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The poor and the homeless won’t always be forgotten and without hope. Psalm 9:18 (CEV)
Looking back, I’m amazed at how my mother got five boys ready every Sunday morning for Sunday School. Those were the days of white shirts, black pants and clip-on ties. Somehow she made breakfast, had dinner in the oven and all five us in the car and on the way to church almost on time every week. Having dad as the pastor helped a little, he HAD to be there. He would often go ahead with anyone that might be ready. The rest would usually follow in a second car…just in case.
It may not come as any surprise that on occasion we’d all be called to dinner table after arriving home and notice that one chair was empty.
“Where’s Mike?”
“He told me he was riding home with you, that he’d asked you and you said it would be okay.”
“Never saw him. I bet we forgot him at church. I’ll be back.” And with that, off dad would go to drive to church and pick up the solitary figure waiting patiently on the church steps.
It didn’t happen often, but occasionally that scene was played out for each of us kids. We’d get busy playing with a friend or exploring the back rooms of the church and find ourselves alone…forgotten. Fortunately the church was only a couple miles from home and no permanent damage occurred.
No one likes to feel like their forgotten. My story was a humorous on, but there are those who feel forgotten by God, by family or by friends on a daily basis. Their lives are filled with hopelessness, loneliness and despair. The reasons for their plight are numerous. Some have run away from abusive relationships or been sent away and feel as though God himself has forgotten them. For some their entire lives have been a battle of survival. Health issues, financial struggles, poverty all work together to bring people to their knees in despair.
The forgotten may seek comfort from the enemy of despair in many ways. Some sink into depression, some strike out in anger to take what isn’t theirs to comfort them. Others use drugs, people, or even religion to mask the pain of being ‘forgotten’.
The inevitable question in the midst of our feelings of hopelessness and being forgotten is, ‘Where is God in all this? Why hasn’t he come to my rescue?”
When you feel like God has forgotten you, remember that you are never gone from his sight. He knows your every step, your every thought, your every feeling of despair. Peter writes (2 Peter 3:9) that God isn’t slow concerning his promise. He’s patient and whatever you are going through isn’t a sign that he can’t deliver you. He can. But for reasons we may never know he’s allowing this for your strengthening.
Remember the words of Jesus (Luke 12:6) when he says that even sparrows, insignificant as they are, will never be forgotten by God.
Don’t allow the wilderness of your soul to let you think you are forgotten by your Heavenly Father. Your Father loves you. Your hope isn’t grounded in the things of this world (health, financial stability, strong relationships), your hope is grounded in eternity and the love your father has for you.
PRAYER: Father, in my despair I feel forgotten by others and even by you at times. Thank you for loving me. Help me to feel your hand upon me through this current struggle. Empower me to trust you when the future seems so bleak. I put my trust in you. Amen.
For you have upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge. Psalm 9:4
When you think about it, how much of our time is spend fighting for our rights? It could be something as small as the race for a parking spot or refusing to let the person trying to merge into traffic get the spot in front of you. Then of course there’s ‘shopping cart aisle rage’ resulting from the mad dash to the checkout counter
The fight for rights also had a larger, more dangerous tone as is evident whenever you turn on the news. Special interest groups demand their right ‘to choose’. Political groups demand the right to provide programs or funding for their own special projects. Children negotiate in order to get the toys they feel they have a ‘right to have’.
Not all ‘fights for rights’ are wrong of course. Many a war has been fought to protect the rights of those who are being victimized and brutalized. The question one must ask in the fight for rights, especially our personal rights, is who am I ultimately fighting for?
Society in general would never admit it perhaps, but ultimately their battle for rights revolves around their own personal, humanistic world view. For the believer in Christ, the battle for ‘rights’ must always look back to the cross. We don’t fight for ourselves, if we must fight, we fight for others protection for the glory of God.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m far from a political activist trying to start a new version of the crusades. When his disciples were ready to protect Jesus in the garden (a noble gesture I think) he told them to put the swords away and let God handle it.
Maybe that’s the key to effective warfare for our rights. We need to find the balance between standing for God’s standards as stated in his word, and yet be willing to let him fight his own battles in the street. After all, I don’t know about you, but God is considerably stronger, more experiences and better equipped to defend me and himself than I am!
Letting God fight my battles is full of risk though. First we need the wisdom to know when and how to fight. Secondly we need to patience to let the Lord handle what we can’t in his way and his power. That may mean pain on our part. We may experience times of loneliness, rejection or misunderstanding. The battle may take much longer than we were hoping. But true faith in a sovereign God means we trust him to win the ultimate battle. In spite of the fact that it may not go as we’d like, trusting God WILL bring ultimate victory over our physical and emotional enemies.
PRAYER: Father there are times when I get angry and I want to fight. The tools may be words or judgmental thoughts or even manipulation or force. Give me wisdom to know when and how I should fight, and patience during those times I need to hand it all over to you. Amen.
By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peace with God. Romans 5:1 (CEV)
Have you ever been in a lake on a windy day? When you are on the surface your body is jostled about be the waves. But dive down deep and the world becomes still. Almost eerily still. Sometimes you don’t need to go very deep to experience the calmness below the surface, but the deeper you go, the more unaffected by the surface you become.
That’s peace. The inner peace we all seek for our souls. Within the heart of every human being there is a desire to be at peace with the heart, the seat of emotions. When that peace is gone we seek earnestly to fill the void it left behind. The thing is we are all born with that void. That deep longing to belong, to be loved, to be accepted, to be…at peace.
So from a very young age we begin the journey. At first the peace we seek is elementary. We want our diaper changed, our nap and our bottle. Then, repeat.
As we get older our demands become more pronounced. We want toys, we want friends, we want ice cream for breakfast. We want, in essence our own way. The desire for our own way is the foundation for our search for peace. The Bible has a word for that demand for our own way: pride. Sounds like harsh word, but in our most honest moments we have to admit it’s the driving force for our search for peace. We’ve been duped into believing that peace comes when we are satisfied and we are satisfied when we get what we want.
Satan’s initial revolt against Jehovah God was summed up in two words, “I will”. We’ve been saying the same thing ever since in more subtle ways.
“I will be treated like a king/queen by my spouse.”
“I will be treated rightly at my job.”
“I will be allowed this spot in the parking lot.”
“I will be promoted before the guy that started last week.”
“I will have the latest toys and gadgets.”
The problem is, as long as we look to ourselves and those around us for the peace of our heart we will never enjoy the peace we seek. We’ll be like the boat on the surface of that lake, being tossed by the waves.
Peace of the heart, the inner peace buried deep within the soul can only come when we have peace with our God. That kind of peace only comes when we have come to the Father, confessed our sin (regardless of how small WE think it is), and repented (changed out attitude). Then, as we grow deeper, as we go deeper into a relationship with Christ, we gain more of the peace that so often evades us. Just like the swim at the lake, the deeper we go into Jesus, the less the wind of change will affect our peace.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus. I confess to you that although I’ve known about you, I’ve still struggled to find peace. My guilt, my demands for my own way, the mistakes of my past continue to haunt me. Forgive me for trying to find peace on my own. Let me go deeper in you and find the peace that only comes through you. Amen.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)
Why did Jesus die? Theologians will tell you that he needed to die as a perfect sacrifice of our sins, and that’s true. We all were lost, subject to our evil sin nature, and destined to eternity separated from God.
The only way to bridge that gap was to have some person who was sinless die on behalf of the world, and that person was, by his choice Jesus Christ. He died so we might live.
But tucked away in Hebrews we find another reason that Jesus died. This reason was, perhaps the motivation for why he died. Jesus died because he knew the pain he would endure on earth would be well worth the joy he’d receive when all things were accomplished.
Joy? You may say? What joy? Was the joy he was looking forward to the joy of living in heaven for eternity? I think not. After all, heaven was his home and the universe was his playground.
Was the joy he was looking forward to the joy of living with his father? Again, I think not. Why would he leave his father on his own will and suffer hardship so he could look forward to being with his father? Doesn’t make sense to me.
Jesus Christ left heaven, endured the shame, ridicule, loneliness, rejection, hate and anger because he was looking forward to the joy of living with you. Yep, you are his joy, his crown, the one he longs to spend time with.
Any of us can endure a little hardship and pain if we know that the end result is better than the present circumstances. Take exercise for example, there may be a few who really enjoy exercise, but for most of us we struggle to get ourselves onto the running path or into the gym. It’s much easier to say, “I’ll start tomorrow.”
But if we want to enjoy good health we exercise. Exercise is good for the heart, prevents or at least puts off some diseases, and can even deter the aging process. The end result is worth the present pain and discomfort.
Jesus knew before he left heaven the first time what life would be like for him on earth. He knew the pain he’d endure for you. Jesus knew, before he left heaven every single mistake you’d make. Every cross or profane word. Every affair. Every visit to the porn sight. Every time you’d mock him. Still, he looked forward to the day he could spend eternity with you. The joy far outweighed the pain.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me so much. Things here on earth get very painful. I don’t understand why I do what I do or have to go through what I am going through. Help me to endure all of this with the expectation I have of spending eternity with you. In your name, Amen.
“When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me.” Matthew 25:35 (CEV)
During the Great Depression the United States Government instituted a plan which was designed to help those in desperate straights get back on their feet. Depending on your political views, it was a defining moment in our history as it gave jobs to the jobless, food to the hungry, homes to the homeless and hope (physically anyway) to the hopeless.
But there is something that welfare, or any government help program will never be able to do. Government, no matter how compassionate will never be able to meet the need of the soul. It may provide health care, but it will never heal the wound of the heart. It may provide food, but will never fill the hunger of the heart.
Even within the body of Christ there are many fine, worthy, shining examples of people reaching out to meet the needs of the world through a variety of outreach endeavors abroad and at home. Many have not only had their physical needs met through these programs, their spiritual and emotional needs have been met as well. These endeavors are blessed by God and a blessing to the Father as well.
You may look at some of the great things being accomplished and wonder, “What can I do? I’m struggling right now to make it myself. Your home may be in foreclosure or your finances a mess. You may be battling relational difficulties of your own or struggling with addiction. A common lie the enemy will use in cases like that is to say something like, “You’re into your own issues too deep to help much.”
It’s not the mighty things that will change your world, but the little things, the simple gestures that make a difference. Those small gestures, given in Jesus name will accomplish far more than any program will. Our personal gestures of good will can go deeper to meet not only the physical, but the spiritual and emotional needs of those around us. God doesn’t expect great things from us, he takes the little things we do and make them great!
Offer a kind word and smile to someone today. It may just be the ‘cup of cool water’ they need at that moment. Go out of your way to help someone with a small task. That may be just the meal their soul seeks. Be a friend to someone in prison, a senior citizen in a nursing home, or the person at the office no one will sit with.
Is God honored by the big missions and outreach programs? I think he is. But he is equally blessed by the simple things we do on a daily basis to reach the hearts of those in need around us. That’s the welfare Jesus seeks.
PRAYER: Lord help me see someone today who needs your simple, loving and graceful touch. Help me share the simple things others need for healing today. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 