2016 Belmont University Lenten GuideSample

David would not have been a man after God’s own heart had he not been a man thoroughly obsessed with prayer. In the midst of sin and enemies, David consistently flies to the Lord in prayer. He brings his appeals and requests before a God that cares about every hair on his head and whatever befalls him. In Psalm 17, we see an appeal to heaven because of persecution on the Earth. David is calling out for the Lord’s help, asking Him “to show his steadfast love” and to “give refuge under his wings.” David is crying out to God and framing his thoughts in light of who he knows God to be. Similar to David, we are surrounded by injustice and atrocity. Sometimes it seems as though the arrogant and the wicked are successful while we wallow in our misery. Yet within this state David calls us to talk to a God “who will answer us.” In this Lenten season, we often have a lot of things we want to ask of God. We have parts of our lives that aren’t how we want them, we have made mistakes we want to make sure are forgotten, and we have hopes and dreams that we desire to see realized. It is in the midst of these that David reminds us to run to the feet of Jesus. We are to present our requests to God expectantly, knowing that we have a God who answers. Yet we are also called to frame our requests within the knowledge of his character and his will. Therefore, we are called to end our prayers with a humble admittance and desire for God. We are to end with contentment, not only if He gives us the things that we desire, but also if He doesn’t. We are called to be “satisfied with his likeness.” Let us focus on what it is the cross accomplished: Jesus took upon Himself our sin and guilt and died the death that we deserved; He ensured for us that “we can behold his face in righteousness.” Jesus “became sin, even though He knew no sin, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our hope is in the fact that we have the righteousness of God, not of man, and that allows us to have fellowship with Him. NATHAN ARNOLD Junior Social Entrepreneurship