“Rock of Ages” is a plea that God would not stop revealing us to ourselves until the truth is out there… and that he would be our comfort in this sometimes painful unveiling.
Apocalypse Now
Until we gather again as a community, CTK will release a daily devotional each morning. Each devotional will include a song to sing, a short devotional (to be read alone or with your family), questions for discussion or reflection, and a prayer. See the rest of our series on our blog.
Devotional
The word "apocalypse" has some strange associations. For some of us, "apocalypse" was a terrifying story told when we were children, to frighten us into behaving. For others of us, the impact is more corny than terrifying. But one thing that is true (or, was true, until a week ago) for all of us- apocalypse seems extraordinary, fantastical; something that happens in fiction.
The biblical usage of this genre of literature is very different from our modern American conception. The term "apocalyptic" actually means "unveiling, or revealing." Apocalypse is what happens circumstances in our lives reveal who we are, and what we are made of. An apocalypse pulls back the curtain to reveal the men and women underneath. No more hiding, no more pretending: in apocalypse we are exposed. Its not that we have a choice to make; it's more like the reality of the choices we have been making our whole lives is made plain to us ("you've been putting it up your whole life").
In this way of using the term, apocalypse doesn't happen out there, to somebody else. It happens to all of us, in little moments, every day. Moments where who we are and what we are becoming is revealed to us in a flash, in the way we respond to our situations- a jolt of anger, an unexpected kindness, a flash of shame. Sometimes these apocalypses pass in microseconds.
What has the recent version of apocalypse revealed about you? Your community? Your church? About who and what you love? About where you find security? About how you schedule your time?
What if apocalypse is both a tragedy, and an aid to devotion? God is calling us to take stock of our lives by exposing to us some pretty hard truths... and some pretty beautiful ones. Don't let this apocalypse go to waste- seek Jesus in the revealing.
For discussion:
1. What are some fears that have been exposed in you in recent days?
2. What are some hopes that have been exposed in you in recent days?
3. Take some time to sit with your family, or on a phone call, and tell one another some glory and some tragedy that has been revealed in one another over the past week.
A prayer for God's presence in apocalypse, from Psalm 139:
[1] O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
[2] You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
[3] You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
[4] Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
[5] You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
[6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
[7] Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
[8] If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
[9] If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
[10] even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
[11] If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
[12] even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
[13] For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
[14] I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
[15] My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
[16] Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
[17] How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
[18] If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
[19] Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
[20] They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
[21] Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
[22] I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
[23] Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
[24] And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting! (ESV)