Category: helpful

Joy Comes in the Morning

“I will test you
with the measuring line of justice
and the plumb line of righteousness.
Since your refuge is made of lies,
a hailstorm will knock it down.
Since it is made of deception,
a flood will sweep it away.”
                                   ~Isaiah 28:17

The ways in which our Father tests us certainly can seem clandestine to closed eyes.  Most of us familiar with our own trials and tragedies would agree that these excruciating circumstances are spiritual tests.  I know I’ve had my measure of the mire.  I have lost three children — one to an abortion — and I have also lost three precious people to suicide in three years, and several more as well.

There are times I can scarcely comprehend the magnitude of what I have lost.  Some days, it is a hourly struggle to remind myself of the goodness of God in the midst of my oceanic anguish.  I pray constantly for the blessing of relief — even through the maddening rage of my grief — and I have a handful of blog subscriptions (including this one) that help me stay focused.  Many times, the words I read provide the precise encouragement I need.

I have devoured The Book of Job many times, and God’s speech always gets me at the end.  But, recently, I realized that Job’s three friends not only failed Job, they also failed in the eyes of God, who tells Eliphaz, “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has” (Job 42:7).  While the focus of the book is obviously on Job, that verse made me realize something very significant.

When so many bad things happen to just one person, is God testing just one person?  Is The Almighty so short-sighted?  Wasn’t He testing Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite as well?

Is not the same true for us today?  When we see our brothers and sisters enduring their own fires, isn’t God testing us through them?  Do we understand the magnitude of our Father’s love so very well as to serve Him so gratefully by serving others?  The purpose of loss is not suffering, but to learn compassion for those who are suffering.  In that sense:

Injustice is the measuring line of justice,
and suffering is the plumb line of righteousness.

Such evidence demands a verdict.  For without injustice, we have no need to demand justice.  And without suffering, we have no means to express our faith in gratitude through service.  Through my many trials, the times I have experienced the greatest joy has not been when God has taken away my pain — but when I have ministered to others in pain.

Granted, serving others does not remove my anguish or my struggles, but it has been through my suffering that I have come to understand the suffering of others with profound compassion.

And that brings me a wonderfully excruciating joy.

“Weeping may last through the night,
but joy comes with the morning.”
~Psalm 30:5b

The 700 Club–BB Style

 

As of April 12, 2011, at 3:45 p.m. we hit 700 posts.  And 700 is worth noting.  That has been a lot of posts on BrokenBelievers.com.  And almost all have been written, has been developed and written by me.  And that is a bit scary.  The “village idiot” has been given “the switch to the bomb!”  Or whatever.

Please continue to read BB posts.  I am here producing what is good, acceptable and proper.  I guess that to write 700 posts is no mean feat.  But again so much gets wasted, when people don’t pray and read.

Please continue to read these posts.  And I hope very much that they will resonate inside your hearts.  Welcome to the 700 Club, BB style, lol.

Walking Intelligently

  1. Faith–“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”  2 Cor. 5:7
  2. Spirituality–“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Gal. 5:16
  3. Consistency–“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”  Eph. 4:1
  4. Love–“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.”  Eph. 5:2
  5. Wisdom–“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.” Eph. 5:15
  6. Light–“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”  1 John 1:7
  7. Christlikeness–“Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”  1 John 2:6

 

These 7 verses all talk about our walk.  Each verse brings us a facet of that walk.  We must avail ourselves of every awareness, following Jesus is indeed a “walk.”  We take steps that will lead us into an vast eternity with our Savior.  We move spiritually from one place to a closer place.  We walk forward, and not back.  We move ahead, and each day closer to our Lord.  Time, you see, only exists to bring us that much nearer to Jesus.

To walk means progression.  It also is destiny.  Some of the greatest works in literature is the book, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” by John Bunyan.  It is a book about walking.  We are all walking toward home.  It is challenging to make this journey through tremendous issues.  We all are making progress as we travel home.

The issues are “faith, spirituality, consistency, love, wisdom, light and christlikeness.”  Which of these are we prepared to ditch?  If we concentrate on each of these, we find that we can’t give up any of them.  They all are dear and fundamental to an authentic faith.

Walking can be strenuous.  When we walk it means we have direction and a goal in mind.  It is almost never done aimlessly.  As we walk, we begin to unfold these seven issues.  We will find that the Father inserts us into situations and circumstances where we get to unveil these seven.  We will enter into events where we take on certain qualities.  As we walk we learn the behavior of our Lord.  And that dear ones, can’t be all bad.

Psalms 16, Study–“Something Good”

Psalm 16

7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
   even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
   With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
   my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
   nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
   you will fill me with joy in your presence,
   with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

 

This is perhaps one of the most beautiful parts of scripture.  There are so many truths enmeshed in this text.  It’s like a chocolate chip cookie, with truth spread through each bite. (Silly analogy, I know.)  But when we examine it and bring ourselves to obey it, His riches flow directly into us.

There must be an understanding, and verses 7-8 brings Him very close to us.  We connect in a special way.  The Psalmist describes us having a direct awareness of His close presence.  But he also describes his general attitude toward the Presence of God.  He wants to be aware–24 hours a day, continuously.

Verses 9-10 are describing a victory over death.  The Psalmist has come to a definite point, he can no longer see death the way everyone else does.  He understands it to be a very silly charade, and somehow he sees through it.  Because of the Lord’s intervention, he comes to this delicious point.  The ugly obscenity of death, is completely undone.

This confidence of the Psalmist is further extended.  He thinks and feels like he  is bulletproof.  Nothing touches or degrades his faith.  He walks out into life and into the confusion.  But you must understand this.  His faith in God has made him “teflon.”  And indeed he does process a deep understanding of the source of love and joy, he knows it.  As he taps into this, he will now have the real possibility of overcoming the darkness, that could very easily absorb him.

The deep truths of this particular Psalm has the incredible potential to transform us into supernatural people.  As we focus on Psalm 16, and endeavour to make it our own, it will change us and it has the power to revolutionize us in a most profound way.  I say, let it come.