Well, just like that the Easter season seemed to just come and go. It definitely looked different this year than any other, but the celebration continued to be the same. Our Saviour, Jesus, still went to the cross for us, He still conquered the grave so that we could live, and we still get to receive this grace every day. Amazing! However, I have to say that it was hard not being in church with everyone, it was hard not seeing my family, and I’m sure the list could go on, but God has been teaching me something during this season that we all seem to find ourselves in. There is still purpose in this time that I have the choice to use for good or not.
Our daily routines, schedules, finances, school, work, etc. have all been changed. What we once took for granted or held close has shifted and, in some ways, this may be a good thing. As I have been reading through 1 and 2 Kings, it has been extremely evident to me that the peoples of Israel and Judah had both forsaken the one true God over and over again, in exchange for worthless, false gods. They abandoned the promises of God, His faithfulness, and peace all for temporary things. 2 Kings 17:15 says, “They rejected His statutes and His covenant He had made with their ancestors and the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, following the surrounding nations the Lord had commanded them not to imitate.” Instead of keeping their eyes on God, they got distracted by things that they thought were better than Him. They were in a spiritual crisis that they couldn’t even see. In our culture, we do the same thing – we pack our schedules full, spend way too much time watching Netflix, hoard our resources, etc. We build altars around work, success, technology, and materialism and God has gotten lost in the mix.
Yet, it is within the unique season that we find ourselves in, where all of that seems to be being stripped away. Our schedules are not as jammed packed with places to go and people to see, and we are forced to stop and take inventory of our lives. It is during this slowing, He is tearing back all of these distractions (or idols) to turn our focus to Him now more than ever. The song “Heart of Worship” has been on my heart for the last few days as it just draws us back to the simplicity of our relationship with Jesus. We don’t need other idols, busy schedules, a perfect devotional life, or really anything you can fill in the blank with – He just wants our heart. The first verse says,
“When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heart
I'll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what you have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart”
When everything else is stripped away, it is all about Jesus. It is now more than ever that our trust needs to be in God. We are an example to the rest of the world of what God is really like. So, we can have peace knowing that in the middle of uncertainty, all we have to do is offer up ourselves, without other idols or distractions to the God who loved us enough to send His Son on our behalf.