Daily Devotions

During the Lenten season, members of Faith Lutheran Church have written our daily devotions. Today’s writer is Greg and Staci DeKunder.

¹⁶The people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.¹⁷They offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁸Then they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses. Ezra 6:16-18

In the preceding verses, the King ordered a search for old documents decreeing that the temple in Jerusalem be rebuilt. After finding the scrolls, the leaders made certain that the construction was completed according to the specifications outlined in the historical documents. Upon completion, the people celebrated with joy, and obediently dedicated the temple to God through worship as taught by Moses.

During the four years that our family lived in Belgium, we were blessed with the opportunity to visit many beautiful cathedrals. One of our favorites is the unfinished cathedral La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain. Construction began in 1882, and completion is predicted for the mid 2020’s. Despite the fact that construction is in progress, the cathedral is amazing to behold. The facades tell the nativity and crucifixion stories in incredible detail through Gaudi’s architecture and sculptures. Inside, the beautiful stained glass windows and soaring arches filled us with awe. Seeing the cathedral evoked feelings of joy, gratitude and humility. I can only imagine that the people of Jerusalem felt these same emotions. Verses 16 – 18 remind us to worship joyfully and with obedience. A wonderful reminder as we prepare for holy week and the most joyous resurrection.

Let us pray: Dear God, It is with gratitude that we prepare our hearts and minds to journey through holy week to Christ’s resurrection. May we be filled with joy and obedience to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This entry was posted on April 2, 2014 at 3:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.