Maik preached at church this morning...the message spoke to me deeply. And so I would like to share about what he said....added with some of my own thoughts...
The shortest verse in the Bible consists of only two words, actually it is sometimes made a joke because whenever someone says you must try to remember a memory verse, this one often comes to mind!!! However, within these two words there is a story to tell.
'Jesus wept' (John 11:5) Here we see Jesus the man, overcome with grief and so he weeps. He mourns like a human being does, He does not hide from the emotions but he embraces them and lets it out. However, later on in the passage we also see Jesus the God revealed. He prays over his friends Lazarus’' grave, and he is raised from the dead.
There are times when we must grieve. Being a Christian does not mean that everything is going to be smooth flowing and problem free. Far from it. The sufferings of life will still be there, this is just the way things are.
When one reads through the Psalms, we find many different emotions. Joy, sorrow, pain, shame, guilt, you name it, it's there is the Psalms. However, there is one Psalm that stands out from the rest. One that resonates with pain. This is Psalm 88.
O LORD, the God who saves me, day and night I cry out before you. May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry.
For my soul is full of trouble and my life draws near the grave. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like a man without strength.
I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave,whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.
You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your wrath lies heavily upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
Selah
You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape; my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, O LORD, every day; I spread out my hands to you. Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do those who are dead rise up and praise you? Selah
Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction ? Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
But I cry to you for help, O LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you. Why, O LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me? From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death; I have suffered your terrors and am in despair.
Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me. All day long they surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me. You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend
Here we can see that the Psalmist is going through a dark time in his life. He cannot pull himself away from the troubles, and worst yet, he even feels that God is far away and has rejected him. But notice the start of the Psalm. He starts by acknowledging that God is the one who saves him. That even having said all this, he somewhere deep inside knows that God is the only one who is mighty enough to save.
You see, when Jesus weeps, he is identifying himself with us. He is telling us that he cares, but also he is showing us that sometimes, there is going to be pain. Psalm 88 also shows us till pretty well. In fact throughout the bible we often see the pain and the struggles of people. I like to call this the time of wilderness.
Even Jesus himself had to walk through the wilderness. And maybe the wilderness is a place where each person must walk through on their own.
In fact, it may even be the fact that the walking in the wilderness is an unavoidable part of life. Perhaps this is why in James it says “consider is pure joy, my brothers and sisters whenever you face trails of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance”.
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!" These are the wise words of Rocky Balboa.
When we have a vision or a goal given by God, we work towards it. But before we get to that goal, we are taken through the wilderness. A place of barren wasteland where, like the Psalmist sings, there appears to be no hope.
But then the light shines through. “The light shines into the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”
We must weep like Jesus did acknowledge our pain, even embrace it. But then we must then allow ourselves to be healed.
Sometimes things have to be broken before you can fix them up in the right way again. Like a broken nose for example, it gets broken, but to fix it you have to break it again to set it back into the proper place.
When it comes to healing, there is only one person that can do that. This is Jesus.
He is the one who restores, who gives us new life and new strength
“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1 6-7)
keep on walking……
The shortest verse in the Bible consists of only two words, actually it is sometimes made a joke because whenever someone says you must try to remember a memory verse, this one often comes to mind!!! However, within these two words there is a story to tell.
'Jesus wept' (John 11:5) Here we see Jesus the man, overcome with grief and so he weeps. He mourns like a human being does, He does not hide from the emotions but he embraces them and lets it out. However, later on in the passage we also see Jesus the God revealed. He prays over his friends Lazarus’' grave, and he is raised from the dead.
There are times when we must grieve. Being a Christian does not mean that everything is going to be smooth flowing and problem free. Far from it. The sufferings of life will still be there, this is just the way things are.
When one reads through the Psalms, we find many different emotions. Joy, sorrow, pain, shame, guilt, you name it, it's there is the Psalms. However, there is one Psalm that stands out from the rest. One that resonates with pain. This is Psalm 88.
O LORD, the God who saves me, day and night I cry out before you. May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry.
For my soul is full of trouble and my life draws near the grave. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like a man without strength.
I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave,whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.
You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. Your wrath lies heavily upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
Selah
You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape; my eyes are dim with grief.
I call to you, O LORD, every day; I spread out my hands to you. Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do those who are dead rise up and praise you? Selah
Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction ? Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
But I cry to you for help, O LORD; in the morning my prayer comes before you. Why, O LORD, do you reject me and hide your face from me? From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death; I have suffered your terrors and am in despair.
Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me. All day long they surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me. You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend
Here we can see that the Psalmist is going through a dark time in his life. He cannot pull himself away from the troubles, and worst yet, he even feels that God is far away and has rejected him. But notice the start of the Psalm. He starts by acknowledging that God is the one who saves him. That even having said all this, he somewhere deep inside knows that God is the only one who is mighty enough to save.
You see, when Jesus weeps, he is identifying himself with us. He is telling us that he cares, but also he is showing us that sometimes, there is going to be pain. Psalm 88 also shows us till pretty well. In fact throughout the bible we often see the pain and the struggles of people. I like to call this the time of wilderness.
Even Jesus himself had to walk through the wilderness. And maybe the wilderness is a place where each person must walk through on their own.
In fact, it may even be the fact that the walking in the wilderness is an unavoidable part of life. Perhaps this is why in James it says “consider is pure joy, my brothers and sisters whenever you face trails of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance”.
"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!" These are the wise words of Rocky Balboa.
When we have a vision or a goal given by God, we work towards it. But before we get to that goal, we are taken through the wilderness. A place of barren wasteland where, like the Psalmist sings, there appears to be no hope.
But then the light shines through. “The light shines into the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”
We must weep like Jesus did acknowledge our pain, even embrace it. But then we must then allow ourselves to be healed.
Sometimes things have to be broken before you can fix them up in the right way again. Like a broken nose for example, it gets broken, but to fix it you have to break it again to set it back into the proper place.
When it comes to healing, there is only one person that can do that. This is Jesus.
He is the one who restores, who gives us new life and new strength
“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1 6-7)
keep on walking……
2 comments:
Well written article.
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