Lent, a Season of Hope ~ Preparing Our Hearts for Easter: Day 20
Luke 21: 37-38
“Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening He went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in the morning to hear Him at the temple.”
“Homeless” is defined as “being without a home, lacking permanent place of residence.” In England during World War II, when the British people suffered under the Blitz, the period of September and October of 1940 was devastating. In London alone over 250,000 people were left homeless with “nowhere to eat or sleep, nowhere to wash, no money, no ration book, no clothes except for what they were wearing.”* The terror continued and on November 14, 1940, the city of Coventry was bombed, shaking the brave “Blitz Spirit” to its core, leaving thousands homeless with over 41,000 houses destroyed, along with most of the businesses and factories.**
We have recently witnessed the devastating invasion of Ukraine which has left millions of its citizens homeless, many driven out of their beloved land, seeking safe refuge in other countries. It will be years before they have a sense of home once again. Every year we see the wrath of Mother Nature leave thousands homeless from the effects of hurricanes and tornadoes.
It is heartbreaking to see the hardship, misery and devastation in our world today and our hearts go out to all those who have lost everything. It’s hard to wrap our heads around the losses, the heartache and the suffering folks are experiencing, the sense that they no longer have that tangible “foundation”—the comfort of their own home and possessions.
Jesus himself knew what it was like to be homeless. Once He began His public ministry He didn’t have an earthly home. We are reminded of this in our verse for today. After teaching in the temple He spent each night outdoors on the hard ground with no fluffy pillow upon which to lay His head, no comforter to wrap around Him when evening descended and chilly winds blew and rain fell. Jesus owned nothing, and yet His trust in God’s provision was absolute.
His Father was enough.
Jesus trusted His Father to provide and He received all He needed. Let us ask ourselves, if we were to lose everything—from a hurricane, flood, fire, earthquake or the ravages of war—and were left homeless, would Jesus be enough?
Heavenly Father, we pray today for all of those who are suffering from ravages of war in Ukraine and the recent natural disasters, that You would provide for each and every need. Use us as instruments of resources, manpower and prayer to meet the needs and enormous physical efforts required to restore homes to the homeless. What a comfort it is knowing that we can depend on You to provide no matter what befalls us. Please forbid that we should ever be in such dire circumstances that would render us homeless but, if so, instill in our hearts the confidence that, in our Lord Jesus, we have enough. In Your merciful name and for Your sake we pray. Amen.
Copyright © 2022 Marsha Richards / All Rights Reserved
**The Secret History of the Blitz by Joshua Levine
