Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Goodnight moon

Sunday, December 10, 2017

From Isaiah 40
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins ... Fear not to cry out and say, "Here is your God!"

Last weekend's supermoon rose above our horizon. Margaret reminded me to look outside, so I set up my tripod and was grateful for a telephoto lens. As the moon rising higher turned white, the leafless branches between the moon and me seemed blacker than black.

Astro-photography settles my soul. The predictability of the stars is a signal source of our mathematics. There's truth in them thar skies. No wonder we look upwards in search of heaven.

Is there a moment, watching this beautiful moon, when I feel the strength of God's permission to rest? What does it mean, "Her service is at an end?" That pushes back on my German work ethic. When is my work ever at an end? "What's next" is the semi-conscious mantra of all my waking days.

And even more I want to take in the idea that expiation is complete. And that in fact in the midst of our suffering we can know we "have received double for all our sins."

Usually I think I'm lucky just to be breathing. I am stained by the sins of my body and soul, and anything short of death is a gift. But God's words eventually turn tender and reassuring. My own need for punishment is not God's measure for meting it out.

No. He loves me more than I love myself. That much is perfectly clear.

I need not be afraid of God.

Margaret Wise Brown, in her most famous children's book, soothes her children to sleep, saying "goodnight" to the moon: "Goodnight room, goodnight moon, goodnight cow jumping over the moon, goodnight light and the red balloon." Others might harm me, I might see myself wrong and harm myself, but God will never.

Is he safe? No, says Aslan, but he is Good.

Lord, we can't know your mind the way you allow us to know the movements of the stars. But you do teach us to number our days according to your mercy, not your vengeance. Over and over we forget to listen to your love, and therefore fall again into our own mechanics. Forgive me forgive me forgive me, Father. And restore the smile, the joy of my salvation. We are yours.

Devotions Archive

Goodnight moon

Sunday, December 10, 2017