I have been using John Baillie’s “A Diary of Private Prayer” in my devotional time each morning. The prayer for today asked that I would hold in my mind the sufferings and death of Christ. That is a disturbing image to carry with you each day.
I am reminded of another prayer I came across recently in “The Five Star Church – Serving God and His People with Excellence” (1999) by Stan Toler and Alan Nelson:
“Disturb us, O Lord disturb us.
O Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves;
when our dreams come true only because
we have dreamed too little.
When we arrive safely only because
we sailed too close to the shore,
When with the abundance of things
we are losing our thirst for more of God’
When in loving time, we have ceased to dream of eternity.
When in our desire to build on this earth
we have lost our vision of a new heaven.” (p. 48)
Lent is disturbing. It is disturbing to consider Isaiah’s prophecy in the 4th Servant Song: “Many will be shocked by him. His appearance will be so disfigured that he won’t look like any other man. His looks will be so disfigured that he will hardly look like a human.” (Isaiah 52:14) It is disturbing to think that for me to be saved, Jesus had to be so disfigured that He didn’t even look human.
But the good news of that disturbing message is that God’s love caused Christ to endure all of the pain, suffering, and disfigurement for me. That somehow in the divine economy I was worth it, not because I have intrinsic worth, but God adds value you to my soul through Christ’s death. When you really think about it, it should disturb you. The Gospel is always disturbing, but in a good way.
Have a disturbing day in Christ.