Tag: comfort

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Tis the Season

Reading Time: 3 minutes

”Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.“ Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Solomon writes about his experiences with being one of the wisest human beings of all time. And, he does so in this beautifully written genre known as wisdom literature. Wisdom literature is concerned with the application of truth (from creation and the Law) to daily life and choices. Chuck Swindoll writes, “The title “Ecclesiastes” comes from a Greek word indicating a person who calls an assembly, so it makes sense that the author identified himself as the ‘preacher’.”

In this famous chapter, Solomon reflects on seasons, poetically posturing this phrase, “A time to…” ”For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven,” ‭(3‬:‭1‬). Then Solomon lists the most common highs and lows of life itself. Fourteen contrasting circumstances of what it means to be human and to live the human life. The powerful lesson, seasons come and go… they don’t stay forever! The extreme highs of harvesting, healing, laughing, dancing, embracing and loving are countered by NORMAL seasons quite opposite. Hard seasons of planting, war, crying, grieving, pushing away and even hating are just as much a part of the spectacular life we get to live. Yeah, no one likes or celebrates crying, quitting, throwing out, walking away, or tearing down. But maybe we should recognize, life here on earth, even with all its wonder and beauty is still considered to be the “dark planet” because of our sin the effects of humans desiring to have their own way.

I do not celebrate war, the loss of life and the devastation of cities or entire countries. But, I can be grateful that war is not forever. Just to give a proper perspective, the longest recorded war is human history was the Reconquista war lasting 781 Years! It was fought by Spanish and Portuguese forces against the Muslim rulers of the Iberian Peninsula. The shortest war, on the list of top ten, the Mexican Indan Wars refer to a series of conflicts between Spanish conquerors and the indigenous peoples of Mexico and the surrounding areas lasted almost a half millennium (414 years)! We make the mistake of stereotyping countries and people groups believing they are the epitome of warmongering! Wars have always existed, but they don’t eclipse the entirety of human experiences on this planet. Truth, as long as there is sin, there will be war! The Psalmist declares that God is the only one who will bring peace and put an end to all wars – Psalm 46:9. Yea God!!!

We live in seasons of good and bad, easy and hard, hilariously joyous and grievously sad. This is the human experience! If you are in a bad season, know this truth, it will not LAST. If you are living high on life and wondering when the “other shoe” will drop – stop ruminating and just enjoy the season of good, without ruining it by looking for bad.

When we are in a good season, we should thank God and celebrate. When we are in a bad season, we can still thank God – not for the circumstances, but for his grace, mercy and comfort. The silver lining, if we are savvy, we’ll grow and appreciate more in seasons of struggle by asking “what have I learned,” after coming through it. And God’s honest truth – you will come through it…don’t give up!

Prayer

​Dad,
I have seen you active and working in all the seasons of my life! Even in the darkest, hardest times, you were with me and I knew I was not alone. Even in the overwhelming emotions of crushing fear, you were holding me in the comfort of your presence. I will never forget those moments. Thank you for the high seasons of joy, but thank you also for the moments of peace in the depths of despair. I am not alone, YOU are with me.

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Deciphering the cry.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer! From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety,” Psalms‬ ‭61:1-2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Every parent has to learn to listen, learn and decipher the “cry” of their child. Not every child cries the same and certainly not all children express their pain, discomfort, need, or even boredom the same way. Some cry immediately and are excellent communicators of uncomfortabiliity. I remember Dr. Karyn Purvis teaching on childhood traumas saying, one of the first things babies need to learn is “I cry, you come.” It is vital to establish trust in littles that there is someone bigger, helpful and listening. She said, “babies orphaned with no human contact quit crying because they learn that no one will come.” Infant orphanages in some foreign countries are silent 😢.

Then there are those children (toddler age) who quickly learn to vary their cries to more or less leverage the drama to, you know, sway the situation in their favor. Real cries, real tears, real emotions – yet not all cries need the quick response of first aid or first hugs. We have a couple of grand-toddlers and they cry when frustrated, hungry, tired, curious, or just want something they want and want it immediately! Oooo, and when they can’t IMMEDIATELY have the object of their desire, they throw the biggest fit, with a wonderful water show and lots of flailing of body parts!

Even though we are no longer babies or most of us may have grown out of the spiritually “toddler phase” or our relationship with God, it is so good to read David’s prayer and learn to pray it ourselves. “Listen to my cry!” And God does. We have a whole slew of actual needs happening in us or around us all-the-time. We hurt or someone close to us is in pain (physical, emotional or spiritual) and WE CRY. Notice, we don’t CONTROL anything, we just cry. Ah, but we don’t cry like someone abandoned as orphans, we cry knowing that God, our Father, hears and deciphers our need and will respond! Try this for yourself, cry out “God HELP! I am overwhelmed.”

By the way, the “towering rock of safety,” was likely the shepherd’s lookout tower. Outside of Jerusalem there’s a very famous one. This is the tower that the highly skilled, and trained shepherds would “tend” the sheep. The tower was a place they would take the newborn lambs to clean them up and keep them warm and toasty. They would also bring injured lambs to nurture them back to health. It was from this tower the shepherds had the most extraordinary annunciation every when one night, an angel of the Lord came and told them, “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”

For years God heard our agonizing cries bearing the grief of our own sin and living in a war-torn battlefield of suffering and He answered. Somehow, I think David, the author of this Psalm knew the day would come when a rescuer would arrive, the promised Messiah.

Prayer

Dad,
I know you hear every cry and see every tear. You even said you collect our tears, knowing how deep our pain goes. And, I know you are working in us, through us, constantly. Through the great times of rejoicing and the necessary times of suffering, you are right there. Thank you for hearing our cries, seeing our suffering and coming near to comfort and give insight and wisdom in tough times.

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Self pep talk.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.” Psalms‬ ‭62:1-2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David often pep-talked himself, in declarations describing God’s nature, His character. In other translations, this verse uses the word “rest.” The word is dumiyyah: a silence, a quiet waiting. If there is one place to feel safe, secure and not anxious it is in this cleft in the rock. It’s this idea of being surrounded by a naturally strong hiding place or standing upon an immovable object. I need somewhere safe to run to, to stand on, to feel protected. God is that person, personified as a place.

I never had a sense that I could run into my mom’s or dad’s arms and feel loved and safe. Having never met my birth mom and being adopted into a strange home, was difficult as a child. I guess it’s not their fault, maybe they were waiting for me to reach out? Either way I had no sense of someone bigger, stronger or smarter to run to when I felt threatened or overwhelmed. God became my only refuge, my only hope of consolation. I learned as David did, that God is physically, emotionally, spiritually there for me when I was afraid.

David closes out this thought with a powerful encouragement. “God has spoken plainly, and I have heard it many times: Power, O God, belongs to you; unfailing love, O Lord, is yours. Surely you repay all people according to what they have done.” I think about this in terms of the word control. I have very little. I do not control most of the situations that happen all around me, not the least of which is people. And, I have learned the hard way, neither do I have the power to fix humans! However, God DOES control, guide, and continues to make ways where there were none. And, best of all, God has ALL power. He can and does fix humans, if we’ll let him. He’s the only one that can heal a broken soul, restore a broken relationship, transform a life once littered with trash and tragedy. God has done this in me, for me. If I can be an agent for leading and directing people back to him, I will have accomplished my purpose in this life.

Prayer

Dad,
Just knowing you as THE source of protection and of power is encouraging. Just knowing that all things work together for your will and our good is comforting. Just knowing that you and you alone are a quiet place of refuge, to be still, to breath deeply is restorative for my own restless soul. And when I come across broken people, or impossible cultural behaviors that are barriers to where you want us to be, I believe you are powerful to change hearts, minds and situations. Thank you.