Joy in the midst of weeping

“The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.  The are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.”  Lamentations 3:21-22

The book of Lamentations is a book of five poems, thought to have been written by Jeremiah, Israel’s weeping prophet.  It is a book of intense mourning.

Jerusalem had fallen. The nation of Israel had fallen into idolatry and rebellion and so God gave her over to the Babylonians.  Jeremiah made it clear that the only reason she fell was because of the anger of the Lord, not because of the national strength of Babylon – God caused it.  Jeremiah weeps over the destruction of the city.  He mourns because of the sin of the nation that led to the anger and rejection of Israel by God. God had told them that this would happen, and that he would do whatever it took, including being exiled, to bring them to repentance.

           

Almost exactly in the middle of this sad book, Jeremiah remembers and reaffirms the love of God.  In the center of the destroyed city, Jeremiah remembers who God is, and he finds hope.

“This I recalled to my mind, therefore I have hope,” he says.  “If He causes grief, then He will have compassion, according to His lovingkindnesses.”  (3:21, 32)

Jeremiah understood something of the nature of God.  God is holy and will not tolerate sin forever, but God is also love.  He disciplines us for a season, to correct and direct us away from sin.  He loves us too much to allow us to continue in a direction away from Him.  In His compassion, in His faithfulness, He disciplines.  Because Jeremiah understood, in the midst of destruction he could say, “the Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning.  Great is Thy faithfulness.”

As we go through our lives, we will be unavoidably confronted with difficulties.  Sometimes God disciplines us.  Sometimes we go through rough times because of the sin of another.  Sometimes stuff just happens.  The only way through it is to remember the nature of God, and to allow it to give us hope.  In the midst of our weeping, we, like Jeremiah, can remember God’s compassions, His lovingkindness, and can stand firm on truth.  We can only hold on to what we know; we can only remember what we have learned. 

How well do you know God?  If you are not in His word, studying His nature and getting to know Him and in fellowship through prayer, when hard times come you will have little or nothing to stand on.  Turn off the TV, the radio, the movie – the noise.  Exchange the need to be entertained for a solid foundation of truth as revealed by the Holy Spirit to the quiet and receiving heart.  Give yourself a reason for joy in the midst of sorrow, a reason for joy now.

Help for the Philippines

For anyone who watches the news, the horrible conditions in the Philippines are no surprise. Numbers vary with each report, but the latest that I heard was that 9.7 million people have been affected by the typhoon that hit there on Saturday. 650,000 people are displaced, and the death toll is rising. People are hungry, without shelter, and have lost everything. As if the typhoon weren’t enough, the country was still reeling from a 7.1 earthquake in October, and a smaller 4.8 quake hit one of the southern islands yesterday. These are a people who are hurting.

“Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.” Psalm 10:12

If you are anything like me, your heart goes out to those in who have lost so much, who are in such deep need. You are moved, but don’t know what you can do. I know that I feel helpless in the face of such overwhelming tragedy.

We are not helpless.

“For He will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.” Psalm 72:12-14

We are the children of the King. We have infinite resources. We can all do our part.

So, what can we do?

            1. We can pray. “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:15. There are multiple verses in scripture that remind us to pray, to pray without ceasing, to pray in faith. Pray. Pray some more.

            2. We can give. I attend River Rock Church in Vancouver, Washington. We have 16 churches in the Philippines, most of them on the island of Panay and on Palawan, right where the eye of the storm went through. Our church is networking with other churches and denominations on the island to immediately provide food and meet other needs. The people of the area are extremely poor and have little resources to rebuild or care for their families. We are the Body of Christ. It is time for us to do what we can to remind these people that God has not forgotten them.

            This Sunday we are launching Operation Philippines. We are launching a website (www.operationphilippines.com) before Sunday for people to visit and see what we are doing and how they can give. We are preparing a list of needs and will be ordering a shipping container so that we can give of our abundance. We have already sent money to get them started, and will raise as much as we can in the coming weeks. Every dollar will go into rebuilding churches and houses and feeding people immediately. We will have t-shirts available saying “I (heart) the Philippines” to remind people to continue. If there is anyway you can participate in this effort, please do!

            3. Send money. So often we send stuff without knowing what the needs really are, and we end up making more problems than we solve. Find a reputable organization and send what you can. Send through our church, or through Samaritan’s Purse (http://www.samaritanspurse.org/). Samaritan’s Purse has had people and resources on the ground since before the earthquake last month. They know what the local needs are, and have the systems in place to get food and resources to people quickly. 

            God cares deeply about the people in the Philippines. We can do no less. Reach out. We can't do everything, but we can do something. Do what you can. Pray without ceasing.

“But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless… You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.” Psalm 10:14, 17

Goofy love

At my school there is a one-lane road that goes past the library. There is a lot of foot traffic that crosses it, so there is a stop sign and a mirror, so that you can see if someone might be coming. A young man was walking along with a baby in a Snuggli on his chest. It was at a time when most classes were in session, so he was largely alone. He stopped at the mirror, and pointed to the baby in the mirror, talking to the baby in the Snuggli, smiling and sweet with a really goofy look on his face. He then kissed the baby on the top of the head, and continued on. I watched this exchange through the window of the class I was attending, and the thought occurred to me that men have no idea how attractive they are to women when they are sweet and tender, especially to their children. There is something incredibly appealing about the combination of masculine strength and fraternal tenderness.

           

I have to wonder that if we understood that this is a picture of how God loves us, how could any of us resist him? The Ultimate Strength loves us in the most tender of ways.

“See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.” I John 3:1

This is our reality. The great God, who created the universe, loves me. He loves me like the father I watched loves his baby. There is a tender, goofy sense to how much God delights in us. He loves watching us grow, playing with us, feeding us, communicating with us.

There is fierceness to his love, as well. He is guiding us, building us into his people, the bride for his Son. He protects us.

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time, and now and forever. Jude 24-25

He is able. He is our Father. He is willing. We are his.

These are such simple truths, little bitty sentences that contain so much love and tenderness for us. I have written often about the relationship that God desires with us recently. I have to wonder how different our lives might be if we could grasp and believe how loved we are. I confess that I struggle in this area. I believe in God’s love for me in a big, overarching way, in the way that he loves all humanity. I struggle to understand that God loves me like a father loves his baby, like a King loves his princess. Intellectually I know it; my heart struggles to believe it in a way that makes it a part of the way I live.

If I really believed that God loves me in this way I would never struggle with what other people think of me. I would live in obedience, knowing that God really does have my best interests and my joy in mind. I would never feel insecure, wondering what anybody could find interesting about me. I may not be interesting, but I am his!

“Beloved let us love one another, for love is from God…” I John 4:7

“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

We were his enemies. He has adopted us as his children. We fight him. We disobey him. We ignore him. Still he loves us. I am so blown away by this truth, and yet sometimes I forget. You forget. And so he gives us to each other, to love each other and remind each other of how precious we are to him.

How different would your life look if you lived into this truth today? Could you assume the best intention from your husband when he does something you perceive as hurtful, because you know your worth? Could you reach out one more time to that angry, surly teenager, because she needs to be reminded of how precious she is? Would you take the time to reach out to that sister who is hurting, knowing that sometimes encouragement requires skin and arms? Would you be able to let go of the hurt that resides in your heart because of the callous way someone has treated you, knowing how much God has forgiven you in order to love you as his child?

Consider yourself reminded. You are loved. You are precious. God gets that goofy look when he thinks about you. Now, go remind someone else.