passed over

i love the (few, and far between) moments where various unrelated areas of my life align and correspond in ways i can't explain, but that leave little gems of truth sprinkled around like a giant Holy Spiritual sneeze.  it's just the greatest thing ever, running around and snatching them up, savoring them and chasing off to the next.  i wish it happened more often.

as often happens after tuesdays, i woke up today and found another wednesday in progress. which also means that it was time to brace myself against the oncoming tidal wave of Cubby-ness.  as per usual, i made my way into the upstairs room at church a couple hours early in order to gather, prepare, photocopy and set up everything needed to engage 18 small people for 2 hours.  of course, this also included at least one prayer.  i'm not quite vain enough to assume that any good coming out of that time in AWANA is because of me. i've also benefited this past month from hearing multiple sermons from 3 different churches in 3 different states about prayer, that is to be a central goal this year in these churches. it's like the SBC has this big conspiracy to get us all to pray or something… huh. i hope it's working. i'll say it's got me jump-started, at least.

but also happening the past month-ish or so, we've been spending our Cubby story time learning about the beginnings of the Hebrew people, from Abraham to crossing the Red Sea and how God is big and strong enough to keep ALL of His promises ALL the time.  this has led to not only multiple rousing renditions of "My God is So Big" but also a fair number of hysterical quotes and questions from the inquisitive little minds.  for our last story time before Christmas break i was blessed with the task of explaining the ten plagues. i know, i'm still feeling guilty about it. ("Merry Christmas- look, this girl is covered in boils!") the good news is that i was also able to include the positive part of the story- the very first Passover, and the reason why one of Jesus's nicknames is the "Lamb of God." even despite the trauma and total grossness, God's plan for deliverance can be seen throughout.  not only that, but also His holiness, His grace, His bigness and His power.  the Old Testament is chock full of some pretty huge promises that only a big, powerful and loving God could keep. that magnificent display called Passover was only the beginning. 

this week, outside the Cubby's story material, i wound up reading the story of the last Passover- or at least, the last one Christians celebrate.  today it was Mark's account, which includes some heart-wrenching details that get me every time.  i was struck this afternoon by the hint of irony that only Jesus would gotten at the time, when the disciples asked Him where He'd like them to prepare the Passover meal. the very same night that the passover lamb would be killed, the perfect Passover Lamb stood outside the city gates, looking a bit over to the side, where a little hill called Golgotha made a bump by the side of the road, knowing that He would be arrested in a matter of hours.  Peter and John ran off to prepare the meal, and Jesus was spent His last free day with the other disciples, knowing that everything was already in place.

once that seder meal was over and Jesus and the remaining 11 friends were in the Gard of Gethsemane, we read a prayer that i can't think right now of having heard many sermons on.  i've heard a lot about the Lord's Prayer, how to pray, why to pray, what happens when we pray, and the prayers of all kinds of people throughout the Bible… but not many about this one.  or at least the part i noticed this time.  it's one of the few "unanswered" prayers in Scripture.  and by "unanswered" i mean it in the same way others do, which is really "not answered in the way i want it to be."

right there, in the Bible, Jesus (who by this point is in the middle of a full-blown anxiety attack) prays, "Father…make this go away. please don't make me do this." of course, this is all said in perfect faith, and He also says, "Your will be done- if there's no other way, then Your will be done."  but that cup did not go away. there was no other way. if anyone's prayer wasn't going to be answered immediately in the affirmative, who'd guess it would be His? and yet just like with Moses, God had the perfect plan for our deliverance- and it involved the sacrifice of the Lamb.

i've got a few "unanswered" prayers of my own that i took downstairs to my usual place, and made another wet spot on the carpet in front of the altar. i know the prayers of so many biblical characters often seemed to be ignored for long, even when they seemed to be God-honoring or fulfilling promises He'd made.  Abraham waited decades… DECADES… for some of God's words to come true.  the Hebrews were in Egypt for 400 YEARS before they were freed- you know they'd been praying for at least 395 of those for deliverance, yet before the first Passover generations of slaves had prayed and cried, lived and died, asking God why they were being 'passed over' and ignored. Job, Elijah, David, Hannah, Zachariah, Paul… and even Jesus.  they all prayed, for healing or strength or deliverance or children or hope or faith.

so what do we do?  we pray anyway. we pray knowing that every promise will be kept and that the prayers of the faithful are never passed over. they may not be answered in the way we think or hope, but if not, it's only because God's answer is even bigger and better and more beautiful than we knew to think or hope for.  in my tiny, clean, Type A world, i've got answers to my prayers that seem to be all kinds of wonderful and God-glorifying.  but if i pray like Jesus and always, always make His will the ultimate aim, then i can be pretty sure of 2 things: first, that prayer will be answered.  and secondly, it probs won't be what my tiny, but clean, world has room for.  and that's okay. (it doesn't feel like it, but it is).  the Passover Lamb has everything prepared for us; He's got every answer- He IS every answer, and we have Him interceding for us even now, guaranteeing those answers.

i'm not sure how much of the hugeness of Passover sunk in to those 4 year old brains, but maybe someday i'll be surprised- it's happened before.  everyone but Jesus tends to underestimate a kid's ability to hear, understand and trust what's going on, which is utterly amazing when you factor in all the pinching, laughing, poking, shoe-untying, hairband adjusting, crying and bathroom visiting that they are also able to accomplish at the same time.  somehow, God makes Himself known to them- and us.

now if only i can pull off "My God is So Great" like a Cubby, i'll be set.