Lenten devotions 2008

Tue, 19 Feb 2008

FEB. 20 - A PURPOSEFUL CHOICE TO MAKE
By Char Hochstetler, associate dean of students and campus counselor

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 95 (NRSV)
Scroll down for complete Scripture.

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DEVOTIONAL:
What a great God we have to worship: a God above all other Gods, who made the earth and the sea, who guides us as a shepherd guides his sheep.

Some days it's so easy to feel God's presence all around me, to worship and make a joyful noise. There are other days when I struggle to feel God's presence, when I feel so alone in a dark and dreary land.

It's on these days that I've found that I need to choose to worship God; that I need to choose joy. In choosing to worship God, I make a conscious effort to think of the many attributes of God and I am reminded of what an awesome God we serve. In choosing joy, I make a conscious effort to think of all that I am thankful for and I am reminded of how blessed I am. In choosing to worship, in choosing joy I find the darkness of the day lifted and I am reminded that I am not alone. During this season of Lent, may we purposefully choose joy and experience worship.

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SCRIPTURE: Psalm 95 (NRSV)
O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.

O that today you would listen to his voice!
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your ancestors tested me,
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, 'They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they do not regard my ways.'
Therefore in my anger I swore,
'They shall not enter my rest.'

Posted at 09:30 #



Disclaimer:
The views and beliefs expressed in the devotional piece prepared by each individual reflect their own spiritual growth journey and thoughts, and while created in a campus environment that encourages thoughtful questions and reflection on biblical Scripture and contemporary Christian themes, do not necessarily represent the official institutional positions of Goshen College or Mennonite Church USA.