2017 Belmont University Lenten Devotional GuideSample

I’m sure we can all identify with David’s cry for help in Psalm 143. There are days when your heart is just overcome with dismay. Maybe you have lost a loved one or a job. Maybe you just had a bad day.
Isn’t it great that we have a God who hears us when we call in the midst of such despair? And, He is powerful to save, even from death. In 1 Kings 17, Elijah prays to God to bring a young boy back to life. In Acts 20, Paul throws himself on a boy who had died after falling from a third story window. Through the power of God, both boys returned to life.

Our God is in the business of saving lives. This should be a comfort to each of us, but it is also a commission. Do you notice how God went about saving the lives of the two boys? He did so through the words and actions of His followers, Elijah and Paul. God can and sometimes does act independently and directly in this world, but He often chooses to work in and through the lives of His people.

Sometimes in our life as Christians, we are like the two boys or David in Psalm 143. As our life seems to be falling apart, we need a God who saves, redeems, and restores. But do you realize that you have also been called to be an Elijah or a Paul? As followers of Christ, we are His hands and feet, called to go out and be His instruments, restoring life unto the world.

That does not mean that we should be seeking out children to raise from the dead. We most certainly should, however, find those who are lost and show them the Way.
There is a lot of pain in this world. How are you using the resources you have been given (time, talents, and possessions) to show people the healing power of God?

CAL BOWEN
Class of 2017
College of Law