Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace-but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s visitation.”
– Luke 19:41-44
Devotion
In Luke’s account, we learn that Jesus, sensing their misguided expectations, wept when the city of Jerusalem came into full view. Jesus speaks concerning God’s “visitation”. This word is only used one other time in this sense – 1 Peter 2:12 when Peter refers to the 2nd coming of Christ. The problem was these excited crowds did not understand the nature of Christ’s first coming. They did not realize that, as Daniel prophesied, the Messiah had come on this first visit not to be enthroned, but to be killed (cut off). Jesus was not headed toward a throne and a crown of gold, rather, toward a cross and a crown of thorns.
The Big Question
The crowds expected Jesus to be their triumphant revolutionary. We all have many expectations of Jesus that are off. What are some of your own wrong expectations of Jesus?
Conclude your time in prayer and silence reflecting on what God revealed to you today.