April 24 - Psalm 69:1, 3

Christ is Risen!

 

Save me, O God ...

My eyes are swollen with weeping,

waiting for my God to help me

Psalm 69:1,3

 

"20:1 Early on the first day of the week," recounts the Gospel of John, "Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed ... 11 As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ..."

 

Have you ever had a "Save me, O God" moment? Have your "eyes [ever been] swollen with weeping"? Before Mary ever reached the tomb, she was probably "waiting for [her] God to help [her]."

• And then the unexpected happened -- the grave stone was rolled away (v 1).
• And then the unexpected happened again -- two angels were sitting where the body of Jesus should have been (v 12). 
• And then the unexpected happened one more time -- Mary had an encounter with the risen Lord! (v 16)

How good are you when the unexpected happens? Are you light on your feet, go with the flow? Or does the unexpected wreak havoc with your preferred sense of order?

 

Here's the point: Whichever you normally are, I'll bet you're worse at adapting when you're under stress ... and Mary Magdalene was definitely under stress! Her Lord, Savior, and friend had just died (major grief) ... her "eyes [we]re swollen with weeping" ... she "waiting for [her] God to help [her]" ... now the unexplainable was erupting all around her.

 

A funny thing happens when we pray for the Lord to help us. We ask for the unexpected to happen -- a supernatural healing, for example, when illness is the worldly fact. But do we really expect to receive a supernatural answer?

 

I'll bet that a million more prayers are answered than we ever realize! We expect an answer in the form we expect, but we pass God's grace by because sometimes God answers in glorious and unexpected ways. 

 

Mary Magdalene, for example, would have been content with an answer of a little more hope on a very sad day. But the unexpected happened -- Jesus rose from the dead! And guess what ... She nearly passed him by, thinking he was the gardener.

 

Here's the point: Pray ... Pray ... Pray, pray, pray. Pray: "God save me." And start watching for the unexpected. The solution may not come in the form we expected, but the Power who raised Christ from the dead can answer you in powerful and surprising ways too.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who wants to be

surprised by Easter!