I wanted to share some of the message we heard in church Sunday morning. It really captivated me and kept my full attention the entire time as the preacher painted a picture of such great sorrow and sadness that turned into a wonderful message of hope. The scripture was out of Lamentations and it talked about Jeremiah after he had been preaching for many years warning the people that God was going to send his judgement on them and everyone thought he was crazy. He was simply following the Lord's instructions and things didn't go quite like he had thought they would.
Here Jeremiah, a servant of the Lord, was doing exactly what he was told to do, but he certainly did not feel like he was in the Lord's favor. First I want you to read the scripture below. I know it's a little long, but bare with me. If you read his exact words, you can really see the pain and darkness he felt.
1I AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.
2He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
3Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
4My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
5He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail.
6He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
7He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
8Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
9He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
10He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places.
11He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
12He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
13He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
14I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
15He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
16He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes.
17And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity.
18And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
19Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.
He says God has brought him out of the light and into darkness. God has broken his bones, has broken his teeth with gravel stones, has covered him with ashes. He has turned his hand against Jeremiah and shut out his prayers and screams for help. He says he feels like God has a bullseye right on him and has his arrow set to strike him at any time. He said "my strength and my hope is perished from the LORD".
This is a really dark and desolate place to be. I have been there before even in my christianity. Sometimes you just feel like God has either forgotten you exist, or has it out for you. It feels like all of heaven is brass and when you pray it just hits the sky and falls right back down to earth. You try and try to do the right thing, the "christian" thing and still the bad things keep coming. There is ALWAYS someone sick or dying, the car might break down, you probably need a new washer or dryer or worse, both. You've lost your job, got behind on bills, your marriage is suffering. You name it, it happens at one point or another and no, christians are not immune to it. You wonder why you even try at times and think it would just be easier to give up.
Then, as you sit in your pity party of despair and gloom, you remember (God reminds you) something way back in your mind.
These are just a few of the places where God promises to be with us always. That is a hard concept to grasp sometimes though because we can never live up to that promise. We can try our best to always be there for our children to keep them safe and out of harms way. But it is physically impossible to be there a full 100% of the time for their entire lives. They will have to be on their own at times. Even as young as 3 years old, my son has to go through his day at preschool without me physically being there. But what a thought to know that when I'm not with him, God is.
Period.
All the time.
Awake or asleep.
He has a constant watchful eye on us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. That doesn't mean bad things won't happen, but it does mean that he will be there to provide comfort and peace that can only come from him, if you will allow him to. Now I want you to read the scripture that immediately followed Jeremiah's proclamation that God had turned his back on him.
20My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.
21This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
25The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
26It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
Isn't it just a beautiful and glorious thought that there is a promise of hope in any circumstance you face. I hope you were able to see past all the awful things in your life for just a moment and reflect on the goodness of God. If you wake up expecting clouds everyday, that's all you will be able to see. But if you arise in the morning looking for new mercies from a gracious God, you will see the Son's rays brilliantly shining through all those dark clouds. This is from a previous post (http://speerfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/certain-aura-of-gods-splendor.html) I did on clouds, but I love what it says.
The so called "clouds" in my life can cast me in a certain aura of God's splendor.
(ps. If anyone will tell me how to make the words highlight so you can click on them to go to a previous post instead of pasting the entire URL in here, I would so appreciate it!)
1 comments:
That's such a great attitude to have. A great outlook to have on life. It's so hard to accept that bad things happen in life, but we know that God is watching over us and keeping us safe under his wing. We serve such a mighty, gracious God!
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