Psa 69:15 Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
Psa 69:16 Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
Psa 69:17 And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.
Tragedies, big and small bring pain beyond imagination.
The waters of strife, the floods of emotional agony grip us. The deep, dark depths of pure despair threaten to overwhelm us. The pit would close us inside, the pit of anguish would devour us never to be seen again, to never lay hold of our eternal life in Christ.
Satan would have us drown in our pain, our very real pain.
Satan would have our losses rip any faith we have in God away.
Satan would have us lay all the blame on Christ's shoulders.
Satan laughs at our heartaches.
Jesus weeps with us.
There is no escaping that the pain in this world is endless. Whether you're a Christian or not, you will have pain, you will have heartaches. If you're not a Christian this life- filled with pain- will be all you'll ever know. This world is not our true home, we are NOT of this world. If we place all our hopes and dreams here on earth, in this world, our hopes will be crushed time and time again.
Today my niece miscarried her third child and as we were leaving the hospital in tears I hugged her and she said these heart breaking words to me… 'I just can't hope any more.' Those words broke my heart.
My sister had called me earlier in the morning to pray for her daughter, and with my sister's broken relationship with Christ, to have her reaching out for prayers is wonderful- just knowing she's turning to God for help is a miracle. I told her I was praying but I don't have my own personal direct line to God like she thinks I do (she even says I do). When I saw her at the hospital before the news, I told her I was praying for God's will to be done and she wagged her finger at me while furrowing her brow as if she didn’t want me to pray that way but some other way.
I did pray for my niece and her unborn baby, I did ask for a miracle, but ultimately in all things I want God who knows the end from the beginning to have HIS will done, not mine. Does this mean I believe it was God's will for my niece to lose her 3rd baby? That makes God seem like some cruel tyrant and Satan wants us to believe that He is just that- He wants us to believe God is hateful and hurtful, uncaring, vengeful, and spiteful. Satan glories in those thoughts, if Satan could get us to blame God for everything tragic that happens to us He will. God's will is for us to love Him, for us to have eternal life in Him through the sacrifice of His only Son. God's will is for us to have faith in Him. God's will for us is to place our treasures, our hopes IN HEAVEN. Does this mean we aren't to have hopes here on earth? That we aren't to hope for babies, or finding a marriage partner, that we shouldn't hope for a good job, and good health? No. We can hope for all those things, I know I have, and I do. We can hope but understand that first and foremost our hope needs to be in Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer.
1Ti 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope
2Co 1:2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Co 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
2Co 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2Co 1:5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
2Co 1:6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
2Co 1:7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
The sufferings in Christ are many. Sufferings are many for all. In Christ we have consolation. In Christ alone we have hope.
1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
1Co 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
We have hope in Christ for eternal life, not just for life here and now.
To constantly harp on laying our treasures up in heaven seems as if I'm a broken record. But when my niece's heart is broken before my very eyes, when I look into her face and see the deep anguish there and I have nothing to give her to ease her pain I am only reminded of how horrible this world is. I will not blame God, I refuse to blame God! Satan has RUINED this world! SATAN BE DAMNED! And Satan is damned! We can't choose to be damned with Him! We can choose to be saved in Christ! We can choose to live now for life everlasting. We can choose to realize that the agonies of this world will NEVER end. We can choose to understand that the pain, though raw and horrific, threatening to consume us, is too only temporary- even if it lasts our entire life here in this world- it is only temporary.
We have to live for Christ.
We have to have our hope in Him always.
It breaks my heart believing that my sister's tentative faith might be crushed and she's piled yet another brick upon God, placing the blame upon Him and not on Satan.
I can only hope and pray that it is God's will that my sister, my niece, her husband, my brother in law, and all those who are affected by this tragedy can find strength to endure through Christ, that somehow it draws them closer to Him and not further away. It's my prayer my niece places her hope in Christ and finds solace in Him knowing that He weeps with her in her pain, that He is touched by her heartaches and He longs for her to be with Him in life eternal where there will be no pain, no heartache.
Please… pray for my family.
In the love of Christ, by His grace, by His mercy now and forever!!!
Amen.
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