Day 31: I was so Far Down in the Mud
[If you want to know how and why this devotional came into existence feel free to read this]
What you will need:
- A Bible
- This Devotional
- Some Coloring Utensils
- And a print out of this awesome coloring sheet designed by Owen Richard.
(Here is the week 1, week 2, week 3 and week 4 sheets if you want them)
Theme: Healing the Wounds of the Broken Hearted
Passage for March 31th 2017: John 11:38-44
Bars from “How Great”
I prayed and prayed and left messages but never got no hear back, or so it seemed
A mustard seed was all I needed to sow a dream
I build the ark to gently, gently, row my boat down Noah's stream
Sometimes the path I took to reach my petty goals was so extreme
I was so far down in the mud couldn't even let my light shine
But you was always there when I needed to phone a friend or use a life line
A Thought:
I remember waking up one night and having a hard time going to back to sleep. My brain started wandering. My father had cancer at the time, and we didn’t know how severe the prognosis was going to be. For the record, I am happy to report it has been 3 years that my dad has been cancer free. My thoughts at the time, understandably, were wrestling with the very present possibility of my father’s death. And as I started thinking and praying for my dad, a different thought crept into my head. “Garret one day you will die.” My mind started racing faster and faster as I began working myself into a panic. I can’t remember how the whole thing ended. But I got myself calmed down enough to finally sleep. This was the first time I started wrestling with my own mortality. I was scared because I was beginning to see that no one makes it out of life alive.
Death is contrary to the will of God. It was never His desired outcome for His creatures. This is why earlier in John 12, when Jesus is confronted with the death of His friend Lazarus, he weeps. Death grieves the heart of God to the point of tears. However, what happen next is a foreshadow of what we will see in a few weeks when it is ultimately accomplished on Easter. Jesus has power over death. Revelation 1:18 says it this way, “I [Jesus] have the keys to death and Hades.” But in order to defeat death once and for all, Jesus will go to the cross and experience the same death that everyone of us one day have to confront.
What this means is that even as we go into the grave, we are accompanied by the one who has dominion and greaves over our passings. We are assured, in passage like today however, death will not have the last word. We will have a new life when God restores all things but this doesn’t make confronting the unknown monster that is the end of our life is any easier. We simply know that when the end comes, in it, we have good company.
Here is what I am contemplating today: If Jesus joins me even in death, is there any place he wouldn’t go with me? What does it mean that death grieves over his friends who die?
Mediation: Psalm 40:1-3
Read the mediation passage today a few times through. As you read is there a passage or a word the sticks out to you. Meditate on that phrase allowing the Lord to speak to you as you color. What is he saying?