Month: March 2024 (Page 3 of 3)

King David came to my mind first as he describes so well all his feelings, happy and sad, and in Psalm 16:9 he said, “I’m happy from the inside out, and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.” Another translation says, “But you will find joy in the Lord and praise the Holy One of Israel.” Along with great joy, David also had times that he felt depressed. One time when David and his army returned home, they discovered the Amalekites had raid their town and taken their families and possessions away.  David, along with his men wept with sorrow until they could weep no more. But we are told he responded by finding strength in the Lord and encouraging himself and was able go with his army to get everything back. Sometimes we need to give ourself a peptalk and encourage ourselves in the promises of the Lord, letting go of our negative talk.

Another example was Job who lost everything, including his family and his livestock and possessions, and must have felt devastated. And yet he refused to curse God and he remained faithful. In our times of devastation, we need to remember God’s faithfulness for even the things we don’t understand at the time. Job was rewarded twice as much after his time of testing.

Joseph must have felt pretty down when he was sold as a slave and put in a pit and later in prison. And yet he made the most of it and God rewarded Him. I wonder when we are going through dark times if we are willing to pray that God would work good out of our circumstances, and then make the best of it, believing that we would see the light again.

Abraham and Sarah must have had many sad times as she couldn’t get pregnant, and every month was a disappointment. She had to wait until she was 90 years old to birth a son of promise. And there was Esther who must have been filled with sadness and fear with the prospect of all her Jewish friends and family being annihilated. The list goes on and on.
Let us learn from the many examples in scripture and respond with hope and even joy.

Challenge for today: When you feel down and depressed, let go of negative talk, remember His faithfulness to you, make the best of it and let hope arise.

The apostle Paul writes often in his letters about freedom. He mentions it ten times just in his letter to the Galatians.  He says in Gal.5:!3, “For you were called to freedom, brother. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” A free life is a gift and not something we earn but something that is free for all who receive it. We’ve probably all met people who we have met that just sail through life freely and lightly, even when going through hard times. It is beautiful and speaks volumes even though they may not say a lot. We also, can live free only because of God’s actions and our part is to respond. On our own we can’t live a life of freedom.

 Next Job’s body was attacked and full of painful sores, so much so that he used broken pottery to scrape himself as sat in ashes. At that point his wife told him to renounce God and die. Some encouraging word and from the one closest to him!  But he responded with that we not only receive good from the Lord but we also have to accept misfortune. To add to his problems, his friends accused him of sin as the cause of all those terrible things happening to him. How about those times we are misunderstood by our friends, our motives are maligned and we feel helpless to defend ourselves. We may have to just sit tight for a while until God reveals to them what is really going on. Job had to listen for days to all the accusations but the Lord ended up defending him and having him offer prayers for his friends who judged him. We know from the familiar story that God also restored everything and twice more to Job.

  When we go through those hard times, let us know that God is doing a deep work in us; He sees and walks with us through it all and has our good in mind. Let us not lose hope but remember that one day He will restore us with far more than we have endured in our suffering.

I was reading this morning about King David when he made plans to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. It was a large wooden container, overlaid with gold and inside were placed the tablets of the ten commandments, manna, and Aaron’s rod; on top there were 2 cherubim with spread wings on each side of the mercy seat where the presence of the Lord dwelled. It had molding around it with gold rings so it would be carried between 2 poles without anyone touching it. But instead of carrying it the way they were instructed, they put it on a cart and when Uzzah put out his hand to steady the cart, he immediately died. He ignored the way God had commanded and lost his life. It didn’t matter how the people felt about it and agreed how it was to be carried, for they were to obey and not to touch it. God’s word and ways always trumps ours. I often pray, “Lord, this is what I want, but I want your will more. I will be okay with whatever happens, for it is in your hands!” I wish I could say I always do that but I also fail and do my own thing and miss His peace.

The best way to live is to live is an uncompromised life for God, not self, and to follow how He would lead us. I suspect we all argue with God at times, going our own way and thinking we know better, but it isn’t long until we discover His way is always best. As it says in Psalm 93:1 & 5, “God is King, robed and ruling. God is robed and surging with strength…What You say goes—it always has. ‘Beauty’ and ‘Holy’ mark your palace rule, God, to the very end of time.”

Laura responded by writing, “Until we lose a sense of what ministry costs us and the tradeoffs involved in serving others, we will struggle to love and serve as Christ did.” Perhaps we all have times that we are weary and then asked to drop everything to minister to a family in need. Or we get irritated when we are busy and called to serve when others around us do not do their part. It goes against our sense of fairness and we may grumble and complain and feel like a martyr.

But what if we lose our sense of sacrifice and become more selfless and even joyful in service to others? I love to get the newsletter of a missionary couple that we help support. They have spoken at our church when they were on furlough and exude joy as they tell about their ministry. Even their newsletters are not complaining about how tired they are or how much they sacrifice with all the many groups coming or other places they are called to speak, but rather how God is working and moving and the joy of being part of it. What a difference. When we serve others out of our own power, we will get exhausted and find ourselves complaining. But when we rely on the Lord and experience His love for us, our sense of sacrifice will turn into praise and joy, not complaint. Like Laura says, Let us not serve the Lord out of obligation or guilt but out of a spirit of gratitude for His love and generosity to us. May we be like Mary who said in Luke 1:38, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”