March 21: Be Restored
♫ Music:
Day 36- Wednesday, March 21
Title: Be Restored
Scripture: Job 22:21-30
Yield now and be at peace with Him;
Thereby good will come to you.
“Please receive instruction from His mouth
And establish His words in your heart.
“If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored;
If you remove unrighteousness far from your tent,
And place your gold in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks,
Then the Almighty will be your gold
And choice silver to you.
“For then you will delight in the Almighty
And lift up your face to God.
“You will pray to Him, and He will hear you;
And you will pay your vows.
“You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you;
And light will shine on your ways.
“When you are cast down, you will speak with confidence,
And the humble person He will save.
“He will deliver one who is not innocent,
And he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
Poetry: Breviary
By Zbigniew Herbert
[Translated by Alissa Valles]
Lord,
I know my days are numbered
there are not many of them left
Enough for me to gather the sand
with which they will cover my face
I will not have enough time
to render justice to the injured
or ask forgiveness of all those
who suffered evil at my hands
that is why my soul is grieved
my life
should come full circle
close like a well-built sonata
but now I see clearly
just before the coda
the broken chords
badly set colors and words
the din of dissonance
the tongues of chaos
why
was my life
not like circles on the water
welling from infinite depths
like an origin which grows
falls into layers rungs folds
to expire serenely
in your inscrutable lap.
BE RESTORED IN CHRIST’S ASHES
The Lenten season involves practicing self-sacrifice. Some of us give up coffee or sweets for 40 plus days, symbolizing self-denial. This helps us to embody the costs of Christ, prior to his atoning sacrifice on Good Friday.
In The Three Crosses, Peter Paul Rubens visualizes Christ’s death. Notice how Rubens uses light in this vivid scene at Golgotha. On the left, the artist uses darker accents to paint solemnity upon the unrepentant sinner, who remains lost in the shadows. To the right of Jesus, Rubens employs primary colors to cast a golden shade onto the body of the repentant criminal. It seems the man on the one side is motioning towards Christ, sympathizing with his suffering, even welcoming it into himself, while the other person is turning away in shadow.
This is perhaps a portrayal of two responses anyone might have toward the cross. I think these two responses are actually choices we see given in Scripture as a choice to be with God (even in His suffering) and the choice to live far outside the demands of His discipleship. In this painting, Christ beckons us to walk with Him in the way of sorrows, which requires self-denial.
What are the steps for humanity to acquire salvation? In Job 22:23-24, Eliphaz reminds Job that “If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; If you remove unrighteousness far from your tent, and place your gold in the dust, then the Almighty will be your gold.” Jesus is even more specific in Luke 9:23. He says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily.”
“Deny yourself.” If we don’t let go of ourselves, our ashes will fade and be joined with earth’s dust. Conversely, if we give up our lives to Jesus, our ashes will be transformed. Will we choose to hold onto ourselves? Or will we embrace Jesus, the bridge to salvation? The process of restoration involves walking into Christ’s death, before receiving His golden salvation on Easter dawn.
I invite you to pray this prayer with me as you journey with Christ to His death on Good Friday. Parts of this prayer are inspired by Julien Baker’s lyrics.
Prayer:
Dear God,
I am a cathedral
made of broken ribs
yielding hymns of praise.
I am full of echoes,
rapid sound waves
of decay.
The distance between you and me
is further than heaven’s stars and earth’s dust.
But I felt your gaze amidst my shadows.
Your wounds
leak a bridge of blood
between us.
My addictions are
echoes of my dying state.
Turn them off, I say.
Please? Thanks.
I desire for you to dwell in my space
forever and always.
Amen.
Vanya Wright
Senior Undergraduate
Intern in the Office of the President
of Biola University
About the Artwork:
The Three Crosses
Peter Paul Rubens
c. 1620
Oil on canvas
96 × 60.5 cm
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Rotterdam, Netherlands
This painting of the crucifixion of Jesus by Peter Paul Rubens deliberately focuses on the account of the two thieves in Luke 23:39-41, in which one of them recognizes Jesus in humility and the other is arrogantly unrepentant. Rubens has placed one of the thieves in light facing Jesus, which seems to have Christ’s body as its source. The other thief is behind Jesus in shadow. In this way the narrative is supported in a subtle, but very profound way through the use of light and composition.
About the Artist:
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was a Flemish Baroque painter. He engaged in an extravagant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality. Rubens is well-known for his Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. Rubens' skill at arranging complex groupings of figures in a composition, his ability to work on a large scale, his ease at depicting diverse subjects, and his personal eloquence and charm, all contributed to his success. His style combined Renaissance idealization of the human form with lush brushwork, dynamic poses, and a lively sense of realism.
About the Music:
“Everything That Helps You Sleep” from the album Turn Out the Lights
Lyrics:
What is it like to be empty?
Full of only echoes
And my body caving in
A cathedral of arching ribs|Heaving out their broken hymns
Thought I made out your reply
In the seconds between sound and light
And I could have sworn the sirens
Were the holy ghost just speaking in morse code
Lord, Lord, Lord, is there some way to make it stop
'Cause nothing that I do has ever helped to turn it off
And everything supposed to help me sleep at night
Don't help me sleep at night, anymore
From a distance, light from stars
Entry wounds or puncture marks
Leaking from your arms
Through the perforated dark
'Cause Lord, Lord, Lord, is there some way to make it stop
'Cause nothing that I do has ever helped to turn it off
And everything supposed to help me sleep at night
Don't help me sleep at night, anymore.
So could you hear from heaven on earth
If I scream a little louder
I know you would have heard
Say there's no way I could be further
If I scream a little louder I know you would have heard it
About the Composer/Performer:
Julien Rose Baker (b. 1995) is an American singer and guitarist from Memphis, Tennessee. She is a member of the alternative rock band Forrister, formerly known as The Star Killers. In 2015, she released a studio album, Sprained Ankle and a second full-length release, Turn Out the Lights in 2017. Baker has received critical acclaim for her performances and songwriting, and has been described as “emotively cathartic,” as well as a “fresh take on folk music.” Her album Sprained Ankle features pared-back fragile songs, while Turn Out the Lights features more developed song structures while retaining the raw emotion of its predecessor. A Christian, Baker’s music has a rich theological foundation, and much of her stark imagery stems from her struggles with addiction, and subsequent support and love from her Christian community.
About the Poet:
Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998) was a Polish poet, essayist, dramatist and moralist, and was a distant relative of the 17th-century Anglo-Welsh poet George Herbert. A member of the Polish resistance movement during World War II, he is one of the best-known and the most translated post-war Polish writers. While he was first published in the 1950s, soon after he voluntarily ceased submitting most of his works to official Polish government publications, and only resumed publication in the 1980s, initially in the underground press. Herbert was educated as an economist and a lawyer. Opposed to Communism, he lived in Paris until he returned to Poland in 1992. In 2013, the Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award was established in honor of the poet and his literary legacy. His poetry, marked by a direct language and strong moral themes, was shaped by his experiences under both Nazi and Soviet dictatorships.
About the Devotional Writer:
Vanya Wright is a senior undergraduate student at Biola University. Since September 2017, she has served the Office of the President as the presidential intern, where she enjoys assisting Dr. Barry Corey’s staff on a daily basis.