Megan Langan

Distractions

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 19:1-14 (day four)

During this season of Lent, I’m fasting from a couple things that had become unhealthy in my life. This is not a boast, but a confession. These things slowly, insidiously creeped in and took up residence in my heart without me realizing it. While not bad in and of themselves, they were adding noise in my life that was distracting me from God. The goal in fasting is to replace the time you engaged with that thing that was not adding to your life, and spend it with the Lord instead. I have by no means excelled at this, but even in my feeble attempt to spend more time with the Lord and less time on distractions, I have noticed a world of difference.

I’ve been able to spend more time in God’s word, and I can attest that this Psalm speaks the truth. God’s Word really is perfect and restores my soul. It is sure, and has given me wisdom. It’s right, and it has added joy to my life. It’s pure, and spending more time in it has cleared my vision. My prayer is that this time spent in the Word would allow my words and thoughts to be acceptable to the Lord. What distractions are pulling you away from spending time in God’s presence and his Word? What might happen if you got rid of those distractions and spent that time meditating on the Word? I assure you, it will be worth it.

Clothed

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 14:1-7 (day four)

This Psalm paints a picture of God looking down on creation and finding no one who is righteous, no one who is holy, no one who is committed to justice. It ends with an expression of longing – longing for God to send the Promised One, longing for God to restore his people as he promised, longing for the restoration of the earth. As we continue through this season of Lent, we enter into that longing with the psalmist. We long for the salvation hope that will come on Easter morning. We long for the day still to come, where Jesus will return to make all things right.

Unlike the psalmist, we live in a world that Jesus has already walked. We live in a world that has seen the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. When we surrender our lives to Jesus, we are clothed in his righteousness. We aren’t righteous in our own right, but we are covered by the righteousness of Christ and therefore made acceptable before the Father. As we await Christ’s return, we seek to live in a way that matches our new clothes of righteousness. Praise God for fulfilling his promises!

Purpose

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 30:1-12 (day three)

What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?

This psalm is just so raw. It’s like you’re reading the author’s personal journal detailing the range of emotions they’ve had before God. In verse 9, the psalmist sounds like they’re trying to persuade God to save them. He’s essentially saying, “The dirt can’t (audibly) praise you! If I die and return to dirt myself, I’m not good for anything! Save me so I can praise you!”

We know it’s generally not wise to bribe God; nor is it necessary to bribe him who loves us and wants to help us, though many of us have been this desperate in our prayers. In the psalmist’s desperation, though, he sheds light on the truth: we exist on this earth to give praise to God. Our purpose in life is simply to give him the praise that he is due, which is all of it. When we walk through life distracted by other pursuits and fail to give God praise and glory, we’re fulfilling our purpose no more than if we returned to dust.

This psalm reminds us of the ultimate purpose of our life, and it reminds us that God is worthy of that praise. He rescues from the pit; he hears our cries. May we praise him in both our mourning and our dancing.

Words for Worship

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 66:1-20 (day four)

The Psalms teach us how to worship and how to pray. They free us to pray in ways we aren’t used to, and they give language to emotions that are hard to put into words. When we pray the words of the Psalms, we’re using prayers of old to express ourselves to God, and we find they are just as relevant and poignant now as they were then.

In Psalm 66, we find a prayer that follows the journey of the Israelites, centering on the event of the Exodus. In the Exodus, we see that an all-powerful God is willing to hear the cries of his people and intervene on their behalf. The Psalmist recognizes that God allowed them to experience hardship, but it was a hardship that refined them as God’s people. They reflect on that refinement with joy because it ultimately led them to a place of abundance.

Though we didn’t experience the Exodus firsthand, these words still lead us to worship. When have you experienced God intervening on your behalf? When have you experienced a challenging time of God refining you, allowing you to go through hard things? How did that refinement make you more Christlike? How has God led you into abundance? As we reflect on these things, we’ll find that we come to the same conclusion as the Psalmist: we should make God’s praise glorious.

Invest

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 25:14–30 (day four)

This parable is part of a series of teachings that Jesus gives his disciples before making his final journey to the cross. He gives this teaching on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the city of Jerusalem, where he would soon be put to death. In this series of teachings, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his death, resurrection, and ultimate return.

Through the analogy of investing, Jesus is encouraging his disciples to maximize the life they’ve been given in order to advance God’s Kingdom. He instructs them not to sit on their hands, hide away in fear, or ignore the world around them while they await his return. They are to invest what they’ve been given – their intimate walk with Jesus, their knowledge of God’s Kingdom, their time, their resources and connections, their money, and everything around them – into the Kingdom of God. Any investment into the Kingdom will reap a generous return.

God has given to each of us generously and uniquely. Take stock of what God has given you (no matter who you are, it will be a long list). How can you use these things to invest in the Kingdom of God?

Unique

Re:Verse passage – Genesis 1:26–31, Romans 8:18–22 (day four)

Humans occupy a unique place in the created order. We are very much part of God’s creation. Adam was formed by the dust of the earth. Genesis, the creation of humans, brings God’s process of creating to a glorious finale. On the other hand, God created humans in his image – a privilege not shared by the rest of creation. We have a unique place of authority over the rest of the created world, yet we ourselves are part of that created world.

After sin entered the world, we struggled with how to handle this unique position. We have often misused our power over creation, exploiting it, squeezing the life out of it, abusing it. In our sin, we treat one another this way as well.

Our original calling as humans is to fill the earth and steward it. We are to do so as image bearers of the Creator himself. As we go about trying to steward creation as God intended, we are meant to reflect his character. What do we need to do differently in order to reflect God’s character in our stewardship of creation?

Growth

Re:Verse passage – 2 Corinthians 8:1–9, 2 Corinthians 9:6–11 (day four)

When we think about our spiritual growth, certain things come to mind: growing in our faith and trust in God, growing in our knowledge of Scripture and doctrine, developing our spiritual gifts, growing in love for our neighbors and spending more time serving others. All of these are great indicators of spiritual growth, which Paul acknowledges are happening among the Corinthians. He adds another indicator of spiritual growth to this list, though: generosity in finances.

When we think about spiritual growth, finances aren’t usually the first thing to come to mind, but Paul reminds us that the way we steward our money and the way we give to others is very much a reflection of our spiritual life. It’s easy to think of our finances as a separate category, but our life is one integrated whole, of which Jesus demands the entirety. Just as we are to grow in prayer, service, and wisdom, we are to grow in generosity. When we truly understand Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, the ultimate form of generosity, then we will reflect that generosity in every part of our lives, just as the Macedonian Christians model for us here.

We would never say “alright, I now have exactly enough faith,” or “I have enough knowledge of Scripture, I don’t need anymore.” We want to grow in those things more and more for the rest of our lives. In the same way, may we grow in generosity, allowing the Lord to show us more and more ways to give and steward our money according to his purposes.

Guide

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 5:15–17 (day four)

Time is a slippery thing. When we’re waiting in line or waiting for our shift to end, it can stretch on forever. On the flip side, I can’t be the only one that sits down to “quickly” check something on my phone, and later suddenly realize I’ve been scrolling for nearly an hour! Much more enjoyable are the conversations with a spouse or a friend that last for hours before we know it.

Time is challenging to keep ahold of. The misuse of time happens insidiously, often without us realizing it. The call to steward our time according to God’s purposes might be one of our most challenging callings as Christians. One of my constant prayers each day is that I would glorify God with my time and use it well. I desperately need his help to steward the time he’s given me. Not spending all my time on what is seemingly most urgent, but on what is most important. I want to spend my time doing exactly what God is leading me to that day.

Sometimes those are tasks, sometimes they’re long conversations. Sometimes it’s a longer time of prayer in the morning, sometimes it’s simply to rest. Ask the Lord to guide your time each day. It’s your most precious resource.

Origin

Re:Verse passage – Psalm 24:1-10 (day four)

For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

David’s poetry in this psalm is meant to remind us of the poetry of the creation narrative. The earth and the cosmos were all created by the King of glory and for the King of glory. There is no alternate purpose for anything in God’s created world. He created everything, from the Milky Way to the atoms that form the soil, to allow his glory to be reflected, known, and celebrated.

Because God created it and owns it, nothing in this world has purpose other than what God has given it. That includes us. We were created by the King of glory and for the King of glory. When we think of creation as anything other than the Lord’s, we misuse it. When we think of ourselves as anything other than the Lord’s, we miss our calling.

Evidence

Re:Verse passage – Luke 7:18-35 (day four)

There was always evidence that Jesus had been to a particular place. When Jesus passed through a town or a household, he didn’t “leave it like he found it.” He left evidence everywhere he went. It was not trace evidence, either. The blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is preached to the poor. Jesus left unmistakeable, radical life change behind him everywhere he went.
This tells us several things. It tells us that the Kingdom of God is not some pie-in-the-sky, eternal concept that is unattainable to us. The Kingdom of God is here and now and has immediate impact in this earthly life. As we continue to minister in the name of Jesus and seek to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, there will be this kind of evidence. This also tells us that Jesus, the Jewish man born in Bethlehem, is the one we’ve waited so long for. In him we find the fulfillment of the law and prophets. In him we find God made flesh. In him we find the lamb slain for our sins. Jesus reminds us, just as he reminded John, that the evidence is clear: God has won the victory.