Easter and the Love of God
It is another Easter season. Traditionally, this period starts when lent (traditional 40 days fasting for Christians) comes around and ends with the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday.
On Friday after an agonizing time on the cross, a place he got to by carrying his own cross after receiving a crown of thorns, abuse from the soldiers and mockery from the people, he asked for forgiveness for everyone who had taken part in the abuse of the innocent one and after a while he said it is finished and he gave up his life. He was taken down from the cross, his body was washed and spices were applied to his body and the grave was closed with a very heavy stone and soldiers were appointed to guard the grave and everyone went home for the Sabbath and the passover. On Sunday morning, the world changed forever.
This period is probably the most important period in the life of Christians because it culminates in the resurrection of the Lord which basically is the beginning of the Christian church. During his 3-year ministry, the Lord told the disciples and everyone who cared to listen that he would die and be buried and would rise again and would return to his Father. The disciples would not hear anything of it but he kept on with the message. Another group of people showed interest in this idea but were rather interested in not seeing it come to pass. This group arranged his death, provided false witnesses and judged him through some illegal judgment to ensure that he was out of the way and his “lies” would not come to pass and also made sure that a lie would be circulated concerning the resurrection when it eventually happened. From the moment he was arrested to the moment he said it was finished, his disciples were confused and in disarray. They had left all to follow him, they had trusted him with their lives, everything about them found its identity in him and here they are miserable and helpless because he has been taken from them and there was nothing they could do about it. Then the Lord appeared to them and they saw him and they were convinced that indeed He has risen. They received such an awakening that nothing else could have given to them. Everything the Lord had told them suddenly made sense, they understood him with such clarity they had not had in a while. They were emboldened and they knew immediately what they had to do especially after the Lord himself told them “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:19-20).
This is the season to remember that the Lord of life, gave himself for people who did not deserve him and received from the people that which he did not deserve but accepted took as the Lamb of God the true passover lamb.
So more than easter eggs and other fun stuff, let us remember to thank God for the best gift ever.
Happy Easter!
Psalm 84
May 31, 2017 by Jide Ajayi • Life, Word • Tags: joy, trust •
This is a psalm of joy. Psalms are filled with variations of the human experience. They reflect the thoughts in the heart of the singer during the expressions recorded in the psalm. In this particular psalm, the author focuses on joy and the true source of joy. It is easy to see oneself as joyful when everything lines up and desires are met and fulfilled unabated. That is the type of joy that easily comes to mind. It is the type of joy we can gladly share with others. They can participate in the euphoria of those things that gladden our hearts and maybe hope for the same in their own lives. In this Psalm, the author is looking at something external and internal to himself. He is not recounting a joy sourced from acquisition of material things. He is looking at the joy that can only come from God. He rejoices in the dwelling house of God for he believes that God is there and for that reason he longs for it in a deep way such that his heart and flesh sings for joy to the living God. There are people who easily express their happiness with singing. The heart that is content with God is filled with a joy that surpasses human understanding. The joy in the presence of God does not end with singing out of joy, it goes to express the care that sparrows and swallows find by building their home and nest and lay their young. In this joy, the author expresses the truth of having ones strength and trust in the Lord and the Lord in one’s heart, as it is a blessing. This blessing is such that as they go through the valley of weeping, they make it a place of spring while the early rain covers it with pools. This reveals the strength of God blessing on them and his ability to bring blessings to others through them. All these grants them progress as they grow from strength to strength before God. After expressing the truth of the blessings of trust in God, he goes back to expressing the belief in his heart that a day in the courts of the Lord is better than a thousand elsewhere just as much as he would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God that dwell in the tents of wickedness. This shows to us the joy and pleasantness of being in God’s presence than elsewhere. That it is profitable and sensible to trust in God. That a heart that trusts in God is one that seeks to be in the presence of God. He ends the song by expressing another truth about God, that he is a sun and shield who bestows favor honor and that he does not withhold a good thing from those who walk uprightly which speaks of the myriad of ways God bless his people who trust in him as his nature causes him to make good those things he gives to those who walk according to his uprightness. This psalm gets me excited. I think of the many ways in which trusting in God has been justified in many ways in my life. It does not mean I got everything I was looking for but rather, I received every good thing he had for me in my valley of Baca. Indeed, Blessed is the one who trusts in you!
