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Help support the vision of Woodland Hills Community Church!
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Saturday, March 8

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 80; Ezekiel 39:21-29; John 8:47-59; 2 Corinthians 11:1-6; Psalm 85

In today’s first Psalm, the psalmist gives voice to one of the most natural human impulses. The psalmist assumes that when things start to go bad in life, that God is at least partially to blame. His language in Psalm 80 implies that God has either fallen asleep on the job (verse 2), left them (verse 3), or is off brooding in smoldering anger (verse 4). Much of the Psalm, then, is the psalmist’s attempt to get God to wake up and return to God’s post. While I can understand why someone would feel like this, I don’t share the psalmist’s view. So if I don’t believe that the occurrence of bad things proves God has fallen asleep on the job, how do I explain them? The notion of free will reminds me that God is more than a mere puppet master producing things that are either pleasing or annoying to me. Rather, I experience God more as a loving parent whose grace empowers us to venture out on our own and serve as co-creators of the events in our lives. Sometimes – in that space of that free will – we encounter things we label “good”; other times we encounter things we label “bad”. There is one thing that I do know in the face of this good and bad. God’s love and grace is there with us: constantly. God never for even a second falls asleep on the job! Today I give thanks for a God that is there with us through thick and thin. A God who is generous and gracious to let us vent our frustrations – as did the psalmist – and then loving embraces us as we (and not God) return. Til next time…

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