Lenten Devotional, Day 6: The Gift!!! of Repentance, Don't Despair Ordinary, and Empathy v. Sympathy
Dear Saints,
So, the Verses are Psalm 32 (Poetic description of conviction & repentance), 1 Kings 19:1–8 (Elijah flees Jezebel), Hebrews 2:10–18 (Jesus gets-gets us, yet without sin).
THE GIFT!!! OF REPENTANCE:
It is easy to caricature, lampoon "repentance" as an old-school, Old-Testament joke. A thousand times NO! David grants us a vivid picture of conviction of sin in Psalm 32:3: "For when I kept silent [didn't repent], my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long." I'm not sure what was the sin, but what if God left him there? Just think of the excess, the numbing, the distracting it would take to keep that anguish at bay. That is no joking, scoffing, mocking matter.
God as an uber-patient, "slow-to-anger" father kept a "heavy hand" and piercing "eye" upon him. David broke, confessed, repented unto instant, exultory relief. I get that, but then called God his "hiding place." A hiding place? Yes! For David repentance wasn't old-time religion, it was pure Gospel. Let me explain: Religion says, 'I messed up; my dad is gonna kill me.' Gospel says, 'I messed up; I gotta find my Dad and tell Him.'
Repentance is a gracious gift par excellence: To those who "oppose themselves" we are exhorted: "They must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." (2 Timothy 2:25–26). Set me free too, Lord!
DON'T DESPAIR ORDINARY:
Elijah had just subjected 450 prophets of Baal to open humiliation and execution (yes, it was a blood-earnest time). It was one of a couple-few most daring deliverances in all the Bible. Then our reading picks up with the same Elijah in dread terror of Jezebel. He is in abject fear, fleeing for is life, begging God to take his life, all alone, fetal in despondency. Hmm? What do I do with that?
[Now, let me break in here, when I read the readings today, they felt so blah; I felt so blah. It seemed like ordinary Scripture on an ordinary day being read by an ordinary jag (i.e. just a guy/just a gal). Then it hit me, back to the devo].
Our reading was portioned to leave the story unresolved. I could see it was for forty days & nights. Yes, a symbolic number, especially in Lent. But that wasn't it; it was where: "Horeb, the mount of God."
See if this bears witness: Extraordinary Elijah wasn't, not really. (The double negative works here). He was ordinary, but really was extraordinary too, sorta. I'm thinking of a Verse: "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, ordinary men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus." (Act 4:13).
The point is this: Ordinary tim was feeling pressure with this devotional to say something cool. We ordinaries all feel this pressure in different ways. But it isn't in us; it is in who we are with. And, well, if that is Jesus, it will be "recognized." In the same way, I guess, poor Elijah was due for 40-day meeting with God on the mount of God. And that, I suppose, is what every Lenten pilgrim senses the need of as well. Godspeed brethren!
EMPATHY V. SYMPATHY:
The Hebrews Passage tells us Jesus gets us, identifies with us, sympathizes with us — utterly so. Let that just hang there for a moment.
Is this even real? Was it a sit-com? I'm not sure, can't remember. Anyway, I'm truly not trying to make fun despite having no category for this:
So a couple is expecting. And the father wants to support the mother. He goes out and buys a pregnant belly attachment. He wears it to try and evoke sensitivity for his pregnant wife. It's uncomfortable of course, makes simple tasks hard, wrecks sleep, etc. He really tries though. But you know, takes it off for work, to shower, and when she isn't looking.
Now fast forward to the baby shower. This guy starts telling his account of "their" pregnancy like he walked right in her shoes...except that his hormones never changed, he didn't get tasered to simulate contractions, he wasn't subjected to a multi-hour expo of pokes & prods, nothing football size passed from his body, and, wonder of wonders, his body miraculously went right back into game shape after the delivery, no soreness to boot.
No matter how sincere, earnest, he doesn't get it. No dad does. And overplaying & overstating his empathic proclivities could backfire into sheer outrage and trauma for the dear wife and countless other moms at the shower.
Now, I did the norm for my time: I went to birth classes. My one job, only one, was to help Deanne breathe. After two attempts she politely said: 'Please stop, that's not really helping me.' Empathy is honorable, that is to imagine what it is like in another's shoes or circumstances. But let that empathy be seen and not heard. It is so easy to presume a true knowing at great offense.
Jesus isn't an empath; He is a sympath. Flesh and blood, growing pains, trained up, misunderstood, mistreated, despised, rejected, suffered, and tempted. "For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:15–16). Amen!
The Only Best is/in Christ,
tIM