05/11/2020
Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and mothers were widely celebrated with phone calls, visits, and gifts, but in the year since the previous Mother’s Day many children had lost their mother, and men had lost their wives who had blessed them with children. In the midst of our joyous celebration we can find ourselves saddened, and sometimes feeling bitter towards God in the midst of our mourning. But in all things, even the loss of a mother, or wife, we should worship, and call out blessings to God. Job shows us this after losing all of his children to a tragic storm...
“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.””
Job 1:20-21 ESV
Last Week I wrote (05/08/2020 - Hearing God’s Voice before, during, and after, COVID-19 ) of God not being in the wind, and here we see another example of this. A wind brought down the house of Job’s oldest son in the midst of a celebration, but although God might allow such things to occur He is not the storm, and we need to listen for His voice as He comes to us in our time of heartbreak... even in our mourning He deserves our worship, and praise. Listen as this scripture describes the wind...
“While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.””
Job 1:18-19 ESV
We might lose our mother or father, and heaven forbid, we might lose our children or even our spouse, but in these tragedies of life, our faith should not diminish, nor should we cease our worship and praise.
“When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
Psalm 34:17-19 ESV
Yesterday was Mother’s Day and it was a celebration for so many, but for some of us it reopened a fresh wound, and for a few It reignited a spiritual feud with God within themselves. Perhaps, like in the case of my father, a parent was taken suddenly, or maybe a spouse, or mother, died despite many hours of prayer for healing, and mercy; whatever the circumstance it is up to us to listen for the quiet voice of God following those horrible winds that blow through our lives, and not to spend soul rending time looking for someone, or something on which we can assign blame. We believed God was good before our loss, and our faith should be strong enough to reassure us that He is was, and is, good now.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Romans 15:13 ESV
We celebrate lives every year with Birthdays, Mother’s Days, Father’s Days, and we even remember life events with occasions such as anniversaries and Valentine’s Days. Spiritually we raise up our faith on days like Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, Easter, and other feasts and holidays. Each of these holidays, occasions, and feasts, is meant to bring to mind the love, and joy we have experienced with those people, and the significance of those moments in our faith and the events that are important to us. They are meant to bring to mind the happiness and love that resides there... not the pain, and especially not the bitterness of blame, or things left undone, unsaid, or unforgiven. So how do we choose to approach these days? Do we live them in the worldly fashion of unbelievers, or in a spiritual fashion with faith, and hope, in what is yet to come?
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””
Revelation 21:4 ESV
If you find yourself wrestling with God then let go of that animosity, and let Him comfort you. If you have let a sickness of spirit creep into you then call on Jesus to heal your soul, and give you His peace. For those who harbor the pain of things undone, unsaid, or unforgiven, there is still recourse! Death doesn’t end our ability to ask forgiveness, and through Jesus, and the Holy Spirit we can can still ask that those things we left undone and unsaid be washed away... even after death. Saying what we failed to say, or doing something we neglected to do, and especially asking forgiveness for unresolved conflicts, heals us and allows us to find closure... so do it!
“Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy acceptance.”
Proverbs 14:9 ESV
Prayer:
Father, we thank you for the feasts in which we remember, praise, and worship you. We thank you Holy Father for the joy such celebrations bring to us, but we thank you more for reminding us of any unfinished business we have yet to address. We loose our hold as we wrestle with you, make amends to those who are alive, or dead, and we ask forgiveness to everyone we have wronged so that you will forgive us. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who is good, and takes no one from us out of spite, or to harm us. We praise you for speaking to us in the aftermath of every storm, and for restoring us when we are crippled by life. You are great Father, and strong in your mercy and kindness. Within the storms there is rain that will water our roots, and winds that will crumble the rocks of our intransigence to make and enrich the soil of our faith. We worship you even when we can’t see or understand your ways, and lean on you for understanding when life confronts us. In the still following every storm we listen for your voice, and find replenishment by your grace. Hear our prayers as we say “Here am I Lord”, and “Jesus come quickly!” Lift us up and dry our tears that we can sing to you now, and forevermore.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
John 16:20-24 ESV
Rich Forbes