God Arranges the Details


Today marks the beginning of the season known as Lent. Today specifically is celebrated as Ash Wednesday where we immerse ourselves into the fact that we are in desperate need of a Savior and repentance is just the beginning. During Lent, this Blog will be focused on devotionals that apply to the readings appointed for the upcoming Sunday. We will pick up the final chapter of 2 Samuel after Resurrection Day.
 
Prayer: Dear Lord God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Every year You bring us to this time of remembrance and repentance as we look again upon the story of Your    Passion. Please walk with me through the study of Your Word, the worship of Your name, and the details of Your story as I am challenged and changed by You. Thank You for the amazing work of Jesus for me. Help me to love Your more and           recognize Your hand upon my life as the story of Your death and resurrection comes to the front of my mind yet again. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Read:  Daniel 12:1-4
http://www.esvbible.org/Daniel 12:1-4
 
Think about It: What an odd place from which to launch the Lenten season – the second coming of Christ. For us this year, the end is our beginning. This was chosen very specifically because for the Christian, our hope of eternity with the God we love is the final outcome of the horrifying and tragic death of Jesus Christ. We begin here also because it is where Christ began His final week with the disciples, teaching them about His return at the end of time. So with that great precedent, we also begin this time of preparation and repentance.
     The prophet Daniel lived in Babylon 530 year before Jesus was even born. By the time of Daniel, God’s people had split into two nations, the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah). Almost 125 years before the time of  Daniel, the people of the Northern Kingdom had been scattered to the four winds, taken as slaves and dispersed throughout the whole region, never to be brought back again. The nation of Judah was taken by the Babylonians while Daniel was a      teenager and carried off into slavery as well. This was God’s judgment upon them for their rampant idolatry. The book of Daniel recounts the lives of Daniel and God’s people who lived in Babylon; and the visions and dreams of Daniel as he faithfully maintained his love for God and his obedience to Him. The last two    chapters of Daniel are completely remarkable as the political future of the world is told to   Daniel in shocking detail in chapter 11 and the final days of the earth are shown to him in chapter 12. There are those who would say that Daniel couldn’t possibly have been written around 530BC because the accuracy and detail are just too great. But we know that God is does not struggle with knowing the future. As those events described in chapter 11 played out exactly as Daniel prophesied, so will the spiritual events prophesied in chapter 12. The four short verses we read  today are filled with hope and a sense of great expectation for those who would  believe in the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
     So, as you can see, this is a great place to start – with the end. May the Lord of Hosts pour out His grace and mercy upon you over the weeks ahead. May your faith grow as the story of Jesus Passion lives again for you and may your love for Him deepen with the telling of each story. May your life be challenged and changed as you participate in the wonderful mystery that is the Love of God for you.

Prayer: Dear Father God, You are amazing! There is not one detail of Your plan that went awry or slipped through Your fingers. Thank You for the beauty of Your plan and the salvation that was won for me in the sacrifice of Jesus. Please help me to live out my eternal place in Your kingdom, won for me by Jesus, every single day. In His name I pray. Amen.

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