Lamenting in His Word?

Lamenting In His Word? 6-2-14

Peace has been stripped away and I have forgotten what prosperity is. I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!” v17-18 My tears flow endlessly; they will not stop until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. My heart is breaking …My enemies whom I have never harmed, hunted me down like a bird. They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me. The water rose over my head and I cried out “This is the end!”  But I called on your name, Lord, from deep within the pit. You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading! Hear my cry for help!” Yes you came when I called; you told me, “Do not fear.”  Lamentations 3: 17-18, and 49-57

She knelt upon the cement patio, her tears flowed endlessly to the point of puddles; was this the end of all she knew to be pure and true? Would the life and world she had worked so hard to perfect ever be there again? Had she not done everything she should do and yet; it rained on her plans. Life as she knew it would never be the same; and yet, He would always be the same. He would always be there to wash away the tears; He promised.
God has promised to be with us whatever we go through; He will never forsake us. We are His adopted children and we are grafted into the vine so that it is as if we were always His and always will be a part of His family.

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:5-6.

Have you ever felt as if you had reached the end; the end of your patience, peace, and prosperity; or maybe the end of your focus, fortitude, and faith?
What does your walk in Jesus depend upon?  Faith is the substance!

Today as I think on these scriptures and the story clip above I am brought to a time when I too had wondered how much one could take. Had all my works gone to naught? Where was the strength God promised when His word told me He was my strength who had broken down every wall? I cried out to Him asking why? Why would He let this thing happen to me after all I had done to live the ‘perfect life’ of a Christian? I thought He had forsaken me in my time of sorrow, and yet He was still there. He tells us that He will never leave us nor forsake us; even when sorrow rains down on us.
He will instead use the instance to build our faith to trust in Him. We are each given a measure of faith to start with when we first believe but Christ takes that mustard seed and grows it to become a strong scented herb to flavor our lives with love, hope, and faith and sprinkled with a bit of joy and peace.
Sometimes we as Christians can live exemplary lives and yet a stone will be tossed in the way to tip our cart over and make a mess of everything we held so dear. That is the clue, you know? The things which we held dear are just that, things; but our God is so much more!

God never told us that our lives would be perfect, that there would not be a temptation to do wrong, but He did tell us that He would always be there to help us back up when we fall. He did tell us that the things we go through would produce patience, 2 Peter 1:2-11

We may feel like we have reached the end of our rope, the one holding us up on the mountain we climb, and yet God extends it as we learn to trust Him to do so. You see our God is not just a God of good times, but He is in our lives because He knows we will suffer sorrow, devastation, and disaster; He has come to overcome all this with us, and for us.  So why should we worry about tomorrow if tomorrow will take care of itself? Why shouldn’t we just carefree and footloose go around sinning? Our Daddy God expects better than that! We know better than to go around sinning on purpose and yet we fall to temptations because we are weak humans; but God still loves us.

Our God the Father looks upon us, His children, and wants so much more for us than we allow Him to give us, to show us, to direct us to; for we are feeble and needy and He would make us strong and powerful.
We should pray; Change my heart oh God, make it ever true. Change my heart oh God, make me be like You! For You are the potter and I am the clay, mold me and make me… this is what I pray.” Just as the old Chorus says, we should pray for God to change us and make us more like Him. Then we need to be sure we can handle it! Cause the enemy doesn’t want us to be like Him, but to be like him. He failed  in Worship 101 and He wants us to get so caught up in our sorrow and foolish choices that we make; we forget the One True God does indeed have a plan for us.

Let’s show our faith! Let’s put it into action, do not waver at the wind and the waves that come against us but fight it in faith trusting God to put a stop to it; to pull us out and place us on dry land.
What good is it if you say you have faith and yet do not show it?

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
 James 2:14-17
 
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers,  remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. 1 Thessalonians 1: 2-4



Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. and let us consider one another to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much he more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 3:23-25

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us the first measure of faith for our lives with You; help us to trust and hope in Your promises to us and to continue in the faith, and hope without wavering. Each day as things come against us, bill pile up, and sadness ensues we ask that You show us the way and give us the hope to trust You more, in Jesus name. Amen

Suggested reading James 1: 1-26, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-17, 2 Peter 1:1-2,1  Lamentations 3:1-64 and Hebrews 13:1-25