I enjoy a number of things I do not comprehend. How the computer I type on really works, or how the intense heat of an oven transforms a slimy flour, yeast and water mixture into fresh baked bread. But I don’t need to understand in order to reap the benefits.

In the midst of a beautiful and theologically rich appeal, Paul prayed that followers of Jesus would experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.

God’s love for his people surpasses understanding. Still, Paul prayed in this paradoxical manner, seeking to measure the unmeasurable.

The original language suggests an ongoing experience with the love of Christ. His actions do not constitute a one-time glance of fondness, or a lifeline pulling us from hell. Rather, Christ’s love churns throughout the life of his followers. Animated through the Holy Spirit, revealed in the Scriptures and the world we inhabit, his love surrounds us.

Paul also prayed, may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

Despite Paul’s entreaty, I simply cannot understand how wide or how long or how high or how deep is God’s love. But I can wonder as wide as I can imagine, as long as my life lasts, as high as the heavens, and as deep as I dare, and realize I’m enjoying the edge of his love.

Bask in a hint of the unknowable, and appreciate God’s ever-expanding love for you and me.

Ephesians 3

Photo by Klemen Vrankar

I was told as a young parent chasing kids and falling into bed exhausted that the days are long but the years are short. As I grow older, I understand the awareness behind that observation.

Moses, when considering the brevity of life, asked the Lord to teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Our years fly away, and are marked with times of happiness, but also plenty of toil and trouble. Our heads are often worn out when they meet the pillow.

Moses goes on to pray, Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

Hope for a meaningful life, and a worthwhile legacy, is found in the Lord. The Lord solidifies our lives and adds purpose to our day-to-day. Confidence in the future springs from Him.

Moses asked God to teach us. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I can ask God to teach me to number my days, and to find deeper purpose in them. True understanding begins here, and grows through my relationship with Him.

Psalm 90

Photo by Road Ahead

Some truths are basic to life. I need air to breath and water to drink. My body requires food and my soul requires relationships. I often overlook the importance of these foundations to flourishing. Some needs are so basic, and fulfilled on a daily basis, that they easily slip into the background of my busy day-to-day.

In the same way I let the reality of Jesus fade as well. This depreciation is not overt, I simply take for granted his role in this world. But as I read the Scriptures I’m snapped back to reality. Paul clarified the fact of the matter to church members gathered in Philippi:

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Paul states the most elemental of truths—Jesus Christ is Lord. Every knee shall bow, whether in this life or in the next. But no matter when, at some point we all go to our knees before Him.

Jesus Christ is Lord. King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to be accurate. I forget this certitude. Since I’m easily distracted by my own desires and the shiny things of this world, it’s good for me to be transported back again and again to the amazing reality of Jesus.

Philippians 2:8-11

Photo by Austin Neill

On the way back to Egypt to begin the vast undertaking of freeing the Hebrews, Moses endured a bizarre and nearly fatal interaction with the Lord:

At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

What to make of this odd story? Why would the Lord seek to punish Moses with death, just as Moses was following the Lord’s directions to return to Egypt? Why didn’t God whisper encouragements or line his path with rainbows?

Apparently Moses failed to follow through on the rite of circumcision with one or both of his sons. In Genesis 17:10-14, God commanded Abraham to circumcise every male on the eighth day after birth as a sign of the covenant. Any uncircumcised male was to be cut off from the people because he broke the covenant. Moses was breaking covenant with his sons.

Moses may have been prepared to meet Pharaoh, but his family was not. Perhaps his wife, Zipporah, objected to this bloody practice? Maybe Moses gave in to keep the peace? The fact that in this moment of crisis, while Moses lay incapacitated, Zipporah instinctively knew what to do points to her understanding of the issue.

Moses was not fully prepared for the massive task laid before him. He choose to ignore one detail. Moses grew to understand God’s holiness more than anyone else who’s ever lived. Part of this learning involved his role as spiritual head of his family. The covenant required circumcision, and Moses needed to meet the requirements.

The Lord requires decisions from you and me as well. Perhaps one niggles at the back of your mind? Pay attention. Don’t ignore something God makes clear to you, and don’t set aside the teachings of Scripture.

We all follow the same Holy God who appeared to Moses in that burning bush. The Lord requires all we have and all we are—even the seemingly little things we keep putting off.

Exodus 4:24-26

Photo by Ian Barsby