Opening Prayer
Gracious God, I put myself before you in this moment with waiting heart, expectant desire. Open my eyes that I may see your promise fulfilled; open my ears that I may hear your word whispered to my deepest being.
Amen.
Passage
I Peter 1:18-21
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Reflection - Sarah Jones
God’s design for redeeming and reconciling the world has always been through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But this plan, “which for ages past was kept hidden in God” (Eph. 3:9), was only fully revealed in God’s perfect time. We have the advantage of looking back in history to the birth of the Savior. But for thousands of years, God’s people only heard bits and pieces about the coming Messiah and they had to trust that God would provide a way for their salvation.
Even before the very first humans chose their own way over perfect friendship with their creator, Jesus was chosen to bring restoration to the world. Our hope for any situation, no matter how bleak or discouraging it may be, can rest in the fact that God knows all things and nothing can take him by surprise.
Today, identify a situation where you’re struggling to see God’s provision and ask him to reveal his activity.
Closing Prayer
My Lord, may all that I have seen of you and all that I have heard from your word now enflesh itself in me. Send me from this place as the incarnate promise of life to all whose life I will touch this day.
Amen.