Today is the 31st day of Lent.
 
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace through the power of the Holy Spirit.     
 
Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence. And say, “Come Holy Spirit.”    
   
Today’s reading is from Jeremiah 32:36-4.
 

“You are saying about this city, ‘By the sword, famine and plague it will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon’; but this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul. 
 

Sometimes Old Testament scriptures are confusing. On the one hand, God seems to be like a jealous God, or He seems to speak out of anger. But then suddenly we also see a revelation of his character as a rescuer, as a redeemer, as a protector. How do scriptures like this make you feel when you read them?  
   
God reveals himself through scripture as not just a God who loves, but as a God who IS love. He also is revealed as a God who IS love and who is always in pursuit of those He loves. There is a wonderful poem from the English poet Francis Thomspon called The Hounds of Heaven… Thompson suffered from depression and lived a life of drug addiction and poverty. He writes that he fled from God… and he ends the poem with these words:  “Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest, I am He Whom thou seekest!” As you listen again, listen to the voice of God seeking after His people:  
 
Like the poet, many of us at many times run away from God. We’re like the prodigal son… looking for the best the world has to give while running in the wrong direction. Is there anywhere in your life that you’re running from God? Running from a reconciliation? Running from a confession? Running from a calling to vocation? As we end, could you imagine yourself slowing down, getting still, and inviting God to be present to the thing you’re running from?  
 
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your holy Spirit from me. Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.   
 
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