Lent Devotional - Feb 28, 2023
Hymn: “Jesus, Grant That Balm and Healing” (LSB #421, v. 1)
Jesus, grant that balm and healing
In Your holy wounds I find,
Ev’ry hour that I am feeling
Pains of body and of mind.
Should some evil thought within
Tempt my treach’rous heart to sin,
Show the peril, and from sinning
Keep me from its first beginning.
When you come to understand that Johann was suffering pain in his throat as he sang these words; when you understand his illnesses as a child, and when you understand that very recently, he suffered from an infection in his eyes, you know that he means what he says when he writes “every hour that I am feeling pains of body and of mind.”
In those moments of pain in body and mind, our defenses are lowered to temptation. Johann knows this all too well. He writes, “Should some evil thought within, tempt my treacherous heart to sin.”
Temptation always presents our sinful cravings as a solution to our problems of pain and suffering. Our own sinful flesh tells us that the cravings and the lusts of our body will be a moment of escape in those times of pain and suffering, and often we give in. We fall into the trap that does not ease mind and body, but only afflicts and torments it more with sorrow and grief. You can almost see the twisting smile appear on the devil’s face as he loves to torment us further and to make us the agents of our own suffering.
Shown the peril, we turn to God to reveal to us the pain that will come. How often in the moments of temptation does some part of us realize that the temptation we might cave into will not give us the satisfaction and the relief that we want? It is a voice that speaks to us from God showing us the reward of sin. To see the outcome might help turn us from the enticement. To know that the siren call ends with more suffering and our destruction leads us to call upon God’s mercy to keep me from its first beginning.
As my own grandfather was dying of cancer, he noted to me that it was not the last cigarette that killed him. It was the first. So it is that the first moment of temptation is when it needs to be squashed. The toying with temptation will only cause us to give in. And so, we pray that in our sufferings we may meditate instead on the suffering of Jesus Christ. Every moment of pain we feel should be a time that we turn to look at the cross.
In fact, before even beginning into this hymn, before giving temptation the room to talk, Johann wrote for us the answer that we should all seek when he writes, “Jesus grant that balm and healing in your holy wounds I find.”
Where do we go to find healing and strength? Where in suffering do we turn our eyes? We turn to the Savior, who is not aloof to our temptations or sorrows, but faced every one of them and triumphed for us. That is our healing, it is in the suffering of Jesus Christ, where we find that our suffering finds redemption.
Jesus, grant that balm and healing
In Your holy wounds I find,
Ev’ry hour that I am feeling
Pains of body and of mind.
Should some evil thought within
Tempt my treach’rous heart to sin,
Show the peril, and from sinning
Keep me from its first beginning.
When you come to understand that Johann was suffering pain in his throat as he sang these words; when you understand his illnesses as a child, and when you understand that very recently, he suffered from an infection in his eyes, you know that he means what he says when he writes “every hour that I am feeling pains of body and of mind.”
In those moments of pain in body and mind, our defenses are lowered to temptation. Johann knows this all too well. He writes, “Should some evil thought within, tempt my treacherous heart to sin.”
Temptation always presents our sinful cravings as a solution to our problems of pain and suffering. Our own sinful flesh tells us that the cravings and the lusts of our body will be a moment of escape in those times of pain and suffering, and often we give in. We fall into the trap that does not ease mind and body, but only afflicts and torments it more with sorrow and grief. You can almost see the twisting smile appear on the devil’s face as he loves to torment us further and to make us the agents of our own suffering.
Shown the peril, we turn to God to reveal to us the pain that will come. How often in the moments of temptation does some part of us realize that the temptation we might cave into will not give us the satisfaction and the relief that we want? It is a voice that speaks to us from God showing us the reward of sin. To see the outcome might help turn us from the enticement. To know that the siren call ends with more suffering and our destruction leads us to call upon God’s mercy to keep me from its first beginning.
As my own grandfather was dying of cancer, he noted to me that it was not the last cigarette that killed him. It was the first. So it is that the first moment of temptation is when it needs to be squashed. The toying with temptation will only cause us to give in. And so, we pray that in our sufferings we may meditate instead on the suffering of Jesus Christ. Every moment of pain we feel should be a time that we turn to look at the cross.
In fact, before even beginning into this hymn, before giving temptation the room to talk, Johann wrote for us the answer that we should all seek when he writes, “Jesus grant that balm and healing in your holy wounds I find.”
Where do we go to find healing and strength? Where in suffering do we turn our eyes? We turn to the Savior, who is not aloof to our temptations or sorrows, but faced every one of them and triumphed for us. That is our healing, it is in the suffering of Jesus Christ, where we find that our suffering finds redemption.
Posted in Lent
Recent
Archive
2024
February
August
September
2023
February
March
Lent Devotional - March 1, 2023Lent Devotional - March 2, 2023Lent Devotional - March 3, 2023Lent Devotional - March 4, 2023Lent Devotional - March 7, 2023Lent Devotional - March 6, 2023Lent Devotional - March 8, 2023Lent Devotional - March 9, 2023Lent Devotional - March 10, 2023Lent Devotional - March 11, 2023March 2023 NewsletterLent Devotional - March 13, 2023Lent Devotional - March 14, 2023Lent Devotional - March 15, 2023Lent Devotional - March 16, 2023Lent Devotional - March 17, 2023Lent Devotional - March 18, 2023Lent Devotional - March 20, 2023Lent Devotional - March 21, 2023Lent Devotional - March 22, 2023Lent Devotional - March 23, 2023Lent Devotional - March 24, 2023Lent Devotional - March 25, 2023Lent Devotional - March 27, 2023Lent Devotional - March 28, 2023Lent Devotional - March 29, 2023Lent Devotional - March 30, 2023Lent Devotional - March 31, 2023
April
July
August
September
October
November
Advent 2023 Devotional: “Immanuel, Jesus with us.” Advent 2023: November 6Advent 2023: November 7 - PromiseAdvent 2023: November 8 - PeopleAdvent 2023: November 9 - PsalmAdvent 2023: November 10 - HymnAdvent 2023: November 13 - PresenceAdvent 2023: November 14 - PromiseAdvent 2023: November 15 - PeopleAdvent 2023: November 16 - PsalmAdvent 2023: November 17 - HymnAdvent 2023: November 20 - PresenceAdvent 2023: November 21 - PromiseAdvent 2023: November 23 - PsalmAdvent 2023: November 24 - HymnAdvent 2023: November 27 - PresenceAdvent 2023: November 28 - PromiseAdvent 2023: November 29 - PeopleAdvent 2023: November 30 - Psalm
December
Advent 2023: December 1 - HymnAdvent 2023: December 4 - PresenceAdvent 2023: December 5 - PromiseAdvent 2023: December 6 - PeopleAdvent 2023: December 7 - PsalmAdvent 2023: December 8 - HymnAdvent 2023: December 11 - PresenceAdvent 2023: December 12 - PromiseAdvent 2023: December 13 - PeopleAdvent 2023: December 14 - PsalmAdvent 2023: December 15 - HymnAdvent 2023: December 18 - PresenceAdvent 2023: December 19 - PromiseDecember 2023 NewsletterAdvent 2023: December 20 - PeopleAdvent 2023: December 21 - PsalmAdvent 2023: December 22 - HymnAdvent 2023 Devotional: Conclusion