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
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