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. 

Too Far To Turn Back

My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! – Psalm 31:15

My good friend with whom I share a given name is a pastor.  When we were younger, and I needed a job, I would send out resumes and have job interviews.  Whenever he needed to know if he needed a new pastorate, he would pray, “Our times, Lord, are in Your hands.  Choose for us our changes.”  To some extent, I learned to do the same thing, to put my time into the hands of God.  While my friend is certainly a better man than I am, he isn’t perfect.  He’s missed the will of God a time or two.  He ran from a stressful situation when, it seemed to me, he should have stayed.  Once or twice he might have let his ego get the better of him and become discontented with his lot.  It’s all minor stuff.  Nothing big or really bad like what David did.  On the other hand, it is probably best not to delve too deeply into some of my past antics. 

Regardless of degree or extent, most of us have brought suffering upon ourselves and can relate to David’s lament in Psalm 31.  I had a man ask me one time how I had gotten myself into such a mess.  I replied without any hesitation, “I was stupid.”  He said, “At least you’re honest.”  It didn’t really make me feel all that much better. 

When we get into that kind of a situation, it’s hard to ask God to save us because of our righteousness, is it not?  We have to ask instead that He rescue us by His righteousness (Psalm 31:1).  The thing that is hard to believe is that He will do that.  If you doubt it, there is the Cross with the bleeding God-Man nailed to die. 

Sorrows are part of life.  Whether the straits we find ourselves in are of our own making or not, we ought to put the course of our life into the hands of God.  It’s the only sensible thing to do whether we came to our distress by lack of faith and obedience or because of our faith and obedience.  If it is the former, it is time to turn around.  If it is the latter, we have come too far to turn back now.

Good Grief

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. -- 2 Corinthians 7:10

I suppose this is obvious to most people, but I was always puzzled by it.  What’s wrong with “worldly grief”?  Partly because I have had such a blessed existence compared to other people – not because I am better but because I would probably shatter like a wine glass under real pressure – I associate grief with death.  The only thing that ever really grieved me was when someone died or when we lost a pet. 

It finally dawned on me over the years that grief is not exclusively grieving over a lost loved one.  We may call it by other names like sorrow and heartache or broken-heartedness.  We feel bad when we are rejected, when we fail, when a relationship falls apart, or an opportunity is lost.  That’s understandable.  Sometimes, though, it can devolve into self-pity and other destructive ways of thinking.  Worldly grief can become focused on self-justification and self-validation.  It can become hopelessness and depression as the boil of anger and hurt declines to a slow, relentless simmer.

Rather than being an inducement to change, worldly grief can easily become an excuse to continue on a path of caustic self-indulgence, making up for what we feel we have lost.  Conversely, we may decide to punish ourselves (consciously or not) for our perceived failings – not by embracing positive and healthy discipline, but by increasingly bad choices leading to diminished self-worth in a deadly downward spiral.  Sometimes we destroy our physical health on this path.  I often wonder how much sickness and disease can be traced back to an open, festering wound of grief. 

When I get caught in the undertow of sorrow, I am not willing to see the situation from any perspective other than that of my personal pain and longing.  I cannot accept that my loss and hurt might be a result of God’s greater plan.  Nor am I willing to offer it to Him and allow Him to redeem my pain and turn it into a blessing. 

In stark contrast, godly grief is anguish that leads us to changing our minds.  We are able to accept and acknowledge our part in what has gone wrong.  Rather than closing ourselves off, we open up to the Lord, asking forgiveness as needed and making restitution where appropriate and possible.  We can assent to the will of God, bow to His infinitely greater wisdom, and receive hope.  Holy Spirit-inspired sorrow leads to transformation.  It may not happen overnight, but it is happening.  Experienced from the divine perspective, grief can illuminate the knots and kinks in our thinking that interrupt our connection to the mind of Christ. 

Precious Mettle

The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. -- Proverbs 10:22

We have talked about the fact that a person getting what he or she wants does not necessarily mean happiness.  I tend to believe that most of us do get what we want – that is, as wise men have said, we get what we are.  A lot of us find we are not at all happy with that.   Change who you are and you can change your circumstances.  You need not go far to find that is rarely works the other way.  A well-washed pig still returns to its wallow. 

Back when I worked for a financial services company, I was looking over the results of a report I had created for the accountants.  I noticed that we had a person on the charge-off list as a result of bankruptcy whose occupation was something like “lottery winner”.  I forget now exactly how it was worded, but that’s what it amounted to.  People who routinely play the lottery are more likely to win, I suppose, but those same people are generally individuals with poor financial management skills and an inadequate understanding of even basic household economics.  It’s kind of a shame “Home Ec” has been disparaged, mocked, and vilified over the years.  A lot of young women, and young men, for that matter, would benefit from grasping even the rudiments of managing home, family, and income.  Budgets, eating good food at home, self-discipline, a little of that and people would not need the feral government to pay their rent or hand them EBT cards – which is probably why it’s no longer a requirement in the government indoctrination center curriculum. 

This verse always reminds me of another, Ecclesiastes 1:18 -- For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.  I have probably said before, I copied this verse out of my King James Version Bible and pinned it to the wall of my bedroom when I was thirteen or fourteen.  I don’t know what I could have known back then that vexed me, but I understood somehow it was true.  Ignorance may not be bliss but it is something of an anesthetic.  I started to say that the exception is the knowledge of God, but that is the most painful of all, for it shows us our own sad condition.  The house doesn’t look too dirty until you turn on the light.  Though, as Jesus says, the sorrow caused by the knowledge of God is like the agony of child-birth that ends in joy. 

As we seek God, He reveals Himself to us and in us.  Here is genuine and eternal wealth, riches that are not deceptive or temporal, that will not perish in the using no matter how prodigal we may be in sharing them.  If your riches are gold and silver, you may find yourself thinking about thieves, seeing thieves and burglars everywhere, investing in vaults and strongboxes.  If your wealth is in houses, you might worry about fire and flood and earthquakes.  If it is land, you may fear drought and pestilence.  Even if you succeed in thwarting the thieves and threats, in the end you must pass from this world and leave it all behind.  But if God is your Source, not even death can separate you from your Treasure.

No sorrow.  Nothing to fear or dread, no matter what may come.  

And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 28:2)

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Psalms 23:1)

Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!  The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalms 34:9-10)

I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. (Psalms 37:25) 

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  (Matthew 6:33)