April 4: God Is the Source of Salvation and Light
♫ Music:
Day 50 - Wednesday, April 4
Title: God Is the Source of Salvation and Light
Scripture: Micah 7:7-15
But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.
Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy.
Though I fall I will rise;
Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.
I will bear the indignation of the Lord
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.
He will bring me out to the light,
And I will see His righteousness.
Then my enemy will see,
And shame will cover her who said to me,
“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will look on her;
At that time she will be trampled down
Like mire of the streets.
It will be a day for building your walls.
On that day will your boundary be extended.
It will be a day when they will come to you
From Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
From Egypt even to the Euphrates,
Even from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.
And the earth will become desolate because of her inhabitants,
On account of the fruit of their deeds.
Shepherd Your people with Your scepter,
The flock of Your possession
Which dwells by itself in the woodland,
In the midst of a fruitful field.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead
As in the days of old.
“As in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt,
I will show you miracles.”
Poetry: On Hierophany
By Karen An-hwei Lee
One example of hierophany is the apparition of angels.
This is a new word I overheard this morning. It occurs
when the divine realm manifests — or the word intrudes —
into our quotidian realm. The natural one, an untidy
fleshliness of the ordinary. Or the sacred and profane
is another way to say this. I asked whether it is a hernia,
and the answer was no. A herniated condition is viscera
on viscera — a disc, organs, the skin, or nerves. Besides,
such a comparison would be profane. A figure of speech
already exists, I said, in a hieratic silence of cursive
writing long ago dead. Not long ago, those two phrases
dwelled in separate worlds. I dare you to use the word
hernia in a poem, said a friend. So I not only used
the word, I invited God into language. Or God existed
before language, while God is also the word. Remember,
all theophanies are forms of? hierophany. However,
the converse is not always true — not all hierophanies
are theophanies — or God visible in our world.
THE FAITHFUL REMNANT
Looking back, we journeyed from Palm Sunday, walking through Holy Week to the cross at Golgotha on Good Friday, to remembering who Jesus Christ is and what he has done for us on the cross as we looked forward to the celebration of the resurrection of Christ on Easter. In the book of Micah, there is a faithful remnant of believers, those who are forgiven by God for their sins and who seek Him for their salvation, for their life. This faithful remnant is the people of God who kept covenant with Him and His community. And we, as the Body of Christ, also seek to be faithful and live lives growing in holiness with God in the church.
In Micah chapter 7, he contrasts those who do not fear and love the Lord, with the faithful remnant who walk faithfully with God and will be saved. Micah believes that God will intercede and deliver them from oppression. In Micah 7:7, he responds to a world that does not offer him hope, with actively watching and waiting for God’s salvation, God’s victory with intercessory prayer and hope. The artist William Kurelek, in Lord That I May See, invites us into this journey of waiting, praying, and hoping. In this work, you will notice that the depraved man is on his knees, in need, reaching out to the one whose shadow covers him… it is Jesus’ shadow who covers him… this man is reaching out for Jesus, waiting for salvation… don’t we all need the salvation of God… First, as our personal Lord and Savior, so that we might be justified by God based upon the work of Christ, but also as our redeemer, the one who continues to sanctify us, making us more and more like Him, through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Where might you need God’s salvation today? Maybe some of you have yet to come to know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, and so Jesus offers life to you today… the knowledge, belief and trust in the work of Christ on the cross for your salvation and that you might choose Him to be Lord of your life will be the most life-changing, life-giving choice you will ever make and so you are invited to reach out to Him today. Others of you, are continuing on this journey, this journey filled with moments of the good life with God, with joy and peace, but it is also filled with real life pain, trails, suffering, doubt, and loneliness...we live in a broken world and fallen world and we also sin… are we also not like the man on the road, on the journey in Lord That I May See, reaching out to the one who’s shadow covers us… for me, there are times that my sin and my need for God are clear, there are times that I easily find myself on my knees reaching out for my Savior, but at times, I have found myself going through each day, doing what I’m supposed to do, fairly confident that I can make it through on my own, I have wondered why I’m not on my knees, I have wondered why “by accident” I have become self-sufficient… whether something painful has happened in our lives and has brought us to our knees, or whether it is in our complacency we obediently kneel before the Lord, let us be reminded that we get to live with God in the Body of Christ and it is God who will bring light, salvation, guidance, grace, mercy, and ultimately His redemptive love to save us and change us daily. This is the power of the resurrection of Christ and so we reach out to Him, waiting, praying and looking forward to His life changing work in our lives.
Prayer:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we praise you because you are God. Father, may we trust in your sovereign work in our lives. Jesus, may we reach out to you, Lord, that we may see. Holy Spirit, redemptively change and sanctify us so that we might impact the world for our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Lisa Ishihara
Director, Chapel Programs
Biola University
About the Artwork:
Lord That I May See
William Kurelek
1955
Watercolor and gouache on cardboard
119.4 x 74.9 cm
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Montreal, Canada
This haunting image refers to the story of the blind man in Luke 18:35-43. The prayer for spiritual and physical healing of blindness is a theme repeated throughout the Scriptures. The passage from Micah for today starts with the statement of faith that, “though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me…He will bring me out to the light and I will see his righteousness”, and ends with the promise from God that “I will show you miracles.” The lone tree on the hill in Kurelek’s painting is very likely a reference to the cross and the promise it holds that Jesus brings light into a world of darkness.
About the Artist:
William Kurelek (1927-1977) was a Canadian artist and writer. His work was influenced by his childhood on the prairies, his Ukrainian-Canadian roots, and his Roman Catholic faith. Kurelek’s early career was defined by the search for both religious and artistic identity. Throughout the 1950s, he created emotionally charged paintings that drew on art historical references. Many were painted as a form of therapy while Kurelek was seeking psychological treatment in England. In 1957, Kurelek converted to Roman Catholicism which he credits with helping him deal with his mental illness. Over the ensuing 20 years until his death, Kurelek conceived much of his art as overt proclamations of faith that brought the Christian story to modern audiences. Kurelek’s faith led him to also create 160 images showing the Passion of Christ as it is recorded in Matthew.
About the Music:
“Urlicht” from the album Mahler - Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Lyrics:
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Urlicht [Translation] |
About the Composer:
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was an Austrian late-Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the Modernism of the early 20th century. Born in Bohemia as a German-speaking Jew of humble circumstances, Mahler displayed his musical gifts at an early age. After graduating from the Vienna Conservatory in 1878, he held a succession of conducting posts in the opera houses of Europe, culminating in his appointment in 1897 as director of the Vienna Court Opera. Most of Mahler's works are generally designed for large orchestral forces, symphonic choruses, and operatic soloists. His triumphant Symphony No. 2, known as the “Resurrection Symphony” was his first major work displaying his surety of resurrection and the afterlife. The fourth and penultimate movement, “Urlicht” (translated Primal Light), was inserted into the symphony shortly before its premier, and was one of Mahler’s many song settings from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of anonymous German folk poems.
About the Performers:
The Berlin Philharmonic is one of the most highly-acclaimed orchestras in the world. Founded in 1882, the group has consistently been led by world-famous conductors and been home to some of the world’s greatest musicians and chamber groups. Through their performances and extensive educational programs, the orchestra seeks to make music accessible to people of all ages and socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. According to current principal conductor, Sir Simon Rattle, “the most important thing that music can do is to bring people together.” In this recording, the featured soloist is acclaimed Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie Von Otter (b. 1955), who performs and records a vast range of styles from opera to rock and pop.
About the Poet:
Karen An-hwei Lee (b. 1973) is a Chinese American poet, translator, and critic. She earned an MFA in creative writing from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and a PhD in literature from the University of California, Berkeley. Lee has received six Pushcart Prize nominations, the Poetry Society of America's Norma Farber First Book Award, the Kathryn A. Morton Prize for Poetry from Sarabande Books, and the July Open Award sponsored by Tupelo Press. Lee’s work appears in journals such as The American Poet, Poetry, Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, Journal of Feminist Studies & Religion, Iowa Review, and IMAGE: Art, Faith, & Mystery. The recipient of an NEA Fellowship, Lee currently serves as a Professor of English at Vanguard University of Southern California in Costa Mesa, CA.
About the Devotional Writer:
Lisa Ishihara is the Director of Chapel Programs at Biola University.