The Keeper of my heart, keep me in Your will
Deep in your presence, Heaven breathe Your life in me
The Keeper of Your promises, keep me still
Set my eyes and heart on You above
Unhindered by the world’s insatiable thirst, keep me thirsty for You
The Keeper of my Spirit, keep me connected to You
Deeper into Your truth, deeper in You
The Keeper of my mind, break every frailty and iniquity
Apart from You, I’m nothing
The Keeper of me, keep me in You.
photo credit: kelsey_lovefusionphotocc
My life has been completely flipped upside down the past two weeks. Everything I thought I knew and believed about God’s plan for my life has been blown out the water. He’s left me speechless and in complete awe of His continual presence. In the quiet of my day the direction of my life completely changed. Hesitant, I didn’t know what to think or what to do, but God was clear and wanted me to be obedient.
Resistant I said, “Lord, You want me to do what? This is crazy!”
In my reluctance, He asked, ”Do you trust Me?”
In this moment of trust, I did what was asked and things haven’t been normal since. When God told His first disciples to ”Follow me,” they followed. This verse always made no sense to me. I mean in context, I got it, but actually applying it to my life was difficult, until this week.
We talk a lot about leaving our comfort zone and place of security to do what God asks us and it’s been thrown at me so many times in the past three months, the conviction stung. Because regardless of how many times I read,“Life happens outside of your comfort zone,” I stayed in mine. Thing is, it wasn’t until this week when I realized where my comfort zone really is. It’s not behind a computer screen or social media.
My place of comfort has been following behind other people. I’ve followed the crowd and others I thought were leading me to the life God was calling me to; I was following the sheep, not the Shepard.
The reality of this hit me hard because I’m having to abandon everything I thought I knew and wanted for something far bigger than my own understanding. It’s happening left and right without my provoking or searching. It’s happening naturally and something tells me this is the way it’s supposed to be. The path God has me on isn’t attractive or popular, but it’s crazy and I’m accepting it with an open mind and heart. This is where God wants me and it’s right.
The crazy thing about life with God is we never know what He will do next, it’s an adventure. As scary as this is for me, it’s exciting. Everyday I wake up expectant of what He will reveal to me because I know He listens and knows what’s best for me. When there are times when I hesitate and don’t want to trust Him, He confirms it through His Word and truth.
I think sometimes we underestimate the power of God’s Word and the work of His hand. We think because things don’t work out the first time or we don’t get what we want, He doesn’t care or listen, but He does. When things aren’t making any sense in our life, this is when God’s presence is most active. He’s been plowing through my heart and life like a tidal wave and it completely brings me to my knees.
Following God and letting Him lead every of our life is rewarding and humbling. Sometimes we have to abandon the familiar to truly walk in faith and obedience to God. Letting Him lead every area of our life is a risk, but His leading always leads to eternal life and all He wants from us is to trust Him.
28 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.
Are you willing to abandon the familiar and let God lead you?
“The foolish are like ripples on water, For whatsoever they do is quickly effaced; But the righteous are like carvings upon stone, For their smallest act is durable. “
— Horace
I was a fool to think I could put my trust in anyone other than God and it not end in disappointment. What was more foolish on my part is how I allowed my naivety to be placed before my faith in Him. It’s ironic how I always find myself in the same spot expecting a different result. I was a fool to believe this time would be any different.
I’m not hurt. I’m not mad. I’m not bitter. I’m not anything. I don’t feel anything. Maybe this is what faith really is. When every feeling is numb, but you still trust. It’s knowing despite how many blows you take in life and how many trials are positioned in your path, you know God is still faithful. Even when you’re not. My faith never wavered from God, but I felt Him wavering from me. Even though I know He never moved.
If something feels too good to be true, more than likely it is. Unless it’s God, then anything is possible. Despite the uncertainty, numbness, and an inability to understand, I’m still standing. Because without Him, I’m nothing.
I was a fool to believe I could ever do this without Him.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
From this day forward, I will believe and seek only Him.
“It is from a weakness and smallness of mind that men are opinionated”
– Francois de La Rochefoucauld
I’m highly opinionated.
I give my opinion every day.It wasn’t that big of deal to me until last week in a conversation with a coworker I was scoffed at and put in my ‘place’ or yesterday when I was almost hung up on in a phone conversation. This has been area of severe conviction for me lately. I’m too opinionated and sometimes I wish I’d learn to shut up and listen. The problem with being too opinionated is our opinions lead to judgement based off our opinions of what we think to be true about other people.
Here’s a confession — I have a very low opinion of myself.
I love the feeling of being ‘right’ even if I know I’m wrong because it gives me a level of self-esteem I don’t get anywhere else.I project a level of confidence to protect my self-esteem. This has caused some irrevocable damage to my friendships and I am now learning what it means to stop, think, and listen.
Opinions are the opposite of understanding
I’m a people person .. or so I thought. It wasn’t until I noticed my inner circle getting smaller that I knew something needed to change. I needed to change. In my heart I have the best intentions, but honestly, I’m not as understanding as I want to be. I’m not as compassionate as I want to be. I want to understand people better and take the time to understand how they feel. I thought I was that person until I noticed I talked more than I listened. Being understanding focuses on the truth about others we want to learn. I want to be the kind of person that learns more and talks less.
2 Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions
Opinions are not always encouraging.
You know the old saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?” If only I applied that saying to my life daily, I would learn what it truly means to love and respect other people. I wouldn’t open my mouth at all unless I knew that what I was going to say would encourage or build others up. Most of the time I am not as encouraging as I want to be. Somewhere along the way I’ve lost sight of my purpose and what it means to love the way Jesus does. I’m really letting God work through me right now and I need His strength more than ever. I want to walk daily in the power of the Holy Spirit and pray that He gives me what I need to encourage others.
Opinions puff up, love builds up.
When I’m only giving my opinions and not loving others, I’m being ignorant and prideful. “Knowledge which puffs up the possessor, and renders him confident, is as dangerous as self-righteous pride, though what he knows may be right.” (Matthew Henry) When I refuse to be compassionate and loving towards others my opinions are worthless. Because when it’s all over nothing said accomplished anything and only produced frustration and hurt. I have found that loving others is more effective when I admit I was wrong and choose encouragement instead. Nothing is possible without love at the center.
I’m opinionated because I’m weak in my faith.
That’s the cold hard truth. I realized this about five months ago. Things in my life started happening that distracted me from my relationship with God. Even though I pray and spend time alone with Him, I am not changing as much as I should be. I am not being the Godly woman in my heart I know I can be. That’s the harsh reality that I face each day.
I pray God continues to work through me and gives me grace to forgive myself.
14 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.
How have your opinions hurt others?
“The fact that you are willing to say, “I do not understand, and it is fine,” is the greatest understanding you could exhibit.”
– Wayne Dyer
I spend a lot of time trying to figure God out. I want to know His next move.Things in my life for the past few months haven’t been easy. Yesterday was a really rough day for me spiritually, physically, and mentally. Disappointment in the morning carried well into the afternoon and I found myself wanting to crawl into a ball and forget I exist. That’s the unexpected way life throws life at us and sometimes I wish it wouldn’t throw so hard. Instead of praying, I questioned God’s motives.
Only God knows.
Only God knows what He’s doing, we don’t. He meets our needs in ways we don’t always expect. This has been a reoccurring trend in my walk over the past year. Something in my life will happen and God will work through my situation to get my attention. Most of the time He will use others to do it and He’s successful. One of the worst things we can do is try and figure out how God will solve our problems. Doing this only leads down a path of disappointment, frustration, and confusion. And it’s spiritually exhausting. His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8-9) God knows what He’s doing, stop trying to figure Him out.
Pay attention.
When we focus on our problems, we don’t notice the work God is already doing. I’m guilty of this. For the past week I have been focused on areas of my life where I feel discontent. Instead of being attentive to what God is doing in my life right now – growing me, teaching me, and strengthening me in my walk, I’ve been focused on problems that aren’t really problems. Amazing what hindsight will do. We need to pay attention to God’s work in our daily life everywhere. Jesus is in us, above us, behind us, and right beside us; He’s everywhere. He is always present making Himself known. Open your eyes and pay attention.
Trust Him.
If I really trusted God, I wouldn’t feel the way I do most of the time. When you’ve spent your entire life leaning on your own understanding and doing things your own way, it’s difficult to trust. God will never give us more than He knows we can handle and He never lets us down. It’s not easy to change the way we think and act, but we have the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us. When there are moments in our life when we feel defeated, God still has our best interest at heart. He knows what’s best for you, trust Him.
Sometimes what we don’t know makes our life more meaningful and beautiful. I’ve noticed when I’m not focused on the unknown and the “Why”, I spend more time appreciating what I do know and the “Now.” I know God is good, He loves me unconditionally, and He’s consistent. He has never abandoned me in my time of need and He’s always there for me. Trying to figure Him out is trying to fight a battle alone with enemies surrounding us on every side. We will be defeated. Trying to figure God out is fighting a battle we can’t win.
Stop trying to figure Him out and live.
Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
a father’s delight is behind all this.
Have you been trying to figure God out?
What areas in your life do you need to trust Him more?
“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”
– Jim Rohn
To date, I have lost a total of 60 pounds.
I looked in the mirror one day and didn’t like the person staring back. I wasn’t satisfied with my body or the way I looked. I was disappointed with how far I had let myself go in the past few years. I remember clearly a conversation I had with a guy I was interested in at the time. He was the first guy I had been interested in for a while and I valued his opinion. I’ll never forget his words to me, “If you were 20 lbs lighter, you’d be hot.” Something about that conversation changed me. While his statement was pretty shallow, what it did to my inner self changed the way I viewed my life and Men’s perception of me. I remember thinking, “If he feels that way, I wonder if other Men feel that way too.” Obviously, that conversation brought my insecurities to the surface and it was then that I knew I needed to do something.
I needed to change my life.
I joined a gym. It was awkward territory for me and it was uncomfortable. I saw pretty and petite girls all around me and it made my insecurities even stronger. Not to mention the horrible wall of mirrors. If you ever want to see every curve or crevice, go to a gym. It was definitely a reality check for me and even now, it still is. As insecure and uncomfortable as the experience was for me in the beginning, being there changed me. Being there now changes me.
Losing weight changed how I view myself.
Most people get discouraged when they’ve been going to a gym for a few months, some after a week and hate the number on the scale. By some miracle people think that after a week they’ll drop a bunch of weight. Like the pounds will magically come off, if only it was that easy. I didn’t weigh until my third week in and the number staring back at me made my heart drop. However, instead of getting discouraged and giving up, I used that number as motivation. The number on the scale motivated me to push harder towards my goal. Even now, the number on the scale is motivation. My body is worth more than the number on the scale.
Losing weight has drawn me closer to God.
I prayed to God about my weight and to give me strength not to get discouraged and give up. While there was one month when I went on a gym hiatus due to not having a car, I still got on the treadmill at home or found time and walked around the neighborhood. It made me realize I had an inner strength I didn’t know I had before. That inner strength came from God. He was with me the whole time. That voice in my head saying, “Julie, don’t give up. You can do this. I’m with you.”
Losing weight has made my faith in God stronger.
My relationship with God is stronger now because of my decision to lose weight. What started as a shallow response to rejection, losing weight has deepened my faith in God. I know how God sees me in His eyes. In His eyes, I am beautiful. Curves and all, He approves. God looks at our heart and while my heart was broken by the rejection, He has given me a better sense of clarity and perspective about who I am in His eyes. Because of this, I no longer try and find value from any Man or allow their rejection to affect how I view myself. I know who I am in the eyes of God, and that’s enough. His love is enough. My faith in Him is enough.
Losing weight has given me back my life.
I view life differently now that I’ve lost weight. Losing weight has become a lifestyle change. I’ve changed the way I eat, what I drink, and how I think. More importantly, it has changed the way I view God’s role in my life. My relationship with God is more significant now that I’ve lost weight. There are times when I will see a girl at the gym and think she’s attractive and when that insecure voice comes to the surface, I listen to God’s voice instead. His voice tells me I’m beautiful and to lose weight for myself, no one else.
Losing weight isn’t easy.
It’s hard at first and it’s discouraging. I was there, there are days when I still am. The difference between who I was then and who I am now is that regardless of what the number is on the scale, God loves me. I know who I am in Christ and who I am in the eyes of God. To Him, I am beautiful. To Him, you’re beautiful.
If you are at a point in your life that you want to lose weight, do it for you. God loves you and you’re beautiful. Be beautiful and accept the truth about who you are to Him and lose weight for yourself, no one else.
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
How has your faith in God changed the way you view yourself?
Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream.
Today we celebrate his life and the legacy he left behind. It is no question that he was taken from this life way too soon. Jesus was too.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an advocate for love. He had a dream that he hoped would change the face of society. He envisioned a world where people could live and breathe together in unity and peace. He wanted people to rise above their differences and embrace each other in love. The way Jesus loved us.
Martin Luther King Jr’s dream should have never been ignored. His vision should never be swept under the rug only to be brought out every year on this day.
His dream is our lives as Christians defined.
Martin Luther King Jr. wanted Men, Women, Children to live and be better people. He wanted them to humble themselves before God and realize that God’s plans and purpose were larger than our own.
We are disciples of Christ and our purpose in life is more than a dream, it’s our destiny. It is what we are put here on this Earth to do. We are to love others the way Christ loved and died for us.
We are His dream defined. Everyday we are given opportunities to love more, help others in need, and be a voice in a crowd of many. We are given the opportunity to live the way God wanted us too. A life that is built on the foundation of Christ and imitate Him in everything we do.
There is a hole in this world that Martin Luther King Jr. left behind. However, his truth is still evident in how we need to do more and be better people of faith.
There is a hole in our hearts that can only be filled with the love of Christ. This truth is evident in how we live and face the challenges of each day. Martin Luther King Jr. faced adversity and died for what he believed. As Christians, we face persecution and criticism for what we believe.
Martin Luther King Jr’s ideal society was one that was built on love. God’s promise to us was Jesus. He is love.
Jesus is Martin Luther King Jr’s dream defined.
As disciples of Christ, we are his dream defined. It’s time we stop dreaming and make his dream a reality. It’s time for us to make Jesus a reality.
Are you still dreaming?
Our relationship with God and faith are a lot like a fast food drive-thru. We want everything in our life “fast, fresh, and friendly.” We want life our way and our prayers made to order.
We are the “Fast Food Nation of Faith.” We “pull up” to our Bibles or sit quietly in prayer and ask God for more happiness. Maybe for some of us, just a little happiness. More money, a better job, a better marriage, or an “extra value” meal with all of the above. Every prayer is an order we place before God thinking that He will fill our order correctly and quickly.
We order food from a drive-thru because it’s quick and convenient. We don’t feel like taking the time to cook a meal at home. We want our food and we want it now. The same can be said about our faith and our prayers to God.
God doesn’t work on fast and convenient.
We may like things our way and want our prayers answered quickly, but what would we learn? Where would we find strength? Our strength and hope lies in Christ and in Him alone.
Life may be fast, but it certainly isn’t friendly.
Life is at times inconsiderate and inconvenient and that’s the harsh reality of living in a broken world. Our faith in God is more than that. It’s more than fast and convenient. Our faith in Christ should be consistent.
If we spent less time in a drive-thru and more time in the kitchen, less time in wanting and more time needing God, maybe then we’d realize our purpose. Maybe we’d learn to be a little more patient.
God doesn’t take our orders. He works everything in our life for our good and for our intended purpose. He works on His terms. While this realization and reality may be hard for us to come to terms with, it’s important as we grow in our faith and relationship with Him.
Life isn’t made to order our way. It’s God’s way, all day, everyday.
What was the last thing you “ordered” from God?
12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Luke 17
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
There is a lot that I can say about faith and there is a lot that can be said about forgiveness. Apart, both are separate and are fine on their own because they do different things in our lives.
Together, when faith and forgiveness collide, it’s beautiful.
Seven months ago I began my journey with faith. I spent days and hours reading the Bible, listening to sermon after sermon and reading blog after blog, book after book trying to understand what it meant to have faith. I learned what it meant to deny ourselves and live purposely by the Spirit. However, even when I was growing in my knowledge and growing in faith, something still felt “off.” It was as if one part of me was so on fire for God’s Word and trying to understand what faith looked like and what it really meant, but there was still something missing.
As we grow in our faith, we begin to realize that there are things from our past that prevent us from moving forward and truly living by the Spirit. For me, there was no big moment or thing that happened, but it became apparent to me what was missing when I was contacted by someone from my past.
Then it hit me.
Even though I had faith, I was struggling internally with forgiveness. It is only until we truly learn the power of forgiveness and what that word means in its entirety, that we can be set free and step into faith.
Some of us swear that our faith is enough and that it’s sufficient. However, faith is not sufficient and cannot truly sustain us when we are unable to let go of ourselves and learn to forgive.
Forgiveness means different things to us and it’s easier to say, a lot harder to do. We’re human and we hold grudges. We become bitter and tainted by the lies we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better. To make up for it, we hold on to our faith instead to sustain us and think that if we hold on tight enough, that we will somehow forget and that is what it means to forgive. Forgiveness is more than forgetting. It’s more than “water under the bridge.”
Forgiveness is faith amplified.
When the person from my past contacted me I learned what it meant to forgive. The emotional and mental abuse by this person no longer mattered. This person’s hateful and rude remarks about me to people in my life close to me, didn’t matter. What mattered in that moment was knowing that God was working. He was working in my life. Allowing me to face my past and let go. The amazing thing about it is, I realized I already had. As I had grew in my faith and was confronted with my past in that single moment, I realized that I had inevitably “let go.”
That is when faith and forgiveness collided.
Apart, faith and forgiveness are fine on their own and they mean different things to each person. Depending on where we are in our faith resonates a lot with how we learn to forgive and what forgiveness means with our faith strong. Both are powerful words with different meaning. Together, faith and forgiveness are complete and so are we.
When was the last time faith and forgiveness collided in your life?
photo credit: sovereigntyandfreegrace
Romans 4: 13-15
13 Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. 14 If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless. 15 For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)
We are counted righteous by our faith. Our faith in God does not rest in the idea that because we do what the law says we are faithful, but comes from our relationship with Him. In Abraham’s time, there was no law that dictated what he needed to do, he had nothing to go on but his faith and the promises of God. Abraham had genuine faith.
In God’s eyes Abraham was righteouss because he followed and obeyed Him. Abraham was the spiritual forefather for us all, he walked with obedient faith. He took God’s Word at face value and trusted Him and through his act of faith received righteousness. If Abraham teaches us anything, it’s that we don’t need to torture ourselves with a losing battle of trying to earn salvation or to try and gain acceptance by the good we do. What matters is our faith.
We are not made right by God with what we do. We can pray all we want, attend Church, buy a bunch of Bibles and meditate on His Word, be a good person, sometimes a very good person but it doesn’t matter. We cannot attain God’s standard of righteousness until we are saved by grace through faith.
Romans 16-18
16 So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. 17 That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.”[d] This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.
Like Abraham, we may never see fulfillment in our dreams. We may never receive all of God’s promises and we may continuously be tested in life, but our eyes and hearts, like him should always be close to God. We gain righteousness by faith. We are made right with God by faith. We are acceptable in the eyes of God by faith.
Romans 4:20
20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. 22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. 23 And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded 24 for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.
God, like Abraham counts us righteous if we believe in Him. We can not allow our circumstances to take away our faith in the promises God has made for us. When we are faced with challenges, we must stand firm in our faith. God will declare a promise in the the midst of an impossible situation and He does not always make a promise because we have been faithful. It’s because He is faithful.
Faith is not surrendering, but believing.
We are not jusfiied by the things we do, we are justified by accepting what God has done for us. We are justfied by our faith.
Abraham is the classic illustration of justification by faith, are you?
Prayer:
Lord, through the illustration of Abraham you have reminded me of the great truth that I am saved by faith. Regardless of the challenges I am faced, allow me to have an unwavering faith like Abraham. There are times when I doubt You. The are times when things happen in my life that I am unsure of the reasons, but I trust You. Help me grow in my faith and never grow indifferent to Your truth. In your name I pray, Amen.
Where were you when our world stopped turning?
If we learned anything from the attacks on the twin towers on September 11, 2001, it is that this world is fragile, life is fragile. If you ask anyone, they will tell you where they were, what they were doing, and how the events that transpired that day changed their life and changed our nation. Even now, 10 years later, I remember where I was, what I was doing, but didn’t understand what happened or the significance of that event until a few days after it happened. Ten years later I am still learning how that event changed our country, changed our values, and invoked a change in people to fight for our country. That event changed our country and changed our world. We were unprepared as a nation when those attacks happened and were not ready for that kind of warfare. We were caught off guard because we didn’t know who our enemy was or how they were going to attack. September 11th will be forever embedded into our memory because of the innocent people who lost their lives and the people who lost their lives trying to save others.
United we stand, together we fall.
There are defining moments in our life that make or break our character and our spirit, but as a nation, we made the decision to carry on. Everyday we are reminded just how fragile this life is. Turn on the TV, open a newspaper, read a news article online and it’s a harsh reminder of how we are not promised tomorrow. People die everyday. People risk their lives everyday. Some die by accident, some die intentionally, but regardless of how, the reality is they are gone.
Tomorrow we will remember those who died and gave their life. We will honor their sacrifice and celebrate our hope and freedom as a nation. But let’s not forget the sacrifice God made for us by giving his life for our sins. We should never forget the blessings, the miracles, the tests, or the lessons we have learned through God. We should stop and pause and honor not just the people who served, those who died or who still fight for our freedom, but honor every life who have been lost yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
September 11th humanized our nation, but every disaster or tragedy we experience brings togetherness. Every tragedy or disaster should invoke change. Death is inevitable. As followers of Christ, we know God has a plan for our life and He wants us to reach our potential and live out our purpose. Everyday our life and our faith are challenged. We need to gain strength from one another and help one another to know what is right and to strive to do good. Without each other or God in our life, we can’t do anything.
Life is fragile. We don’t wake up everyday and say, “Today is the day I’m going to die.” We have no guarantee of tomorrow. Whatever we plan on doing in life, whatever our goals are we need to strive towards them NOW because we are on borrowed time. The reality of life is scary. It is wrong to assume that we are going to live indefinitely. We are not ready to live until we are prepared to die.
As the world comes together tomorrow to remember those who lost their lives 10 years ago, take a moment and say a prayer for families all around the world who have lost a loved one. Hope, Faith, and Love are the gifts God has given us. But the greatest of these is LOVE. We will lose a lot in this life, but we will never lose God’s love. When our faith is shaken, when all hope seems lost, God’s love will carry us.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
20 “See, LORD, how distressed I am!
I am in torment within,
and in my heart I am disturbed,
for I have been most rebellious.
Outside, the sword bereaves;
inside, there is only death.
Something happens in our life that steals our light, we lose hope, and the strength to keep pressing forward fails us. We are distressed, tormented, our hearts ache and we are deeply saddened by something that has happened in our life. We are at our ropes end and we ask ourselves, “Why Me?” This world is broken and so are we. Not everything in life is perfect. Relationships and marriages fail, friendships end, people die everyday around us, and people are suffering all around the world. Some closer than we think. One of the challenges of living in a broken world is that the rug can be pulled out from under us in a second and our worlds can inevitably fall apart around us within a moments notice. The good news is there is comfort in God’s healing. As the book of Lamentations opens, we can learn to rebuild our lives by studying Jeremiah’s cries to God.
In Lamentations 3:1-10, Jeremiah suffered through the exile of his nation.
I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of the LORD’s wrath.
2 He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness rather than light;
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
and has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I call out or cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.10 Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion in hiding,
In the above verses Jeremiah uses the terms affliction, darkness, crooked, broken, and bitterness to describe his experiences. There have been times in our life where we can relate to Jeremiah and his pain. We’ve been afflicted, broken, bitter, and our paths have been crooked by our experiences and the challenges we face in our daily life.
It is unhealthy to keep our feelings and frustrations bottled inside. We must UNLOAD ALL OF OUR FRUSTRATIONS ON GOD. God is waiting for us to unload on Him and to TRUST Him. Our emotional and mental selves need to allow God inside our hearts and we need to learn to communicate our feelings to Him. When we keep our feelings and frustrations bottled inside, it increases the hurt and pain we feel and allows our hearts to remain troubled. If we do not learn to unload all of our frustrations on God, our spirits will remain depressed when we constantly live inside our pain.
Second, we must TURN OUR FOCUS FROM PAIN TO GOD’s LOVE
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
In the above verses, Jeremiah’s hope in God returns. He begins to focus on what is left and not what is lost. This is significant for us if we truly want to learn the power of letting go and focus on the present. We must learn to focus on the things we have, not the things that are no longer in our life. If we continue living in the past and not allowing ourselves to move forward and focus on the present, we will remain stuck and we’ll never truly heal. The benefits of remembering God’s unfailing love and mercy is to understand that regardless of whatever happens in our life, God isalways there. God’s love and compassion never fails us. If we place our faith and hope solely in Him, and SEEK Him, we will find the strength to rebuild our lives and be stronger than ever before.
Lamentations 3:31-33
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.
God’s love for us is sure and strong. No one in this life is cast off by God forever and though there are times in life when He brings us grief, we will always have His love and compassion. God never willingly brings affliction or grief to any one and while it hurts now, it won’t last forever. When we magnify all that God has done and continues to do for us, we will remember His love through our creation, His redemption, and eternal life in Heaven. We can acknowledge God’s presence in our friendships, relationships, marriages, and other life situations by living in His image, embracing others in their pain and being there for others who are suffering like we are, and reevaluating our life an the things we need to change to be better believers and followers of Christ.
Lamentations 3:28-29
28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
When life seems too heavy and hard to bear, we must sit alone in silence with God. We must GET ALONE WITH GOD AND WAIT! We can wait for God by going into a quiet and secluded place and PRAY.
Matthew 6:6
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
The advantages of sitting in seclusion and silence with God in prayer can allow us to bear it all and relieve us from our pain. When we speak in silence with God in prayer our focus shifts from ourselves to God and we begin to sense His grace. It is difficult to wait on God when we want our prayers answered now, but it’s imperative that we wait.
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
God isn’t on our schedule. God’s timing is never early and it’s never late. It is important for us to have experience with God and to learn from other’s experiences who know God. Through others we can help build each other up in our pain. We are not in this world alone and we should not have to rely on ourselves to get us through life and acknowledge our need of God only in times of crisis.The key to crisis control is Christ-Control
Lamentations 3:40
40 Let us examine our ways and test them,
and let us return to the LORD.
Self-evaluation is hard when we feel we aren’t at fault for the things that have gone wrong in our life. It is easier to blame others for the hardships we face in life than to turn our attention towards ourselves and focus on the things we need to change. There are things in this life we cannot change, but we can CHANGE THE THINGS WE CAN. Living in denial and refusing to change the things we can (the things we can control) can prevent us from turning to God to change the picture we have painted of ourselves. We need to face the fact that we are imperfect and there is a reason we remain in the situations we do. Being faithful is to face the facts about ourselves and our situations without being discouraged. Obviously there is a reason why things in our life happen, the question is, how do we deal with it? What areas in our life do we need to change so we can be better and stronger?
Do we live the way God wants us to? If not, we need to sit down with ourselves and make a list of the things we should keep doing, the things we should stop doing, and the things we need to do differently. We need to apply this to our life everyday so we can feel God move in our life and what He will do when we put forth the effort to live in His image.
Being at peace in this life requires that we accept the things in life that we cannot change and trusting God will be faithful to keep His promises. We must get alone with Him, be still, and wait in patience to hear from Him.
Lamentations 3:53-57
53 They tried to end my life in a pit
and threw stones at me;
54 the waters closed over my head,
and I thought I was about to perish.55 I called on your name, LORD,
from the depths of the pit.
56 You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
57 You came near when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”
When we are in the dark pit of life that we can’t seem to get ourselves out of, we must call upon God. When our worlds fall apart, we feel empty and the sorrow in our hearts deepens. When we are in the depths of the pit, we mustASK GOD TO RELIEVE OUR FEARS. We should never fear the power of God’s love and how His love can heal. Through the TRUTH of His Word, His LOVE, and our FAITH, we can learn to replace our fears and rebuild our lives.
21 Restore us to yourself, LORD, that we may return;
renew our days as of old
In Lamentations 5:21, Jeremiah asks God for restoration. When we are hurting, we must EXPECT GOD TO RESTORE OUR LIFE. As we reflect on our life and the areas that we need to change, it is important to know that we are not alone. We must hand our pains, stresses, and challenges over to God and allow HIM to do the work He is willing and ready to do. God is willing to work His miracles in our life if we allow Him to. We have to stop resisting and allow Him to help.
We must pray to Him and ask Him to be the strength in our life. Ask him to help us slow down and take the time to focus on Him and make Him a priority this week and for the rest of our life. To help us start rebuilding our life around His TRUTH, His LOVE, and our FAITH so we can be released from our fears and worries that we struggle daily with. We must believe that He can and wants to help us make it through the hard times we experience. Ask God to help us focus on what is left in our life, not what is lost. Most importantly, to help us remember that God is control, that He loves us, and He is all we need.
At the end of your rope
Hanging by a thread
He’d give anything for this to just go away
This grip is only so strong
I try to hold on tightly
But it’s all slipping through my fingers
In a fleeting moment
Aspirations bled dry
Eyes that once beamed with hope now only stare in remorse
Even through this pain
I will feel again
Even through these tears
I will love again
