Lenten Observations, March 17, 2026

Lenten Observations, March 17, 2026 - Ephesians 2:4

After a brutal reminder of their pre-Christ lives, Paul uses two powerful words to get back on track:

But God.

Do a concordance search and find where those two words are used in other places. My favorite is Genesis 50:20:

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Acts 10:28

Then he said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

Granted, in some cases God intervenes and turns the narrative in a way that ends in judgment, but usually "but God" introduces hope, grace, deliverance, and new understanding. As here:

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us . . ."

I am really coming to believe that many of our neuroses would be healed if we would believe that verse and its fellows.

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