Songs of the Soul: A Lent DevotionalSample

CS Lewis wrote in his book, The Problem of Pain, “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

Pain and struggle have no purpose, from the perspective of the pleasure-seeking human. In history, the world has pursued many human-centric approaches to dealing with pain, such as traditional rituals, circumstantial explanations based on secular values, critical theories, etc. Although the approaches vary, what they have in common is that they all entail some kind of “works” that humans can do.

The crowd of 5000, just after being fed by Jesus, asks Jesus for more. Instead of using another miracle to feed everyone again, Jesus offers the Eternal Bread, which is Himself. Then the crowd asked, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." (John 6:28-29)

It’s easy for humans to choose self-reliance. Since the beginning of human history when sin entered the world, humans have been cursed to do “works” and we cannot perceive God’s Sovereign Providence fully. It wasn’t until Christ came to Earth more than 2000 years ago that God’s Providence, the “Work” of God, was revealed completely.

Instead of doing work to save ourselves, let’s use work as a response to His Love for us. Like the psalmist articulated for us (my notes in parentheses):

I waited patiently for the Lord; [Not of human timing, but God’s Timing]
He inclined to me and heard my cry. [Not of mindfulness training, but counseled by the Holy Spirit]
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, [Not of risk management, but God’s Rescue and Redemption]
out of the miry bog, [Not of personal strength, but God’s Sovereign Control]
and set my feet upon a rock, [Not of proactive initiation, but God’s Mercy to inspire]
making my steps secure. [Not of self-seeking security, but trusting the Love of God]
Psalm 40:1-2 ESV

Instead of relying on doing ‘works’ to save ourselves, let’s turn our focus to experience a genuine and authentic relationship with the Person and Divinity of Christ. Simply start by believing and trusting: what is Jesus asking you to entrust to Him today?

CK Wong
Hope of the City

Prayer:
Lord, grant me a faithful heart to trust Your Work in the unseen, not only for the future but for the past and present.