Mar 1 - Psalm 116.8

You have delivered

my soul from death,

my eyes from tears,

my feet from stumbling.

Psalm 116:8

Sometimes I work ahead -- way ahead -- on these devotions. The day I'm writing this devotion happens to be Ash Wednesday.

For my Ash Wednesday sermon, I'm contemplating the judgmental finger that some people point at God. They say, "I can't believe in a god who casts people into hell." (Have you ever heard that one?)

Do you hear the sense of entitlement in that statement? "We all deserve to be in heaven and it's only an angry God who would cast people into hell."

That statement leaves many Christians tongue-tied ... because it sounds logical. And suddenly we're the ones who are on the defensive. Many conflicting sentiments running through our brains ...

• We know God is loving.
• We also know what the Bible says -- "unless you believe" (Jn 8:24).
• Does God cast people into hell?

Lent -- especially Ash Wednesday -- is a good time to remind people of our "default setting."

Our default setting is death. It is ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

There are many definitions of hell. Without getting too specific, it is the absence love, joy, peace, hope, and blessing. At its core, hell is the absence of God.

Dust has no life in it, that means without God's resurrecting love, death is absence, ashes, necrosis, hell, and decay. God doesn't cast people into hell, he invites us to come to him and live.

In our verse for today, the Psalms sing of this hope: "You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling."

The next time that someone says, "I can't believe in a God who ...," remind them of their default position.

In Christ's Love,

a guy who doesn't

point his finger at God,

a guy who instead

raises his hands in thanksgiving