March 17 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

It was not "the sweet hour of prayer that calls me from a world of cares." It was the hour when the ugly pain started. Jesus was hanging on a beam. His hands were nailed to a crossbeam. His body twitched in searing pain.

Some people use a special "religious" tone of voice when they talk about the cross. Actually, a cross is a primitive tool for torturing and kill­ing a criminal. While he was on the cross, Jesus prayed.

"Father," he prayed, for his faith did not waver. Some of us believe in the Father as long as we are happy and secure. When things happen to us that aren't nice or that hurt us, we wonder if we still have a Father in heaven. But in this horrible hour, Jesus said, "Father ..."

Jesus asked his Father to forgive the executioners. He did not scream for help. That would have been natural. He did not cry for revenge. That would have been understandable. Instead Jesus asked his Father to for­give the ignorant hangmen.

"Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Ignorance is not bliss, nor is it innocence. Yet throughout the Bible, ignorance is a ground on which we plead for forgiveness. There is a willfulness that is beyond forgiveness.

Most people are still as ignorant as the Roman soldiers who carried out the execution. They don't know that it was our sin that put him there. We crucified Jesus.

Now we must pray. We must ask God not to judge the ignorant and worldly people who don't know what they have done—to God, to Jesus. And we must earnestly pray that the Father will teach us how to show them what God has done—there, in Jesus, on the cross.

At this cruel and sacred place, every person must learn to kneel and thereby be delivered of his or her ignorance.

REFLECTIONS

Frame a prayer of your own "at this cruel and sacred place."

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.