The Lenten Season – Day 16

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LONGING FOR GOD AND BEHOLDING HIS GLORY in worship are inseparably linked. Psalm 63 is a window into a heart filled with a desire for God, to know him and encounter his presence amid life’s great struggles and sorrows. “O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Ps 63:1).

For the desert wanderer, water is the singular pursuit and sole passion, with every other care and concern overshadowed by the desire for survival.
Beautiful and poetic as this imagery surely is, if you’re honest, you may struggle with psalms of this nature. How does anyone truly obtain this desperate longing to know God? Rather than joining them in this place, you may instead feel confusion or even shame at your lack of desire. We may wish to long for God in this way, yet in our heart of hearts, we struggle to see how this could ever be true of us.

The answer, according to this psalm, is found in a life of worship. A thirst for God finds its fulfillment in his presence, beholding his power and glory (Ps 63:2). It is in God’s presence that our desires are fulfilled and awakened within us. Our thirst is quenched, and we are simultaneously made aware of how deeply we long to know God more.

The Lenten Season – Day 15

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In honor of this season, I will be posting inspiring music for most of the next 40 days. I hope you’ll use this music as an opportunity to quiet and settle yourself; for contemplation, preparation, and thanksgiving. May you be encouraged and realize the felt presence of Peace and Love as you hear the music; may you hear the message meant for you in each of the musical offerings. Wishing you peace and every good!

The Lenten Season – Day 14

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In honor of this season, I will be posting inspiring music for most of the next 40 days. I hope you’ll use this music as an opportunity to quiet and settle yourself; for contemplation, preparation, and thanksgiving. May you be encouraged and realize the felt presence of Peace and Love as you hear the music; may you hear the message meant for you in each of the musical offerings. Wishing you peace and every good!

The Lenten Season – Day 13

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In honor of this season, I will be posting inspiring music for most of the next 40 days. I hope you’ll use this music as an opportunity to quiet and settle yourself; for contemplation, preparation, and thanksgiving. May you be encouraged and realize the felt presence of Peace and Love as you hear the music; may you hear the message meant for you in each of the offerings. Wishing you peace and every good!

The Lenten Season – Day 12

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CHILDREN BELIEVE ANYTHING. It’s so precious, we sometimes reckon it to them as righteousness. But no matter how sweet a child’s trust, we must still teach them to weigh trust against facts lest we leave them in constant danger. To keep ourselves and others safe, to make wise decisions in this life, they must learn how to doubt. Skepticism keeps us alive. But what happens when God solicits our trust? What happens when he gives us the facts, not from where we sit, but from where he sits?

If God’s promise doesn’t strain our ability to believe, then it is probably not a promise of God; it isn’t wild and good enough. Jesus blessed Thomas after the doubting disciple touched his hands and side after the resurrection, but then said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (John 20:29). From Adam and Eve to Abram, to us, whatever our level of faith or skepticism, faith will be a challenge. It will require recovering trust, not out of naïveté, but out of a more foundational set of facts. Choosing to believe that God’s hidden facts undergird our current circumstances is grown-up work.

The Lenten Season – Day 11

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In honor of this season, I will be posting inspiring music for most of the next 40 days. I hope you’ll use this music as an opportunity to quiet and settle yourself; for contemplation, preparation, and thanksgiving. May you be encouraged and realize the felt presence of Peace and Love as you hear the music; may you hear the message meant for you in each of the offerings. Wishing you peace and every good!

The Lenten Season – Second Sunday

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In honor of this season, I will be posting inspiring music for most of the next 40 days. I hope you’ll use this music as an opportunity to quiet and settle yourself; for contemplation, preparation, and thanksgiving. May you be encouraged and realize the felt presence of Peace and Love as you hear the music; may you hear the message meant for you in each of the musical offerings. Wishing you peace and every good!

The Lenten Season – Day 10

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In honor of this season, I will be posting inspiring music for most of the next 40 days. I hope you’ll use this music as an opportunity to quiet and settle yourself; for contemplation, preparation, and thanksgiving. May you be encouraged and realize the felt presence of Peace and Love as you hear the music; may you hear the message meant for you in each of the musical offerings. Wishing you peace and every good!

The Lenten Season – Day 9

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In honor of this season, I will be posting inspiring music for most of the next 40 days. I hope you’ll use this music as an opportunity to quiet and settle yourself; for contemplation, preparation, and thanksgiving. May you be encouraged and realize the felt presence of Peace and Love as you hear the music; may you hear the message meant for you in each of the musical offerings. Wishing you peace and every good!

The Lenten Season – Day 8

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IN MANY WAYS, the entire season of Lent is summed up in Christ’s words in Luke 21:34: “Be on guard.” Spiritual sobriety is the invitation before us in this extended season of repentance. We must wake up to the countless ways in which we are inattentive to his voice and unaware of our own apathy and anxiety.

If we do not have a habit of daily attentiveness to Christ, the seemingly mundane challenges of life can grow into an unbearable burden. Taken in isolation, these difficulties may seem small: financial anxiety, wayward children, loneliness, or a lack of intimacy. Yet if these longings are left unattended and allowed to fester, they will slowly but surely overtake our hearts and consume our every thought.

Faithful discipleship requires us to battle these temptations towards despondency and sorrow, contending for that which is eternal. In this way, Lent is a training ground for your soul. Enter the arena and pray to God for the strength to be unencumbered by sin and earthly cares, living instead with a heart set free to anticipate the coming of his kingdom.