⁶ Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. ⁷ Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.

Romans 13:6-7

Dear God, it feels like this is the verse of the day Bible Gateway intended to run on the 15th and not today. My first thought was that it’s just not that hard to pay taxes and I don’t understand why so many people cheat on their taxes, but the truth is that it can be hard to spend that money and watch it just go away. Harder still to see what the government does with it sometimes. My wife came up with a thing years ago that she just thinks of our federal taxes being used to pay for national parks. I liked that and I’ve been thinking of it that way ever since.

Tax week is a special annual marker for me every year. Years ago, I had the worst week of my life during tax week, and it was totally unrelated to taxes. I just remember that April 15 was a critical day in my history. That weeks ended up being tragic for a lot of people. The vibrations of it are still felt more than 10 years later.

I was watching a video recently where three guys were talking about the TV show Ted Lasso, which you know I love. They talked about a character named Zava who had a four-episode arc. They were talking about how Zava seemed like a wasted character, but I pointed out in a comment that Zava’s presence moved another character, Jamie, to the next level in his development. He was the catalyst for movement.

I think of that because it seems like that week all those years ago was certainly a pivotal moment in a lot of lives. I haven’t yet found the redemption in it. I still see nother but bad things that came from it. Well, I can’t say that. What happened on the 15th spurred me into an action that might have saved someone’s life four days later. What did saving that life do? Well, it saved someone precious to me. There’s still a lot of pain there. There’s still broken relationship there. On paper, the fallout from it still looks terrible for a lot of people. How will it be redeemed? Will it be redeemed?

Father, here’s the thing. I don’t have to know that it will be redeemed. It is what it is. Life happened. Maybe I made mistakes. Maybe others made mistakes. But you know how much I still hurt and how much others hurt. I will bring that hurt to you and ask that you comfort me. I ask that you will raise up voices in the lives of the others impacted by the events of that week that I’m referencing and comfort and guide them. Make this pain count, please. At some point, please make this pain count. Oh, and help the government have the wisdom and discernment to use our taxes well.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen