With the Morning

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.  Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.  -- Psalms 30:5

Jesus spoke of the mother who forgets the pain of giving birth in the joy of receiving her child.  The writer of Hebrews speaks of, “… looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). 

If we go back to the book of Nehemiah, we read of those who returned to Jerusalem from their long exile.  When they were instructed in the law, their eyes were opened to how they had fallen short of the Lord’s requirements, and they were grieved.  They began to weep (Nehemiah 8:9-10).

Sorrow isn’t a pleasant, but godly sorrow is healthy.  One of the dangers of continuing certain habits and being continuously exposed to even depictions of wickedness and lawlessness is that we tend to become desensitized.  This is sometimes thought of as “hardening” when, a lot of times, it is more simply ignoring.  The Spirit of God must break the shell of indifference and resignation more often than actual hardened evil.  The result, though, in either case, is that our hearts are grieved by the presence of that which is displeasing to God. 

At some point, however, we must set aside the anguish and the pain and begin to experience the joy of the Lord.  We are forgiven.   To stay too long in sorrow is to risk developing self-pity:    And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.  Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Whether our grief comes from conviction or from suffering and loss and the daily trials of life, the Lord does not want us to be overwhelmed or overburdened by it.  We may weep through the night for we are, after all, creatures of flesh, and we see not well in the dark.  The dawn arrives to break through our darkness.  Hope can again be seen. 

Though there I times I have trouble believing it, morning always comes. 

I’m In the Pen But I’m Not A Pig

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. – James 4:4

By the way, the reason James uses the feminine version of adulterer is that he is speaking to those of us who should constitute the Bride of Christ.

What do we mean by the world? The Bullet Notes in the back of my Holman Christian Standard Bible give about as good a definition as I can find. The world is [t]he organized Satanic system that is opposed to God and hostile to Jesus and His followers. The non-Christian culture including governments, educational systems, and businesses. I’d say that pretty well covers it, although I might add that much we call “church” or religious can be classified as of the world. And, though it is included under government, I would specifically list the legal system as being of the world. Separation of church and state didn’t originate with Jefferson’s letter – more like James’ Letter.

As a Christian, I don’t owe the world anything. I do pay my taxes and pay my own way primarily so the world will leave me alone. I am, by necessity, in the world, but there is no need to be of the world. There is no salvation in the world, in its ideas, plans or institutions. Proverbs says there is a way that seems right to a man, but it ends only in death. That’s the way of the world, the observable way, rather than the hidden way of the Tao. So, too, the Lord says the Kingdom of God does not come by observation – the Way, the Kingdom – same thing.

I know even as I am trying to put this into words that I am going to sound like some sort of desert hermit, anti-government survivalist flake, whacked-out malcontent, or somebody sitting on a rooftop in a bed sheet waiting for the Rapture. Well, whatever. What I know is that the world system works against godliness and for materialism. It favors carnality over spirituality and form over substance. It rewards clever conniving and rejects truth. The only way for a righteous person to win within the system is to become a part of it, to get down purely on the horizontal and see things as the worldling sees them.

The world will read a statement like the one above and laugh at it. Of course, the system will work against the “spiritual” and for the pragmatic. The non-conforming person should have no expectation of success in the real world. You can believe what you like, the world says, but you have to play by our rules.

No.

I’m tired of trying to appease the world, of trying to get along, of playing a rigged game. The righteous will, by their very nature, have to operate at a disadvantage. I am called to be pure in heart, a peacemaker, one who turns the other cheek, goes the extra mile – one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. I am called to seek first the Kingdom, not fame, acclaim, or someone to blame. I do not believe that ultimately I have to be of the world to be in it. Either God is in control or no one is. Either Jesus is Truth, or there is no truth.

Every institution and process that is of the world is simply an attempt to usurp the place of Christ, to build a tower of Babel, to achieve by human effort what is mine by faith. To the extent that I believe in the system, I do not believe in Christ.

It sounds radically radical. It sounds scandalous to my own ears. Surely I don’t really believe what I am saying. I do believe it. I may struggle to live it, to synchronize my confession with my conversation, but I believe it. Too many times, God has slapped me with the reality of the system’s antagonism. I have been depressed enough to die over the fact that, although I knew I was in the right, the system turned against me. Why? I cried to the Lord. And He said, because it’s not My system, not My Kingdom, not My Way. When I abandoned the world and stepped back into the Way, miraculously, one might say, the problem was resolved. Peace came into my life, and I walked again in light.

Weeping endures for the night – for the world is in darkness, even unto this hour. But joy comes in the morning.