Today’s Lectio Divina: Excerpts from Psalm 118. (MsgB)

Thank You for responding to me; You’ve truly become my salvation!
The stone the masons discarded as flawed is now the capstone!
This is God’s work. We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it!
This is the very day God acted — let’s celebrate and be festive!
Salvation now, God. Salvation now! Oh yes, God—a free and full life!

Sadly, many good gifts from God get overlooked or lost. Swept away. Gone with the wind. Aborted at birth. Stolen away before we ever get the chance to open the package.

Why?

Because we humans are a pretty stubborn bunch. In truth, we tend to receive only those things that make sense to us. We see, but only in part. We hear, but only those sounds we are familiar with.

So it is with God’s most perfect Gift.

Jesus of Nazareth. Son of the Most High God.

Faith, Hope, and Love say that God must have a Son, but human reasoning says that He would never come from an obscure place like Nazareth.

Grace says that God alone provides redemption through His Christ, but human wisdom declares that we must also add our good works to make salvation complete.

The building block sent by God was rejected by man because we believe that we know better than God. The foundation stone given at no cost to us personally, has been rejected because it didn’t meet with our specifications.

I can just hear the construction crew as they yelled out to Jesus. “We ordered a convenient salvation. One that would allow us to live the life we want to live. Not a Messiah that requires humility, hiddenness and faithful obedience.”

Jesus, you see, is that cornerstone the masons discarded. Put off to the side because He just didn’t fit our specifications for a Savior.

But, here’s the rub.

Just because we discarded the cornerstone, doesn’t mean that God did.

In truth, God took His living cornerstone, thank you, and went right ahead, placing Him securely on solid ground. That solid rock is called Golgotha. From there, He built a whole new world on the rock-solid foundation of His only begotten Son. Now, men and women from every tribe, nation, and tongue have equal opportunity to join with God’s chosen people, bowing before the Rock of Ages. Hallelujah!

Hmm.

Makes me wonder what other wonderful gifts we might be missing because we think we know better than God? If so many of us miss the most obvious Gift: Jesus, crucified, buried, risen and ascended…just think what other amazing gifts might be slipping through our fingers because we’re so stubborn and self-consumed?

Gosh. Maybe I need to wake up and smell the coffee?

Just because past generations missed the Christ and all of His glory, doesn’t mean that I have to miss Him as well!

The building block that was rejected became the cornerstone of a whole new world. 

Move over, my friend, I’m running as fast as I can to grab a hold of that Cornerstone!

My prayer: It’s apparent from world history, Father, that men and women prefer to listen to their own wisdom instead of deferring to Yours. Your cornerstone was the correct one. Always has been. Always will be. I throw away my ideas for my building projects and choose to align myself with Yours. For Your name’s sake. Amen.

My questions to ponder: So how might I be missing a lot of amazing God-gifts because I’m acting like the masons who threw out God’s cornerstone? How am I leaning too heavily on my own understanding while missing the obvious from God? What do I need to let go of today in order to align myself more completely with the Rock of Ages?

So what is God speaking to you today as you ponder the Psalms?

Over a 50-week period, you and I will take a deeper look at The Psalms: God’s Songbook of Prayers. In order to keep all the blog sessions organized, we suggest you bookmark our Contemplating the Psalms home page for ease of use. Keep in mind that one of the best ways to explore the on-going applications of this blog series is to walk alongside a biblically-based, Christ-centered spiritual director who is familiar with how to make material like this part of your overall spiritual formation in God. Many of our directors in our Contemplative Activist network are available to companion you in your journey with Jesus. Click here for more info.

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