Daily Reflection

“Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.”

The God we know through Christ is a God of reversals. Jesus taught about it: “The first shall be last and the last first;” “Whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” In this text, tears become joy. There is a going out with weeping and a returning home with shouts of joy. Even the direction of travel reverses in this splendid poetic rhetoric. The lost are found. The dead are alive forevermore. When you are at a dead end, when there is nothing in front of you but a barrier, a grief, a shadow, an ending, that just may be the time this God of reversals steps in and everything turns around!

Fate moves in a straight, unalterable line from start to finish, but You, O surprising One, are full of reversals. Just when we think tears are our destiny, You open up pathways of joy. Right when we think the future is barren, You fill it with new life and hope. We are not controlled by fate or destiny but by Your love, which always finds new, surprising ways to embrace us through the ever-changing adventures of life. Thanks be to You! Amen

Christian Seasons Calendar

Daily Reflection

Wednesday, April 2, 2025