12minutes
God humbly put Himself on this earth and on the cross for the sake of humanity.
Matthew 11:28-30
Lord please help me in my discomfort as I confess my weariness to you.
Please strengthen me that I may continue to push forward. This is part of the
process of growing in deep relationship with Jesus. Cause me to press into
Jesus, that I come through stronger, closer to God, and more mature in my
faith. I know there will be inevitable seasons and trials in my life. And in Christ
there is hope for what troubles my mind, body, or soul. Jesus doesn’t promise
to take despair away, but he does promise to carry me until I see sights of
his love and hope once again. My condition sometimes drains me. When I
see the things that I am not doing for the sake of Christ, a sense of
exasperation hits me. Oh, that I might run to the sanctuary. I am experiencing
the loss of souls. And my sorrowfulness is tugging at my faith. My nights are
long and weary with prayer. I toss till dawn. My days fly faster than a weaver’s
shuttle. This human life is a struggle. Thank God it is only but a breath. I
know I am being commissioned by God and He is changing the direction of
my life. I ask that my God strengthen me to face danger, betrayal, conflict,
rejection, and lack of enthusiasm. That I stay on purpose and be used mightily
to spread Christ’s message of redemption to others.
Joshua 1:6-9
It is by the word of God that I open my heart to receive the immeasurable joy
that washes away weariness. Studying the word always changes my
circumstances. The word gives me comfort of a supernatural peace that
forges a surer faith in the word of God. The word restores my soul. The words
of truth are powerful to keep me separated from the encroachments of the
world. I know that I am in the time that God is giving me more grace. For it is
necessary for my doing holiness and becoming like Jesus. This grace is not
only the source of my salvation, it is the source right now, of my sanctification.
To be sure, holiness does not come easily. There is no holiness without
effort. And this effort requires a growing discipline to every word of God as
shown in the life of Jesus Christ. There are times in my life where I should
be mourning. That is the time when I fail to have thoughts of righteousness,
time when I fail to convey thoughts of truth through the words I speak, time
where laughter is inappropriate and a more serious posture is demanded.
My principle must always be to echo the Lord’s teachings and this done in
humility.
The condition of the world today is no laughing matter. In these final
days even our appearance is to be captured in lowliness. As I come closer
to God I should be deeply sorry, I should be grieved, I should even be in tears.
My laughter will have to become mourning, my high spirits will have to
become heartfelt dejection. I will have to feel very small in the sight of God
that He can, and will, set me on my feet once more to stand. I must be more
aware of what things I allow myself to become entangled. I am to be whole
in my faith if I am to walk with Jesus. I am to be fully formed with integrity if I
am to teach his word. I must be an in-the-face kind of writer if I am to press
upon the minds of others the themes about the goodness of created things
in and of themselves. I am to have such compassion for all, as to love them
in their lostness and seek to win them to Christ. I am to sorrow for others
being deceived. I am to have a disturbing pain excited by others rejecting the
word of God. I am to have a consuming desire to have everybody to come
to Christ. I ask God to settle my heart with those passages of truth that really
require my self-examination to be reasoned in terms of wisdom that comes
from above. This wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
The bible itself calls me to do many things beside read the bible. To obey the
bible, I leave the bible on the desk. I leave the bible for the sake of the bible,
that I remember always to do the things that don’t undermine my capacity to
delight in what I find in the bible. Let me say that again. When I leave the
bible for the sake of the bible, I must not do things that have effect on my
heart and mind which unfit me for deeper, sweeter reveling in the glories of
what I find in the bible. It is that knowing the word is always on the table that
leaves me refined and intensified in my capacity to delight in the
unsearchable riches of Christ in the scriptures. This, that I might by the grace
of the Holy Spirit, ward off being mentally and spiritually spent. The bible
encourages me to touch God by looking to the sky, seeing the trees, walking
the fields, listening to the birds and animals, sighing in the wind, these things
give grace to my soul. Weariness and wasted leisure are left off when these
things are pursued in God, rather than instead of God.
God is allowing me to watch the things of the world as a sober warning to
myself, that any friendship with the world is not only dangerous, but it can
ultimately be damning. Therefore, I do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and I do not lose heart when He rebukes me, because the bible says, and I
know the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens the one He
accepts as His Son. Scripture means so much to me, and I understand God’s
committed love for me, and as I comprehend the depths of God’s love, the
more I am filled with the fullness of God. This is that which compels me to
want all to know of the truth, that the word of God is, that they too may come
to know God’s love more, by reading and studying His Word. The bible
speaks the Word of God and love is often confirmed through the spokenword.
God does the same with us. His love and His loving acts are continually
confirmed to me through His written Word. The more I read and study it, the
more I comprehend it and am changed by it. I know that if ever I neglect
God’s Word, I will begin to doubt God’s love and be drawn to the world.
I ask for honesty. Can any admit to at some time being spiritually wearied?
Just simply tired of all the sin that is, and that is being made, more foreseeable.
I ask God to teach me to respond to weariness in a godly way. I know that
Job, Noah, Elijah, Peter, Paul grew weary in their trials, in people refusing to
heed their warnings, in thinking no one else had the courage to speak up for
God, weary of their failures, weary of travels, of persecution. The believers’
life is not easy. Enough tribulation will eventually lead to weariness. The
counsel is to wait on the Lord. Spiritual weariness is to be expected but it is
not to be accepted. As long as I have the power of the risen Lord Jesus
available, I don’t have to give in to weariness. There is a power called
God…that power is explained in the word of scripture; sought in prayer;
made available by the death of Jesus; and applied to my life by the Holy
Spirit. I thank God there is a time for rest, the holy sabbath day. At the end
of day six, I am simply languished. The mind consumes vastly more energy
than other organs in the body.
Think of this dramatic moment recorded in the life of Jesus at the Feast of
Tabernacles. It was the “season of rejoicing”. The Feast of Tabernacles
marked the end of the religious calendar year that
started in the spring with Passover. God’s grand work, which began with
Passover, and its redemption story, culminated with the Feast of Tabernacles
and its theme of restoration. It was the seventh and final God-ordained
observance as recorded in Leviticus 23. It was also the third and final annual
feast that required the people to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The people
resided in temporary booths. They were to gather at the sanctuary for a
jubilant, seven-day celebration. The first day and the eighth, which was
added at the end of the week, were considered Sabbaths. At the temple,
priests hurried around the altar, offering special sacrifices. Hearts yearned
for spiritual understanding of the meaning of this ceremony as men of piety
taught from dawn to sunset and into the night. There were two great temple
lamps symbolizing two realities; the “Light of all Lights”, the Shekinah Glory,
the visible presence of God that filled the very first temple, and the Great
Light, the Messianic prophecy of the one who would soon come and bring
light to those who were spiritually dead and dwelling in darkness.
Isaiah 9:2
Continued...
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