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Tuesday Take-Away {Genesis 3:8-9}

Three years ago, I traveled to “She Speaks” with a completed manuscript in hand. And while all of my publisher meetings exceeded my expectations (a.k.a. they enthusiastically took my proposal), weeks later my mailbox was filled with their (what I assume to be) customary rejections. The manuscript I pitched back then is still sitting on my shelf, collecting dust alongside a few other books I’ve written. Today, I reach back in time to re-consider the pulse behind this particular manuscript–a collection of thirty, devotional reflections all centering on the questions of God in Scripture. Questions spoken through his prophets, his Son, and his own voice. Questions given to us as an invitation to join with him in sacred conversation.

I firmly believe that as God presents his questions in Scripture, he means for them to jump off the page to become a question that engages our hearts. So, for today’s Tuesday Take-Away I’d like for you to consider the very first, recorded question from God to his children as found in Genesis 3:8-9:

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, ‘Where are you?'”
Where are you today? I’ll tell you where I am. Knee-deep in the midst of words, rambling thoughts, and wrestlings with my faith. I’m also knee-deep in the midst of God’s faithfulness. He is doing a work in me that I never expected; maybe thought about on occasion but never imagined that we would arrive at the point of putting our hands to the plow and some elbow grease to the deeper heart-work that is in front of me. As I reflect on this first question of God to his children in light of where I am this day, I keep these thoughts in mind:
  • God can always be found walking in his garden.
  • We have the privilege of joining him in his walk.
  • We’re always within earshot of his voice.
  • God is always willing to find us, even when we are content to stay hidden.
  • God intends for us to reveal our hiddenness, to name our “spot”, and to stand before him just as we are. Sinners in need of a garden-walking, question-asking, seeking Savior who knows our names and who isn’t content to leave us as we are.
Where are you today, my pilgrim friends? Wherever you are, I pray the sound of his footsteps ringing in your ears and the call of your name lingering on his lips. You are God’s child; he knows you, and he knows how very much you need him. Keep walking toward Eden. It’s closer now than it has ever been. As always…
Peace for the journey,
~elaine

Tuesday Take-Away {John 19:25-27}

Has it really been a week since I’ve been here? What a week it’s been for me! With the passage of time and as God prompts, I’ll let you in on a little more about what has been going on with me. In the meantime, here’s the scripture prompt for this Tuesday Take-Away, a poignant, telling scene from the life of Jesus:

“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Dear woman, here is your son,’ and to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19:25-27)

To do this passage justice, you might want to read it in its entirety (John 19:1-27). Here’s how I read it and a few corresponding thoughts to go alongside:

  • As we make our own walks to the cross of Jesus Christ—our chosen walks of surrender to behold his suffering so that we might better carry our own—our Savior revisits this scene from his own surrender. Never does his blood bleed brighter, his heart beat more tenderly, than when we choose to pick up our own crosses and to carry them forward in faith. It’s just that important to the work of the kingdom, both 2000 years ago and now. He is present.
  • Suffering their loss, they suffered collectively. As the body of Christ, it is both our charge and our keep to come alongside one another as we tenderly take hold of our own humanity, make our pilgrimages to the cross, and surrender our hearts to the painful, healing work of resurrection.
  • In our times of pain, Jesus Christ willingly assigns us a “beloved disciple”—a “John”—to make sure we’re taken care of, well-loved, and remembered. Even when it seems as if no one is surfacing to tend to our needs, God has dispatched the witness of his Holy Spirit to minister to our hurting hearts in ways that most perfectly meet the challenge of our pain (see John 14 and 16).
  • Finally, true, lasting heart-work—soul-work—always happens “near the cross.” Why? Because Pilate had it right when tagging the identity of the One hanging there: “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS” (John 19:19). Jesus of Nazareth, King of us as well. King in charge of our souls and the transformational work of our hearts.

So, friends, how do you read it? If not this passage, then what scripture have you been chewing on this week? I pray your Tuesday filled with the rich witness of Christ’s presence, and that, if you haven’t already taken the time to sit with him in quietness to contemplate his worthiness, you would take some time now. As always…

Peace for the journey,
~elaine

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