The Word — Lent 2022

A confession: I've been in a dry season when it comes to the Word lately. It's been especially hard in light of the chaotic world events these past couple years to develop and maintain that habit of daily meditation. What makes it so hard to immerse ourselves in God's truth? Some moments we yearn to drink up His words and other times we want to run away and hide. Perhaps it's because His word exposes our sins, our hearts, our weaknesses, and our neediness - all of which are antithetical to our culture and  default sinful state. Perhaps it's because we are in a place of deep pain and suffering, and reading the Bible feels like too much. Perhaps it's because we just slipped out of routine and never found a way to get back into the rhythm.

I am hoping this Lent season will provide an opportunity to get back into God's Word. Join  me in contemplating two things to help orient our hearts towards the only true and stable thing in this broken world.

1. God has grace for our failure. God is not looking down on me in my dry spell and thinking, "Wow Christina, you were so zealous and eager in college. What happened to you? You call yourself a Christian and you don't even read the Bible regularly?" He isn't judging us or withholding His grace if we are only in the word once a week. In fact, He desires for us to come to Him, to seek and find Him. He is the eager Father just waiting for the prodigal son to return home. We must stop the cycle of legalism when it comes to our time with the Lord. It's not about the discipline of having a daily quiet time to check off our "good Christian" list. It's about a relationship with God, about being spiritually fed and satisfied with God's truth instead of the lies that daily bombard our hearts and mind. One way to stop this cycle of legalism is to respond to God's Word in journaling or prayer - or any way that helps to engage our hearts in the Word. Another way that helps me is to spend a season reading only the Psalms. The Psalms are such a great way to engage God in both our praise and our sorrows, to see David's passionate authentic prayers and be inspired towards our own.
2. We need His grace to return to the Word. It's not our merit, goodness, or discipline that gets us into the Word. God's grace provides us with truth in the first place. His grace humbles our hearts to open and receive it. I must begin with the premise that by my own will, I neither desire nor prioritize God's word. I must begin as David prays in Psalm 40:17: "As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!"

We know we need His word to draw near to Him, to remind ourselves of truth, and to quiet our souls. We know we need His love and grace to soften our hardened hearts. We know we need His truth to be the hope in this broken world, the light in the darkness. If you find yourself in a dry spell like me this lenten season, please join me in praying for God to have grace in our failure and grace to return to His Word. Lord, help me to desire Your Word, then help me to soak it into my soul.‍

Let me leave you with a poem I wrote that was inspired by Psalm 1. When I am in a spiritual drought, writing poetry helps remind me of truth and why I need God and His Word.

I want to be like the tree
that never dies.
I want to be like leaves
that never wither.
Bring me the fruit
that does not perish.
Let me bear my own fruit
each season.
Let me live life with
purpose and precision.

There is joy for the one
who hears and heeds
Your holy words.
There is life for the one
who turns away from the wicked,
who does not stand with sinners.

Let me delight in the law
which brings me life;
let it be my mind's food
each day and night. 

And when I die and return to Thee,
let the song of the righteous be my glee.
By sunlit mornings or by candle-lit nights
I desire to love Thee all the days of my life.

‍

Written By Christina Poss

Individual Practice

Study Psalm 51 this week using the How to Study the Bible guide

Family Practice

‍This week, find time together to dive into the Word of God as a family! 

Choose one of your favorite stories from the Bible and read it together! You can read it out loud to your kids or have one of your kids read it if they are able! You can read from a storybook or picture bible if you have younger children!

When finished reading, spend some time creating your own Simple Truth and Simple Faith statements! For each statement, give your kids an opportunity to look back in the passage and see if they can discover the truth for themselves before guiding them! You can have them write or draw their Truth Statements if you’d like!

1. God is ____________
   ‍Ask: “What did we learn about God in the passage?”; “What is God like in this passage?”; “What did you learn about God?”
   ‍
2. I am __________
   ‍Ask: “What does this story tell us about people?”; “What is true about a character in the story that is also true about us?”; “What does God want me to know about myself from this story?”
   ‍
3. We are __________
   Ask: “What does this story tell us about the people of God?”; “What does this story say about the church?”
   ‍
4. So I __________
   Ask: “How does God want me to respond to these truths in faith?”; “How can we trust God more because of this story?”
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5. Share with your family why you love that story so much and what truths you have learned from it!
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6. Teach your family that there is always something we can learn about God and about ourselves when we read God’s Word!

Finish your time reciting the memory verse as a family again and then praying that God would renew us and thank Him for being a God who lets us know Him!

Connection Group Guide

‍After praying together, Study Psalm 51 together with your Connection Group using the How to Study the Bible guide.  As a leader, do your best to draw out deeper answers from your group members by asking open ended follow up questions, asking for other group members to find verses that can connect to scripture that is discussed, and pausing to pray as a group for the Spirit to teach you if there are long periods of silence.  You may divide the group into smaller sections and then have everyone come together to share any insights they gained at the end.  You could ask these questions: 

1. How did God speak to you tonight in a new way? 
2. Was there anything that you learned about God tonight that you may not have learned by studying the Bible by yourself? 
3. How might studying the Bible together be a benefit to you individually, and how might it benefit us as a group?  
4. How realistic is it for each of us to spend time in God’s word like this on our own regularly?  What is most likely to keep us from doing that as individuals and as a group?