Looking Up

Yesterday was difficult, mostly because my mind kept going to the worst case scenario. Pain makes positive thinking almost a mockery. And “what if” questions are not conducive to joy. I could not seem to focus on the goodness of God that motivates His actions in our lives. All I could think of was my husband’s injury and pain and my own struggle with a knee that might hurt one step and not the next. It was a day when I didn’t want to do anything at all, just fasting from life. I got up this morning determined to drop that numbing attitude and let God replace it with His joy.

Today’s devotional is about an OT passage of rebuke to God’s people who were fasting for the wrong reasons. They asked God why He was not noticing their actions and He responded:

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 58:3–14)

The reading also rebuked my attitude — which I deserved. It said that God is not pleased with the miseries of self-examination. He calls on me as He did on them, to forget my own problems and to go to work to lessen the miseries of others. Service for others is of infinitely greater value to the Lord than the longest seasons of self-examination and self-abasement. That being true, He certainly does not value self-pity and a lack of hope either.

I’m thinking of the psalms. Even those of lament that begin with “poor me” usually end on high notes. For example:

Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning… For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favor as with a shield. (Psalm 5:1-12)

Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?… O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. (Psalm 10:1-17;18)

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?… I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13:1-6)

My nature is pessimistic, seeing the worst first. Jesus was aware of evil too, but it was not His focus. I need to be more like Him.

PRAY: Lord, use these trials to bring out Your attitude of putting others first, of being merciful even when in pain with grace like, “Father forgive them” on Your lips. I can put my spouse’s needs before my own, yet there are thousands, perhaps millions in far more dire need of prayer and Your goodness than we are. Instead of being numb with anxiety, fill me with concern to do whatever I can for others, praying for Your guidance and wisdom and keeping my mind on your promise to use all things for good in their lives as well as mine.

Bad news and God’s comfort

Some people call the Christian hope of heaven ‘pie in the sky’ and make fun of those who trust God for a glorious eternity. I understand that thinking, especially on those days when bad news makes heaven extremely appealing. Yet the hope of full redemption is not based on mere hope-so hope. It is grounded in the promises of God.

Two days this week brought four dire situations — bad news and tears, and for the most part no relief. They are what they are. I look to the Lord for answers, comfort, a Listener for the sorrow I feel.

This morning, God gives me a little piece of pie. That is, He comforts me with the promise of full resolution. Sin and its consequences will be no more, yet as the Bible says, we groan for it to happen . . .

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:18–23)

This old world is in bondage to corruption. Our bad news involves mental illness, broken bones, dreadful abuse and a murder-suicide. Most stem from the sinful condition of humanity. I groan, but I also pray. God is not limited by my short-sightedness nor did any of these things catch Him off guard. Further, He is not limited by hopelessness or the distress of people, His own children or otherwise. Nothing is too hard for God.

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Lord Jesus, for me grant the grace to trust You and keep trusting You, not only for the next life, but for this one, and for the wisdom, grace and compassion needed regarding this week’s bad news. Reading stuff like this in the daily paper or hearing in on television is bad enough; having it happen in our backyard to family and friends is indeed a suffering. You will eventually wipe away all sorrow and tears. For now, I’m so glad to know You and rely on You. Pie is okay, but Your promises are my deepest security. As Tozer says, Your richest blessings often require sacrifice, suffering, conflict, and patient waiting, but the blessing grows with the delay and Your compound interest increases as we endure.

Faith even in tragedy

Yesterday’s post was written in shock and with a sorrowful heart. Yes, the Christians who die seemingly before their time and at the hands of twisted minds go to be with Jesus, but their deaths leave us with a sense of ‘this should not happen.’  

I am sad. The sorrow of the people in Sutherland Springs cannot be imagined. This mass shooting took more than half of their church, children, precious family and friends. I weep with them, for them.

Yet they are God’s people. The news reports how the difference faith makes in the lives of survivors as studied by researchers and told during the American Psychological Association convention last year. They found that “faith communities that rally together in the wake of a mass shooting make a measurable difference in the lives of survivors” and faith results in fewer symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This research is under further review, yet already points to how churches can help, whether the tragedy happens within their sanctuaries or not.

Death affects us yet there is hope in our tears. Soon I became a Christian, the husband of my wonderful mentor died. I expected uncontrollable grief from this loving widow. However, when people tried to comfort her, they found that she comforted them because of her faith in his eternal destiny. She said that any grief she felt was sorrow for herself not him, and she knew he was with Jesus. How could she feel sorrow for him!

Life is precious, yet those who know Jesus can affirm Paul’s hope. He said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) Other verses declare what all genuine Christians believe. Our assurance is in Christ.

“If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:9–13)

Faith in Jesus is our comfort because faith gives us assurance in the promises of God. We are sad, but we also have the hope of eternal life:

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)

Someday I will see those people from Texas and give them a hug, just as I will see all those who died in faith because we believe what Jesus said and know that He tells the truth:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” (John 5:24–25)

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Dear and precious Lord Jesus, it is this promise that gives great hope to Your people. Whether we live or die, we know You hold us in Your hands and when the end comes, no matter when or how it comes, You will take me and all who believe in You to be with You forever.