not recognize what was going on. God was so far from their minds that they couldn’t see the obvious.
We live in a fallen world, and I’m not going to say that every hardship we experience is because God is trying to get our attention. The book of Job quite soundly debunks that perspective. What I will say, though, is that every hardship we experience is a reminder of our need for God. It is also a prompt to examine ourselves. Because sometimes God does use hardship to lovingly correct us and turn us back to Him. His discipline is a gift. But if we are focused on ourselves and pursuing things that are not God, it is a gift we will, like the Israelites, miss.