Passover Psalms Day 2: God is Near
by Pei Zuan Tam
Today we continue in the Passover story in John 12, together with the second part of Psalms 113, the first Passover Psalms.
The Israelites cried out for help under the oppression of Pharaoh in Egypt for a century, if not more. Did you ever ask where God is when you feel helpless? What does it even mean when we say God is “near” or “far”? Let’s pray and get into today’s lesson to explore these questions.
Scriptures
“The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high,
who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? ”
““Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.””
Lesson
God is not just above the earth, but above the heavens, for He is the creator of heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1). No one has seen God, not even the angels (John 6:46). The created simply cannot fathom the creator (Job 38:4). The greatness of God is far beyond any notions we can ever find in the universe.
But God isn’t far from us (Jeremiah 23:23). God stoops down to look, “the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalms 34:18). He even walked the face of earth alongside us, His children, and bore the burden of sin on our behalf, so that we may be free from the shame of our self-inflicted wounds (Isaiah 1:5-6). As we saw in today’s scripture, in Jesus’s own words, “this is the very reason I came to this hour.” Angels in the heavens may know how to praise better (Job 38:7), but In Jesus God reveals His deep redemptive love for humankind that even the angels wish they only knew. (1 Peter 1:10-12)
Question/meditation
When you face challenges, have you ever felt that God seems too far away? Recount the memorable moments in your walk with Jesus to be reminded that God has always been near.
P.S.
Ancient people wanted astrological or meteorological events (signs from heaven) to signal that a new King and Savior has dawned (article). John included the “voice from heaven” in the story very intentionally for the ancient readers, because they would recognize and take notice of the significance. But as the readers followed the story, they would come to a dramatic plot twist: a reigning new King becoming a dying, seemingly defeated martyr of his own cause. In later story Peter would come into the scene as someone baffled by the turn of events; the story of him wrestling with his crumbling false hope was to mirror and relate to the readers. As Peter turned around in his misunderstanding and surrendered to the resurrected Jesus, John’s reader would also follow Peter’s journey to come to accepting a sacrificial king and the true meaning of the kingdom of God. Food for thoughts.