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Multimedia Lent Devotional – Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

March 21, 2025

2025:

Saturday of the Second Week of Lent:

  • Scripture (Beth Parker) – Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
  • Reflection (Shelly McClain)
  • Prayer (Candy Davidson)
  • Videos: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
  • Music: “Come Alive” (Charity Gayle) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-6XPWmnBXs

2024:

Saturday of the Second Week of Lent:

Psalm 103:1-22 – “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits—who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust. As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, obedient to his spoken word. Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul.”

What a beautiful psalm, a hymn of praise that has birthed several beloved songs of the church, including “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven,” “10,000 Reasons,” and “The Lord is Gracious and Compassionate.”

This Psalm includes a series of calls to bless the Lord: Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless the Lord, all that is within me. Bless the Lord, his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, obedient to his spoken word. Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion.

Blessing of the Lord is commanded and goes forth from literally every part of the entire universe! That’s a lot of blessing! On top of that, three times the Psalmist encourages and beckons us to bless the Lord personally. Why are we to bless God? We might sometimes wonder if our tiny blessing added to this enormous pile of blessings will make any difference at all.

It’s not because God needs our praise that we are to bless him. We cannot, by our praise, make God any bigger or any happier or any anything because God is already perfect, complete, beyond measure and understanding. Christian apologist William Lane Craig says that if we’d prefer not to use the term “God,” we can simply call him “The Extremely Powerful, Uncaused, Necessarily Existing, Non-Contingent, Non-Physical, Immaterial, Eternal Being Who Created the Entire Universe…And Everything In It.”

It’s not God who changes when we bless God. When we bless God, we are better able see things as they really are, to put them in their proper perspective. The troubles of our lives and the problems in the world loom large at times. Blessing God reminds us that no matter what we face, they don’t faze God one bit. God is for us and God is with us! The Lord forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, satisfies, and renews. The Lord works vindication and justice. The Lord is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Bless the Lord! Bless the Lord! Bless the Lord!

2023:

Saturday of the Second Week of Lent:

  • Scripture (Michael Sculley) – Psalm 103:1-6, 8-12
  • Reflection (Patricia Dotson)
  • Prayer (Paul Sculley)
  • Video: Luke
  • Music: “Lord Have Mercy” (Michael W. Smith)

Each short Multimedia Lent Devotional is an invitation to set aside time each day during the season preceding Easter. Lent is a solemn 40-day period we observe as we seek to draw near to God prior to the great celebration of Easter. During Lent,

  • we intentionally practice sober reflection, serious repentance, and sincere restitution, in which we more fully recognize our brokenness as humans, looking always to Jesus Christ as our Savior and sanctifier;
  • we seek to live lives marked by simplicity, self-denial, and surrender, in imitation of Christ Jesus, who fasted for 40 days in the wilderness before He began His public ministry;
  • we look for ways in which we express love for neighbors and nations in need in practical ways through generously giving of our time, talents, and treasures.

This collaboration is brought to you by Liberty Vineyard Church

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