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“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,” Psalm 30:11
In Old Testament times when people were in deep distress they would put on sackcloth and wail in anguish. This was particularly true when they mourned over the death of a loved one. As it is today, this was perhaps the deepest agony of all. Death brings with it the loss of dreams, the loss of companionship and the loss of hope for the future.
In Psalm 30 David recounts the many times that God has delivered his people from a variety of disappointments and tragedies. In verse 11 of this song of praise he tells us how, in the midst of their agony God brought them joy. The rough and uncomfortable clothing of sackcloth became clothing of joy and comfort. Their songs of agony became songs of praise.
As we travel along the journey we call life there are many times when tragedy comes upon us. It can be the death of a loved one, or the loss of a job or a broken relationship. People we trust let us down. We let people down we trust and love dearly. We grow old and change becomes harder to adjust too. Health and financial woes remove our hopes and dreams.
How we react to the hard times of life is really up to us. We can dwell on the pain or we can allow God to turn even our own most desperate times into a time of joy and comfort. How we respond to adversity is largely dependent on our view of God and of ourselves.
If we allow the words and actions of other people to determine how we feel about ourselves and God then we will feel the pain of life’s disappointments. Life will seem hopeless. Pain and discomfort will be the rule of our days and sleeplessness will spend the night with us.
If we realize God’s great love and provision for us then we enable Him to make our darkest times to be times of comfort and joy. It is only God that can take the sackcloth of our mistakes and the abuse of others and turn it to joy. It is only through God’s love that we can endure the hardship of tragedy that comes our way.
You are a child of the God of the universe. You are His most cherished possession and the apple of His eye. Leave the ashes and sackcloth of yesterdays mistakes and abuse be replaced with the comfort of God’s love for you. Replace the wailing for the failures and tragedies of the past with praise for the fact that through faith in Jesus Christ you will see a better tomorrow.
You won’t find lasting joy here on earth through relationships, toys, wealth, power or popularity. Lasting joy comes only through complete faith in Jesus and the realization of God’s great love for you.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I’m in such turmoil today. You know the pain I’m feeling. You know the mistakes and tragedies of my past that handcuff me. I’m trapped by feelings of hopelessness and despair. To be honest there have been times of late when I’ve doubted your love or even your presence. I ask that you would empower me through faith in Jesus and the power of your Spirit to clothe myself with your joy and comfort even as I walk through these dark and lonely times. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7
There are times in life when you just feel like ‘enough is enough’. People say ‘God will never give us more than we can handle’ but there are times when each of us have looked towards Heaven and said “Really? Isn’t this enough? I can’t take it anymore. Maybe YOU think I can handle this. I don’t’.
The ‘human’ tendency in each of us is to take matters in our own hands. We may not verbalize it to anyone, but deep inside us there’s this voice that says we are on our own. God either doesn’t exist, doesn’t care, or is just too removed from my situation to know what to do.
It’s a normal thing to do and God understands that. After all, He created us in His image. He created us to think on our own and to make decisions based on what we know and not on instinct. So, in the midst of our turmoil we seek our own answers. We may turn to revenge and call it justice. We may attempt so cope with the pain with drugs, alcohol, new relationships or even religious practices. But none of those will work and we find ourselves in the same turmoil.
In Psalm 20 the Psalmist offers up a prayer for those of us who have suffered the wounds of physical, emotional or spiritual abuse. His prayer for us is that in the midst of our darkest hour when anger and hate and revenge seem the only way out, that we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
The Psalmist doesn’t tell us to trust His power or look at His works and trust those. The power is in the name. Horses and chariots were items most people considered to be unbeatable in battle. They were swift and dangerous. While Jesus walked on earth many were healed simply by calling on His name. Life is hard. Tragedies come. People and churches and spiritual leaders fail. Family and friends will hurt you and abandon you in the time of your deepest need. But God is there. He desperately wants to walk with you through whatever life throws at you.
Call on His name. Talk to Him about your hurt. Release the pain and burden into His hands and ask Him to bear your load. That’s what He is there for. He loves you and it doesn’t matter if what you are going through is the result of your own choices or the actions of other people. His concern is about you.
Nothing anyone can do to you, no physical or political or even evil spirits can harm you when you call on the name of the Lord your God. Jesus is waiting to hear from you.
PRAYER: Dear God. I’m calling on you today. The trials and struggles that lay ahead of me seem insurmountable. I’ve been beaten up, battered and bruised. You say to call on you instead of calling on physical things like horses and chariots so I’m doing that. I need to feel Your presence in my life today. Empower me by Your Spirit to trust in you because I’m not sure I can do that on my own. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew 6:14-15
When we’ve been hurt by someone it can take away a part of who we are. In some cases it’s a relatively mild thing. Our feelings are hurt by some sarcastic comment or a ‘friend’ tells us their opinion about something dear to us and it hurts.
In other cases, the violation of who we are is much more severe. We come home and find our home broken into and several things of emotional and physical value taken. Our spouse or significant other is caught in, or confesses to, an affair. We are the victim of assault, rape or domestic abuse.
These and many other things can attack the core of who we are. For that reason, and many others, forgiveness is tough. Somewhere along the line we’ve come to believe that forgiveness says, ‘What you did to me is okay’ or ‘I probably deserved all I got and more’ or a variety of other self-defamatory responses.
None of these things are true of course. Being hurt is never okay. Broken trust is, in some cases, impossible to mend. But forgiveness isn’t about justifying the actions of another person. Nor is forgiveness about condoning the attack. Forgiveness is about our own personal freedom. Forgiveness says, ‘I will not allow you to continue to control my emotions and my feelings about myself. I’m okay. I’m made in God’s image. Your actions against me were wrong, but I will not dwell on them. I will not allow your pain to cripple me for the rest of my life. I’m releasing you into the hands of God.’
Jesus often talked about forgiveness during His ministry on earth. In Matthew He states that we are to forgive others in order for God to forgive us. Forgiveness of our sins against God is forgiven only because of Jesus. Forgiveness can come no other way and by no action of our own.
Forgiveness of others is a choice. We have the power to make a decision to forgive others. We may not have the power to complete the process, but God’s Holy Spirit will help us with that.
Our refusal to forgive others is our choice. Much as He would like to intervene in the process, God has no choice but to allow us to choose to be unforgiving. He has no choice but to allow the consequences of unforgiveness (bitterness, anger, hatred, broken relationship) to plague us throughout our lives.
Forgiveness isn’t an attack on our personal integrity but being unforgiving is. Lifestyle forgiveness is a character trait that says “I will not allow the hurt you have brought into my life to affect how I feel about myself, others or even you. In the power of the Holy Spirit I am freeing myself of your control.”
PRAYER: Father God. I confess to you that I am struggling with hatred, bitterness and anger over the hurt that others have caused me in my past and present. I ask that your Holy Spirit would empower me to be able to forgive those who have hurt me so that I can live free of the bitterness, anger and hatred that are controlling me. Thank you that you love me just as I am. I’m your child. I will go forth this day free of the control that has bound me. Thank you Jesus. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 