Weeping May Endure for the Night

I muse this morning while watching my wife sleep in a hospital bed.  I read a Facebook post by a friend that their unborn baby’s life here on earth closed after a short 20 weeks.  In a few hours, I will stand at a grave with a family grieving.  Yes, my soul is heavy, but even a few hours ago, while I walked outside at 3 am I looked up to see a beautiful moon-lit sky and somehow sensed His Presence as I breathed my prayers for those in need.

St. John of the Cross refers to our times of trials, when God allows us to walk in suffering and sorrows as the "dark night of the soul."  Others speak of being spiritually "dry " - the soul thirsty for the Lord’s love and care.  In these times we need to know that the tempter will try to make think only of ourselves, feeling that some failure in us has caused to turn away.  Should the Devil succeed a sense of false guilt piles on top of our weariness, our sadness, our pain!  There is a better way …

David says "I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." (Psalm 40:1-2, NIV) "Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods." (Psalm 40:4, NIV)  "For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me." (Psalm 40:12-13, NIV)

First we wait! “Waiting” is not passive resignation to our circumstances.  We ‘wait for the Lord’ with an attentive heart, with hope, and in obedience.  We know that God is at work, not on our timetable, perhaps not even to do what we think needs to be done, but to bring about His purposes. This promise is what steadies us while we wait for Him.

Then, we trust.  Trust is not a once and done kind of experience.  Trust is built over time and then requires maintenance.  When we hit a rough spot in the road, when we are feeling loss,  other ‘gods’ may appear to offer solace or even solution.  But, we ‘fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,’ and in this choice – made today, then again tomorrow, and the day after that – we discover the blessings of the Lord.  Will you trust?   Note, the question is not can we trust, but rather will we?

And, we pray.  God does not tire of our tears.  He never wearies of hearing our pleas.  If we quit talking to Him, out of bitterness or despair, we have made a terrible choice.  The conversation, no matter how hard, even how angry, is important. “Be pleased, O Lord, to save me!”

If you are bearing the silence of God, join me in an earnest prayer for faithfulness! 
This was what I asked of Him today –

that He would see my weakness and make it an opportunity to display His power, 
that He would defend me against the Destroyer and keep me faithful.

Ask Him the same. He will do it, for His glory and His own Name's sake.

Here is a word from the Word - 
"Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

When I felt secure, I said, "I will never be shaken."
O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm;
but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.

To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:
"What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help."

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and
clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever." (Psalm 30:4-12, NIV)

I've got a home in Gloryland that outshines the sun!

In the last 10 days, death has visited the congregation I pastor 4 times!  Last night, as a long day was ending, one in which sorrow visited in several different ways,  I myself thinking about Heaven. My thoughts were not about streets of gold or sitting down for a long rest. I yearned for a place where sin cannot enter, where tears are wiped away forever, and where I will know my Abba fully.  "One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple." (Psalm 27:4, NIV)

Eternity is written into our hearts by our Creator. Solomon said, "God has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NLT) Dallas Willard, now with the Lord in Heaven, urged Christians to lift their vision, to ‘see’ beyond time’s horizon.  He says that a firm grasp on the promise of Paradise protects us from bitterness and depression. "I meet many faithful Christians who, in spite of their faith, are deeply disappointed in how their lives have turned out. Sometimes it is a matter of how they experience aging, which they take to mean they no longer have a future. But often, due to circumstances or wrongful decisions and actions by others, what they had hoped to accomplish in life they did not .... Much of the distress of these people comes from a failure to realize that their life lies before them..  the life that lies endlessly before us in the kingdom of God."  (The Divine Conspiracy) 

The frustration and futility that stalk us in this present realm lose much of their power when Heaven is in our heart! Right here, even now, we are eternal creatures. Yes, the bodies we live in are aging. This globe we call home is decaying, but you and I are alive forever in Christ!  Jesus looked Martha in the eye and promised “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live." (John 11:25, The Message) Eternal life begins now, not when we die. The hope of Heaven is ours today, not just when our bodies are in the grave! I am a citizen of Heaven, now by the grace of Jesus Christ.  I commune with the Lord of Glory, through the Holy Spirit’s immediate Presence. I am called to bring Heaven to earth, living in the earnest expectation of glories to come, while confronting the darkness of sin with the Light of Heaven, right now!   

Let’s be like Abraham. He heard God's call, grasped the reality of eternal life and lived the rest of days here on earth on pilgrimage.  He took some detours from the straight and narrow path, but he never lost sight of where he was going.  "By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise.”  Here is the key to his faithfulness. “Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations-the City designed and built by God." (Hebrews 11:8-10, The Message)

The ‘heaven’ of our modern imagination, that fills the movies, is far from the reality of Scripture. Misty fog enveloping transparent spirits floating in a ghostly realm, spirits living at the edge of human consciousness trying to reach us, are inventions of storytellers.  Heaven is a real substantial place, created by the same Person that thought up the refraction of sunlight by water moisture which produces the beauty of a rainbow. Heaven is beauty unfathomable. Heaven is suffused with the love which we see in Christ Jesus, who left His place to seek and save those who are lost.  The most beautiful music, the deepest love, the most stirring worship, the most blissful day - are just glimpses of what will be ordinary in eternity!  

So, by faith, reach out and hold onto Heaven. When life is overwhelming, when sin threatens to engulf you,  when all seems futile,  when disappointment breaks your heart - look up and thank God that He has written Heaven into your heart.  It is precisely the longing for Paradise that makes us unwilling to settle down and desire our best life now.   We are headed home!

The word from the Word is a portion of the ‘faith’ chapter. "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country-a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."   (Hebrews 11:13-16, NIV)

_________________________

Going Home

I've been feeling kind of restless.
I've been feeling out of place.
I can hear a distant singing,
A song that I can't write,
But it echoes in what I'm always trying to say

There's a feeling I can't capture,
It's always just a prayer away.
I want to know the ending,
Things hoped for but not seen
But I guess that's the point in hoping anyway.

Going home; I'll meet You at the table,
Going home; I'll meet You in the air.
You are never too young to think about it.
Oh, I cannot wait to be home

I'm confined to my senses,
To really know what You are like,
You are more than I can fathom,
More than I can guess,
And more than I can see with human sight.

But, I have felt You with my spirit.
I have felt You fill this room.
This is just an invitation,
A sample of the whole,
And I cannot wait to be going home.

Face to face, how can it be?
Face to face, how can it be?
Face to face, how can it be?

Sara Groves
© 1999 Sara Groves Music (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.)
CCLI License # 810055

Has our anger driven us to madness?

I used to consume the daily news, reading the Op-Ed page, watching stories with interest. But, the anger that feeds the news from all parties, makes it such a toxic brew that I am now choosing to watch less, much less. Anger appears to be the default mode of American life these days. People are afraid and in our emotional neighborhood, anger lives right next door to fear!  Some of the anger is manufactured, outrage produced and managed to raise money, to stir voting blocks, to attract media attention.  But, we are a nation simmering with resentments, deeply divided on many issues.  I see the anger bubble to the surface even among my Christian associates when difference of opinion escalates into attack and then to separation – way too quickly!

Can we understand the intent behind Jesus’ words?  Are we willing to even consider that His words are wisdom for our time? “You have heard that the law of Moses says, ‘If an eye is injured, injure the eye of the person who did it. If a tooth gets knocked out, knock out the tooth of the person who did it.’ But I say, don’t resist an evil person! If you are slapped on the right cheek, turn the other, too. If you are ordered to court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too." (Matthew 5:38-40)  My first reaction is to think:  that is a sure way to get run over, beat down, and left in the dirt!  And, so it is. But, Jesus did just that and conquered sin, death, and Hell!  He allowed hatred to hang Him on a Cross. The Devil rejoiced, His enemies celebrated.  But, the Father raised Him up and love won.

When tempted to uncover our claws and bare our fangs, will we consider that the Spirit calls us to a response diametrically opposed to hate? Yes, we are warriors in the cause of Bold Love!

To be clear, loving does not eliminate the response of anger!  Anger can serve us well, if it is not about us;  if it is not fed by our fear.  Anger that is useful has no component of self or pride. Righteous anger moves us to care, to work for change, to stand up to wrong. 

If you are angry, do not deny it, repress it, or ignore it.  Anger that is pushed below the line of our consciousness will ferment into a toxic brew and become evident, somewhere and in some way that hurts others and ourselves, even as the rage discredits our claim of discipleship.  God teaches us to re-direct the anger and to control it: "In your anger do not sin.” Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." Another translation says, “don’t sin by letting anger gain control over you.” (Ephesians 4:26, NLT)

So how do we turn the anger into something other than toxic bitterness that feeds a need for revenge?

Admit-  “I am angry.”  

Because so many Christians think anger is sinful, they relabel it with many other names, but anger is anger, no matter what we call it. We're not 'just sad,' nor are we 'hurt.'  There are people who develop agendas to attack us and that makes us mad. Admit it, so you can and the Spirit can deal with it. Anger can be used as a powerful motivator for change: in ourselves and in our world.

Understand the cause of your anger.   

Anger is often misdirected.  We’re disappointed about losing the promotion at work, but focus the anger on our wife.  We are frustrated by chronic illness and take it out on our children. We are angry at God, and blame the pastor!  The Holy Spirit and a wise, honest friend will let you safely talk while you work to understand the root of rage.  Don’t blame, instead be prepared to work hard at change, starting with that person who stares back at you from your mirror.

Lose the fantasies! 

It is not a wonderful world where everyone is nice, where all dreams come true, and where good people live happily ever after. That’s reality.  Much of our anger is fed by expectations born of fantasy. The sooner we deal with reality, the better our lives will be. Acceptance of our limitations and of the situations in which we find ourselves provides great release from unnecessary anger. We do not have to ‘give up’ on life, surrender hope, or stop praying for change.  It IS important to pray for the Spirit of God to help us to know the difference between our fantasies about a 'perfect' world and His dream for our life which He will equip us to fulfill.

ENDURE!

A friend who is in Alcoholics Anonymous, reminded me of a basic truth that recovering alcoholics learn - "Send your body and your heart will follow!" In other words, sometimes we do the right things, just because they are the right things, not because we feel great passion, enthusiasm, or joy! Sometimes the very best method of dealing with anger is simply to determine to outlast your enemies and critics as you kill'em with kindness.  Jesus calls it – ‘turning the other cheek, blessing those that misuse and abuse you.’ That endurance is sustained by the realization that there is coming a day of just rewards for us all.  The Word says, "Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord, no matter what happens. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And a righteous person will live by faith.” (Hebrews 10:35-38, NLT)

The word from the Word for today –

"A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control." (Proverbs 29:11, NIV)

"An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins." (Proverbs 29:22, NIV)

"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." (James 1:19-20, NIV)

A Helpless Pawn of Your Emotions?

Are you wrestling with sorrow this Monday morning? Has a sense of futility crept up and tried to throw a dark shadow over you?  Are you confused by circumstances that defy explanation?  There is a phrase buried in a Psalm to which I return in such moments.  The Word says that when rest seems beyond reach, we can make a decision to speak to ourselves!   “I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart.” (Psalm 77:6, KJV)  Do you know how to speak your heart?  Our conscious mind takes charge of the tumbling swirl of thoughts that flow up from the chaos of our emotions.  We talk to Self. We become aware of what we are feeling and evaluate those feelings, bringing them into alignment with the truth. With the help of the Holy Spirit and the inspired Word we can, we must – “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV)

We are not helpless pawns in the face of our emotions.  We reshape them with the truth that resides outside of us, that wraps around our experience.  I went to sleep last night and awakened this morning with this confession –  “The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? … “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD. Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful to me and answer me.” (Psalm 27:1, 5-7, NIV)  

I am living very close to many who are in the depths of sorrow and loss.  I could refuse to enter into their sadness, but then how could I effectively love them?  I could let the grief they are experiencing pull me into a depression if I allowed my thoughts to focus only on this moment’s darkness. Instead, even as I cry, my heart crushed, my mind takes hold of what remains true!

Do not make the mistake of thinking that this means falling into refusing to acknowledge emotions. We are Christians, not Stoics! We ride the heights of joy, know the depths of sorrow, as did Jesus Himself.  Our worship is not just an intellectual recognition of God or a recitation of a creed. We worship Him with song, with tears, with dance, with silent contemplation.  Our emotions are God’s gift to us that make us fully human.

But, we commune with our heart and we do not allow it to take charge. Only a very foolish person lets his heart lead. Reshape that inner dialogue.  Meditate on a portion of Scripture. Compare your feelings with what you know to be true and move forward with faith and hope. A friend who is walking through a terrible time of trouble in his life wrote this to me recently. He is a wise man who has taken his thoughts captive with the Spirit’s help. “I’ve got nothing. I cry, a lot. I am confused. But, I still am drawn to His love for us. That has been the pinnacle of comfort for me. The Holy Spirit has truly lifted me at my weakest point even though it doesn’t make sense logically. Emotionally, I’m torn to shreds, but God is a good God. And, I am so grateful that He has revealed Himself to me as such and has kept me.”

On this Monday morning, give yourself to God. Invite the Holy Spirit to make the beauty of Christ evident in you – in your joy and your sorrow.  Here is a word from the Word for your encouragement.

“Then I realized how bitter I had become, how pained I had been by all I had seen. I was so foolish and ignorant—I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.

 Yet I still belong to you; you are holding my right hand.
You will keep on guiding me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.

 Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

 But those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you.But as for me, how good it is to be near God!I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.” (Psalm 73:21-28, NLT)