Hosanna!…oh, wait, nevermind.

Short post here on something that’s been bouncing around in my head since this weekend. I had a pretty low day Saturday…one thing led to another and I found myself in the toilet of negativity, calling to my savior, Eeyore. Sunday morning arrived and within a few minutes of being in church I was profoundly struck by the similarities between myself and the Jews of 33AD Jerusalem.

We all are, presumably, familiar with the events of Palm Sunday. Jesus arrived at the edge of the city, hopped on a donkey and entered the city to an outpouring of support and praise fit for a king. Days later, Good Friday…they killed Him. There was obviously a misunderstanding there…some disconnect in the Jews’ expectations of the King they wanted and the one they were getting. They wanted a King, like David of old, to put down their oppressors and establish Israel to its former glory. They got a King that had little interest in human hierarchy and structure until and unless it had a negative impact on the “least of these” or interfered with human hearts being set free from spiritual slavery.

So, where am I seeing myself in this? And what does this have to do with my negative turn this last Saturday? I, too, like the Jews, want a King to put down my oppressors (my debt, my house that refuses to finish the remodel I started on it, my frustrations with work, my normal marital challenges, my general sense of being overwhelmed and out of control) so that I can be free of it all and enjoy a victorious life. I want a King of my circumstances. But Jesus wants to be King of my heart in the midst of my circumstances. It doesn’t mean my circumstances are “good”, necessarily, but it means that my heart is infinitely more important to Jesus and He is perfectly ok operating within the circumstances to get to my heart. When my expectations of what Jesus wants don’t line up and my life isn’t getting any easier, because circumstances aren’t changing, I am bound for frustration and despair. The truth is…when I really get it…when He has my heart and I am satisfied with that, my circumstances lose their hold on me and I on them. I am satisfied in the midst of chaos. I have peace. Please, all of you, remind me of this! Often!