Welcome to Week 22 of A 2020 Prayer Life!
What follows is a series of daily meditations and exercises to help us develop our individual prayer lives. This represents a one-day-at-a-time process. Don't short-circuit the process by reading ahead. Simply read and do each day what is offered for that day.
What follows is a series of daily meditations and exercises to help us develop our individual prayer lives. This represents a one-day-at-a-time process. Don't short-circuit the process by reading ahead. Simply read and do each day what is offered for that day.
May 27
We began our consideration of "redeemer" last week with a word from the Psalmist. Yet when the Psalmist thought of "redeemer," his starting place was probably the Law. Along the way in the Old Testament Law, for example, we read this: "If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him." (Leviticus 25:47-48 NIV)
You see the plight that was being anticipated by the Law. In that ancient world, the the borrower was literally slave to the lender (see Proverbs 22:7). Selling oneself into another's service was a common solution to indebtedness. But the Law made this provision for the individual in that predicament -- he could be redeemed. Someone could buy him back, purchase his freedom.
Talk to the Lord about the significance of that legal background for your relationship with Him.
How have I been in debt, Lord? To what have I been enslaved? How have You redeemed me?
Make your confession, express your need, and give voice to your praise.
You see the plight that was being anticipated by the Law. In that ancient world, the the borrower was literally slave to the lender (see Proverbs 22:7). Selling oneself into another's service was a common solution to indebtedness. But the Law made this provision for the individual in that predicament -- he could be redeemed. Someone could buy him back, purchase his freedom.
Talk to the Lord about the significance of that legal background for your relationship with Him.
How have I been in debt, Lord? To what have I been enslaved? How have You redeemed me?
Make your confession, express your need, and give voice to your praise.
May 28
Have you ever lost (or given away, or sold) something that you now wish you could have back?
List several different kinds of things from your life and experience that might be your answers to that question.
Now, in your prayer time, talk to God about each of the things on your list. Articulate to Him the regret that you feel. Give expression to your longing to have back the thing that you now value so highly.
Finally, spend a few moments imagining the relief and gratitude you would feel if some sort of "redeemer" figure managed to intervene and retrieve for you the items on your list.
List several different kinds of things from your life and experience that might be your answers to that question.
Now, in your prayer time, talk to God about each of the things on your list. Articulate to Him the regret that you feel. Give expression to your longing to have back the thing that you now value so highly.
Finally, spend a few moments imagining the relief and gratitude you would feel if some sort of "redeemer" figure managed to intervene and retrieve for you the items on your list.
May 29
Charles Wesley wrote a hymn about the Old Testament Year of Jubilee. It includes a line that may remind us of a part of the meaning of redemption:
"Ye who have sold for nought
your heritage above
shall have it back unbought,
the gift of Jesus' love."
Talk with the Lord about the gospel truth expressed in this verse. Ask Him to show you what human beings 'sell for naught' as the result of sin.
Meditate on what it means to "have it back unbought."
Give thanks to Him for "the gift of Jesus' love."
"Ye who have sold for nought
your heritage above
shall have it back unbought,
the gift of Jesus' love."
Talk with the Lord about the gospel truth expressed in this verse. Ask Him to show you what human beings 'sell for naught' as the result of sin.
Meditate on what it means to "have it back unbought."
Give thanks to Him for "the gift of Jesus' love."
May 30
Redemption is not only about something valuable -- something we lost or forfeited -- being bought back on our behalf. Redemption is also about the Lord Himself buying back what is important to Him.
Return to your reflections from the day before yesterday -- your thinking about things that you no longer have that you wish you could have back once again. Contemplate what is on the Lord's version of that list.
In your prayer time now, talk to Him as one who commiserates with the grief of losing something precious and the frustration of not being able to retrieve it.
Then talk to Him about His effort to redeem -- to buy back for Himself -- what is most precious to Him.
Talk to Him about your place (past or present) on His list.
Thank Him for His redemption!
Return to your reflections from the day before yesterday -- your thinking about things that you no longer have that you wish you could have back once again. Contemplate what is on the Lord's version of that list.
In your prayer time now, talk to Him as one who commiserates with the grief of losing something precious and the frustration of not being able to retrieve it.
Then talk to Him about His effort to redeem -- to buy back for Himself -- what is most precious to Him.
Talk to Him about your place (past or present) on His list.
Thank Him for His redemption!
May 31
Another element from the Old Testament Law involves the offerings that the children of Israel were instructed to bring to the Lord, and what portions belonged to the priests. Among those details, we read: "The first offspring of every womb, both man and animal, that is offered to the LORD is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals." (Numbers 18:15 NIV)
The standard, you see, was that all firstborn people and animals belonged to the Lord. But unclean animals were not to be sacrificed on the Lord's altar. And, of course, people were not to be sacrificed, either. And so the Law required that those offerings would be redeemed. In short, some payment or substitution would have to be made in order to prevent that animal or person being killed.
In this model of redemption, the principle is not only that a thing is recovered but that a thing is spared. And, in this case, the "redeemer" might understood to be the one who is substituted.
In your prayer time, talk to the Lord about this reality of Jesus as your Redeemer. Meditate on the image of Him being your substitute. Ask Him to show you from what you have been spared. Praise Him for His redemption.
The standard, you see, was that all firstborn people and animals belonged to the Lord. But unclean animals were not to be sacrificed on the Lord's altar. And, of course, people were not to be sacrificed, either. And so the Law required that those offerings would be redeemed. In short, some payment or substitution would have to be made in order to prevent that animal or person being killed.
In this model of redemption, the principle is not only that a thing is recovered but that a thing is spared. And, in this case, the "redeemer" might understood to be the one who is substituted.
In your prayer time, talk to the Lord about this reality of Jesus as your Redeemer. Meditate on the image of Him being your substitute. Ask Him to show you from what you have been spared. Praise Him for His redemption.
June 1
In the New Testament, one of the Greek words that we translate "redeem" is the verb exagorazo. Within that verb, we see the noun agora, which was a Greek word for a public meeting place, in general, and for a market, in particular.
With the image of a marketplace in mind, then, talk with the Lord about the role of redemption. Specifically, talk with Him about these questions:
What does Christ as my Redeemer say about my value?
What does Christ as my Redeemer say about who or what owns me?
With the image of a marketplace in mind, then, talk with the Lord about the role of redemption. Specifically, talk with Him about these questions:
What does Christ as my Redeemer say about my value?
What does Christ as my Redeemer say about who or what owns me?
June 2
As we conclude Week 22, we want to consider a poem by Myra Books Welch:
Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar. Then two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?"
"Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three…" But no,
From the room, far back, a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loosened strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice,
And going and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand.
What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:
"The touch of the Master's hand."
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd
Much like the old violin.
A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine,
A game — and he travels on.
He is "going" once, and "going" twice,
He's "going" and almost "gone."
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the touch of the Master's hand.
The poem doesn't use the word "redeem," but it offers picturesque insight into redemption.
Talk to the Lord about how you have been devalued by sin.
Talk to Him about how you have been undervalued by the world.
Talk to Him about the redemptive impact of His "touch" in your life.
Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?"
"A dollar, a dollar. Then two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?"
"Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three…" But no,
From the room, far back, a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loosened strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said: "What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice,
And going and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand.
What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:
"The touch of the Master's hand."
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd
Much like the old violin.
A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine,
A game — and he travels on.
He is "going" once, and "going" twice,
He's "going" and almost "gone."
But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought
By the touch of the Master's hand.
The poem doesn't use the word "redeem," but it offers picturesque insight into redemption.
Talk to the Lord about how you have been devalued by sin.
Talk to Him about how you have been undervalued by the world.
Talk to Him about the redemptive impact of His "touch" in your life.