Last week, as we began this new journey,
we considered times when God fills our life
with such joy, that we feel like we are “dreaming.”
In Psalm 126, the Israelites are looking back to those times, to that “reservoir” of remembrance,
for now they are in the desert of suffering.
This is a psalm we’ve studied before, and some of this will be review, but oh, a review we constantly need, for this life is full of trouble.
We constantly need to remember, as the hymn we will hear this week says, “earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.”
One day,
“he who goes out weeping, bearing seed for sowing,
will return with shouts of joy, bringing sheaves with him.”
Notice it doesn’t just say “he who goes out weeping,” but rather,
“he who goes out weeping, bearing seed for sowing...”
What is this seed for sowing?
In one of my top favorite Keller sermon’s this week,
he explains how we must learn to “pray our tears.”
We must not stuff our tears or vent our tears but sow our tears.
He will explain, but we have a living testimony of this right within our blog fellowship.
I met our dear Chris on this blog,
shortly after her wonderful son Daniel had been murdered.
I have watched her process her sorrow and pray her tears.
Chris went out weeping, bearing seed for sowing.
And God has done, a continues to do, a work in her.
I’ve watched this so many times, but I see something new each time,
so even if you have watched before, watch this short clip:
This week is also the week my husband went to be with the Lord. I have thought so often of how, near the end, he asked me to pray prayers I didn’t want to pray, because I was still holding onto hope for healing. He asked me to pray that he would die a “good death,” that no matter how bad it got, he would glorify God to the end. He asked that I would pray God would be a father to the fatherless. He asked to pray that we would not back up from God.
I didn’t want to pray those prayers, but I did, in honor of my husband. And I’m so glad I did — for we have seen the fruit of those prayers. Those were prayers of sacrifice that yielded an amazing crop, including, a death the glorified God and brought many to Him, godly father-in-laws to be fathers to our daughters, and, as a surprising bonus, six years later, four baby girls, who have indeed, filled our mouths with laughter. Sally was the first, who after years of infertility, conceived, and found out on the 5th anniversary of Steve’s death. (This is too much to be coincidence.) God had mercy, and indeed, no one backed up from Him, but pressed in.
Likewise, I have seen so many of you “sow your tears,” refusing to back up from God in your time of suffering, and I see beautiful women of God here.
In commenting on Psalm 126, particularly the line that says “He who goes out weeping, bearing seed for sowing,” Dr. Ellen F Davis, Professor of Bible at Yale Divinity School, said:
I didn’t really understand for many years why someone would go out weeping to sow the seed in their field until I began working with the African Christians who have to make a choice between eating the grain now and giving it to their hungry children or planting it in the field so there will be something to eat next year.
We will ponder what this means.
Sunday
1. What stands out to you and why?
2. Keep building up your reservoir — what was life-giving to you this last week and why? (You did wonderfully last week — would love you to keep up with your gratitude.)
Monday-Wednesday Bible Study
Prepare your heart with this:
3. In the Keller sermon this week, before he turns his attention to Psalm 126, he quotes Psalm 39:12-13. What does this say? Describe the honesty of the psalmist in his lament.
4. What does it mean to you, as Derek Kidner said, that “God knows how men speak when they are desperate?”
5. Why does God know what it feels like to be desperate?
6. Keller says we must not stuff our tears (like the religious) or vent our tears (like the world) but sow our tears. Let us ponder:
A. God doesn’t want us to stuff our tears because He hates dishonesty — it keeps us from having a real relationship with Him. Give an example from either the gospels or Acts that shows how God either hates dishonesty or loves honesty.
B. God doesn’t want us just venting our tears, running around complaining. Paul Tripp says that complaining is self-centered and praise is God centered. Here’s a challenge (and this is going to be a CHALLENGE): Put a guard over your heart against complaining today. Report back tonight.
C. God wants us to “sow” our tears. Reflect on the Ellen Davis quote, on the testimonies you’ve heard, and the psalms of lament and explain what this means.
7. Read Psalm 126
The Israelites are in a time of great sorrow (we don’t know what, but it doesn’t seem to be as a result of sin), but they do a number of things to “sow their tears.” Find them in the follow verses:
1) Psalm 126:1-3
2) Psalm 126:4
3) Psalm 126:5-6
8. If you are going through deep sorrow right now, follow the pattern of the lament:
A. Tell God the truth about how you feel
B. Be still and know that He is God, looking to the cross.
C. Resolve, if you can, to trust Him.
Thursday-Friday Sermon
9. Share your notes and comments.
Saturday
10. What is your take-a-way and why? (And how did you do with not complaining?)
167 comments
1. What stood out to you from the above and why? I could not find much that did not stand out. Why? How incredible to begin this Lord’s Day with a solid reminder that He is REAL. His TRUTH will stand forever. His faithfulness and love endure for eternity. When I look again at Steve’s death I am taken back in time to my own dear mom’s. Another “good death” indeed. One that led me to the Cross, to Christ. And Dee…. the fruit of your family drawing near to God rather than running away. The video of Chris is one I’ve viewed several times…..but every word is golden. Chris, when I look at you I see grapes crushed…..and FINE WINE…..glory to God! Soon and very soon you WILL be worshiping around the throne with Daniel (as you referenced last week)! Bearing seed for sowing….praying our tears…..this is somehow all wrapped up in the abundant life that Jesus promised. With every day that I live I am more and more drawn to those who suffer – I cannot really explain it, but those who suffer and pray their tears are so often where I find Christ . And I’m drawn to those who suffer without Christ too…..for I have experienced suffering without Him too. And I long for them to “taste and see that the Lord is good”. Always.
Jackie…fine wine from crushed grapes-what a very vivid picture of suffering used by God in Chris’ life. Thank you!
Yes, Jackie. I too am drawn to those who suffer. My elderly friends Willard and Kay (he is 90, she is 74) have suffered much and there is such a sweetness in their presence. Such a vulnerability and humility. They are a safe place for others who suffer. And we all need safe places and can be that safe place for someone else in this journey. Even here in cyberspace.
Jackie, you have a way with words, and this word picture of our Chris is beautiful, “Chris, when I look at you I see grapes crushed…and FINE WINE…glory to God!”
Oh Jackie — yes — Chris is grapes crushed into FINE WINE
1. What stands out to you and why?
Chris and Dee-and that picture of Steve always strikes me deep. I wonder what he is thinking. I can’t help but think perhaps he is thinking what Dee wrote underneath…it is my absolute favorite picture. The other favorite is the picture where he is being goofy with his girls while he was struggling with cancer-yet the joy of the Lord was on his face. He was sowing seeds for he was so like Jesus in loving others.
I LOVE Chris’ video testimony for I too always come away with something new. I remember on the blog when Chris first came here-and we were privileged to be part of her life getting to see Him transform her-I recall every day God put her on all of our hearts to pray with her-it was a bitter sweet time for us..for we felt her pain yet rejoiced in her pressing into Him for her sowing caused us to press into Him-just like Dee in The God of All Comfort for she went out weeping and sowing. Her honest lament and pressing into God caused me to press into him instead of my idols in my dark valley of backing away.
Yes — we were privileged to see Chris press into Him so in her tremendous grief.
Words often fail me when I am confronted with the reality of suffering and death this side of Heaven. I start to think in my own dialect and translate them to English in my head. One thing I do know is that death of a loved one is so powerful, my heart feels like breaking. Just like when we lost my sister to cancer.
1. What stands out to you and why?
Chris testimony-I don’t think I have seen this before. Her choosing to press in to God instead of away from Him after Daniel died. and her choosing the example of Peter saying, “where/who else would we turn to?”
The picture of Steve- he looked like he was in deep conversation with himself and with the Father.
2. Keep building up your reservoir — what was life-giving to you this last week and why? (You did wonderfully last week — would love you to keep up with your gratitude.)
1. Thank you , Lord for the deep conversations among friends here in this blog. The testimonies shared were life-giving as we share and do life. Jesus is my greatest friend who has laid down His life for me. What a friend we have in Jesus as the song goes…
2. My daughter being more inclined to listening to my advice. I see this as answer to prayer for she often would not seek me out but rather ask for her friend’s advice. Lord, thank you that there is a time for everything and that you are very much in control of my daughter’s life.
Wonderful testimony of thanks, Bing.
1. What stands out to you and why?
Chris’ statement in the video stood out to me….she is so “… less sure of herself and so much more sure of her Savior…”
2. Keep building up your reservoir — what was life-giving to you this last week and why? (You did wonderfully last week — would love you to keep up with your gratitude.)
It was good to read everyone’s gratitudes and reflect. I am still reading the bible chronologically and it is life giving each day when it brings me back to focus on Him.
I am thankful for rest in cool weather. This weekend, we are at a friend’s condo in the mountains. We brought my sister in law here to have a peaceful weekend together (she is the youngest who just lost her husband). It is a beautiful, cool, fall weekend and we are enjoying by walking and riding bikes.
He says to come to Him and He will give us rest. Thank You Lord Jesus, for rest.
Wow, Laura, you stayed with the chronological Bible reading!
Don’t get me wrong, Dee…it has been difficult, and I am not reading for depth, but more so breadth. Some days I miss and I have to play catch up. I usually read a little bit throughout the day and end up catching up somehow! I have learned so much and have SO many new questions which just means I will continue to try to answer those questions over time. It’s almost exciting to think of the day in the future when I will receive the answer to my long awaited question!
OH Dee. I have the 16th marked on my calendar and am praying especially for all of your family this week–I know anniversaries are hard. This post though is just beautiful. Selfishly, I thought as I saw this post, ‘just what I needed’. It feels like nourishment for my soul, rich, deep, healing. I needed to see Steve this morning. I have saved this picture on my computer and from time to time I pull it up, this one of Steve. That would almost sound weird except it is like a picture of Spurgeon to me–this man of great faith, tested by real trials–that only made him more tender–drawn deeper in to the Lord. It inspires and comforts me. His trial led Steve, and Dee, deeper into prayer, deeper into His Word, deeper into the heart of God.
And oh my dear sister Chris. It soothed me to hear again her story here. Her pain that made her softer rather than bitter, because she drew near Him–that in her, Christ in her, draws me also nearer to His feet.
So much of what she says here hits me every time: that she had thought her faith was strong “enough” before–but after, she “felt as if i’d been led into the wilderness, and left there”
She “wanted her old life back”
But like Peter asked “where else would i go?”
But this time watching, what struck me most, is a similarity I see between Chris, Steve, and Dee. This hearts’ response: “if I really believe God is sovereign and that He is good and that He loves me, I don’t have to know. I can just be small and trust Him, like a child…”
Lizzy — the words from Chris you loved I did too. And you always bless me. Thinking of you dear one and praying for His mercy on you.
Lizzy, in any family, you would be the “keeper of dates” – birthdays, anniversaries…how like you to have the 16th marked on your calendar. You are so sensitive to the needs of others.
https://youtu.be/yjgioXrnEME
When I saw the words “Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal” I thought of this song….it’s one of my very favorites
Love Crowder! Thanks Cyndi!
Cyndi,
Looks like we both immediately thought of the same song here this morning. (You must have posted while I was writing my post!)
1. What stands out and why?
~ Dee’s opening words: “But a review we constantly need, for this life is full of trouble.” I can not be too critical of the Israelites wandering and forgetting and often needing reassurance and reminding from our long-suffering God. I too often need reminding. That, “earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.” Reminding me of this David Crowder song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjgioXrnEME
~ Chris’s video. I watched it last winter and again this morning. It is a mysterious comfort to know that we do not journey alone. That we have common sorrows. II Corinthians chapter one speaks such purpose and meaning in to this.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in [b]any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are [c]ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. 6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; 7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. ” (II Cor. 1:3-7)
~ The painting. Quiet, peaceful gratitude.
~ The photograph of Steve is stirring. The wrestling, the relinquishment, the being-still and knowing. The Lord knows.
Saturday Gratitude ~
~ The way the golden, red, orange colors along the river and against the mountain on my road trip to Wyoming restored my soul yesterday. And the Indian Summer day we had in the backyard celebrating my little one year old grandaughter’s first birthday. Her belly-laughter bringing such restorative joy to my soul.
Psalm 23:3: “He restores my soul.” That this verse is in the psalm that talks about the valley of the shadow of death…… That he restores my soul as I journey in this valley.
I posted a fairly long response to #1 here a little while ago, but it is gone now. First time this has ever happened 🙁
Nila — not sure what triggered my need to approve it –perhaps the link. Why Cyndi could give it and you couldn’t is a mystery. But since you both gave the song, the Lord must want us to listen!
The photo of Steve is so poignant – deep calling to deep. I am so glad that someone took that sad but telling picture.
The verse that Dee gave about going out “weeping bearing seeds for sowing” has been a great comfort to me over the years when I think I should have it all together emotionally, but do not. And I love the Crowder song. I had never heard it before. Sometimes I just put one foot ahead of the other in faith that God will give me the strength to do the ministry I feel God has called me to, and God has always met my need, sometimes in unexpected ways.
1. What stands out to you and why?
OH. What an amazing, rich and profound statement that so resonates the purpose we have as His children. I have not heard Chris’ video before, though I have grown to love her here as she continues to journey in the depth of God’s love, even though she has suffered the hardest grief a mom can suffer. Tears. Thank you for being vulnerable and for letting the Lover of your soul, be glorified in your life, Chris.
Though I’ve heard much of the story of Steve’s death (am reading The God of All Comfort with my friend), I don’t think I had heard these specific prayers that Steve asked Dee to pray. How hard that was. And how God is glorified in the fruit that has been borne by Dee honoring Steve with those prayers and then seeing how God honored those prayers and brought good things. Like the African mother who weeps when she sows that seed that she wanted to give directly to her family, yet she plants it. And her family is nourished and grows in years to come. How Dee’s experience parallels that example.
Sally finding out she was expecting a baby on the 5th anniversary of Steve’s death. I have a bit of a similar story. A friend of mine, who I have literally known all of my life, lost her younger brother completely unexpectedly, when he was about 30 years old. During the next couple of years, she shared with me a lot of her own story, her journey through grief, all the ways God had orchestrated small details and how she was healing through the help of other’s, especially reading good books by others with similar stories. When I was expecting our youngest child and her due date was the week of the third anniversary of my friend’s brothers’ death, she at first kept hoping that my baby would NOT be born on that day. She wanted to celebrate her birth and did not think that she could if my daughter’s birth day was the day her brother had died. And yet, that is exactly what happened. It was 3 years after his death, and she told me how, actually, it brought her added healing to be able to now attach a happy event with that dreaded anniversary. I asked her to be my daughter’s godmother and she has continued to have a special place in her life. God is a God of new life and redemption.
Wanda, thank you for sharing about your friend and godmother of your daughter. God is so good to bring about joy from our pain.
1. What stands out to you and why?
The picture, the couple, giving thanks for what appears to be a meager crop. That life and death is in the hands of God must have been more plain in times when people ate what they were blessed to grow.
I realize our story is becoming a little less paralyzing to me. To have attention drawn to it isn’t creating the near overwhelming desire to cocoon that it has previously, it is still there, but it is less.
Mostly what stood out to me were the prayers and Steve’s good desires for his family, the people of his heart. I always imagine that this blog and the lifeline it has been for summary of us is also the fruit of Steve’s prayers for Dee’s ministry.
It must be bittersweet Dee, to have all those lovely grandchildren but not get to share that joy with your husband. I am sorry
Less paralyzing is good.
Love love
Another thing that stood out to me:
The picture of the man and the woman in the field conveys their utter dependence on Somebody bigger than themselves to bring about a harvest. Oh, that I may be God-dependent daily!
My take away from this week is that all the times I struggle or have great emotional turmoil are OK. God understands, and as I pray it to Him, He is working it out for my good and His glory. Last week I had the privilege to stand with a sister in a reconciliation meeting. There were plenty of tears, and for a time it looked like we got no where. Then the next day she called with a breakthrough, and oh, the joy! That was my favorite part of Tim Keller’s sermon, that all prayer taken far enough gets to praise. I am encouraged to keep on keeping on in prayer, and in faith.
Mary E so good to see you. This line in your post ministers to me. Love the story of your reconciliation meeting. Praying the Lord continue to give you so much more of Him than you have ever had thru the trial you walk thru.
” all the times I struggle or have great emotional turmoil are OK. God understands, and as I pray it to Him, He is working it out for my good and His glory.
Praying thru tears
Yes — all prayer eventually ends in praise. I loved that too, Mary.
2. Keep building up your reservoir — what was life-giving to you this last week and why? (You did wonderfully last week — would love you to keep up with your gratitude.)
1. Getting a huge hug every day at school from my friend with Down Syndrome. Getting to work with these special teens and seeing them every day. Jesus has made this life giving to me. The Kingdom truly is upside down. 🙂 Luke 14: 12-13 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
I have to add another reservoir build up that goes with this. Jesus is showing me that I am the poor, the crippled, the lame too..I am not the exalted one who needs to fix them..I am broken and need HIM just as much. It is hard to explain, but until I saw this..I couldn’t really ‘see’ the people inside the kids I work with.
Rebecca this post made me smile. I spent some time with my niece yesterday who has down syndrome. She LOVES the Lord. We drove to the store singing our hearts out in the car. She is such a little prayer warrior too. Gives the biggest Hugs and one cannot not smile when she is around.
Liz, your niece sounds delightful! Oh that we could keep that childlike love and trust in the Lord, even as we get older and beat-up by life which sometimes makes us harder.
Susan Yes my prayer is Lord show me the hardened places in my heart and any roots of bitterness. Please do not let my heart grow cold.
Liz, how blessed you are-those wonderful hugs- I know you know what I mean!! :))) How beautiful she knows the Lord and you can worship together-what a sweet sweet gift!!
3. In the Keller sermon this week, before he turns his attention to Psalm 126, he quotes Psalm 39:12-13. What does this say? Describe the honesty of the psalmist in his lament.
He is desperate for relief, reading the verses just before this shows his distress is from Gods hand, punishment for his sin. He knows God is his only hope, he is appealing to God for mercy. If God will not be merciful to him, there is no hope.
4. What does it mean to you, as Derek Kidner said, that “God knows how men speak when they are desperate?” It means I don’t have to hide. I can come as I am, even when I am angry, hopeless or numb. I don’t have to get my attitude in check before I draw near. He can change the desire of my heart. He has promised to.
5. Why does God know what it feels like to be desperate?
Jesus was fully human, He knows how it is to live here.
He has bourne our grief and carried our sorrows.
Because of the cross, he must know desperation to a depth we can’t imagine.
Hebrews 4:15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Isaiah 53:4-6
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Chris, these are wonderful passages to remind us that Jesus does understand what it feels like to be desperate…sometimes it’s a catastrophic desperation, other times it’s a quiet desperation.
You so often lead us to exactly the right scriptures, Chris.
1. What stands out to you and why?
First, to draw on that “reservoir of remembrance” in the desert times. I love to think of an underground spring of fresh water hidden beneath what appears to be a dry and barren desert.
Watching Chris’ testimony again, I see that in the time she “went out weeping, bearing seeds for sowing” – Chris wrestled with deep questions, saying she felt like she had been led into the wilderness, she questioned all those promises of God for safety and protection, she wanted her old life back, she struggled to know why this happened…then Chris returned, bearing golden, ripe sheaves – a deeper belief in God’s sovereignty, a deeper sense of God’s love for her, a living hope in His promises and surety of her Savior, and this is beautiful…”I can just be small and trust Him, like a child”.
The picture of Steve is so moving…as Bing said, Steve looks like he is deep within himself, in conversation with his Father. Such a real picture of sowing tears, deep inner wrestling, drawing on that reservoir of remembrance. Dee, I too will be keeping you and your family in my prayers this week of the anniversary of your great loss of this beloved man.
Susan your post recapped all I was thinking too. So good to see you:)
Thank you, dear Susan.
What stood out to you and why? I was so touched by Chris’s video. I am so sorry Chris for your great loss. I knew you had a loss of a son but did not know the circumstances surrounding it. I have a friend in my church whose son was murdered and honestly sometimes I just do not know how to minister to her. It was a long time ago but the pain is still so raw. I Just want to love her. What this wilderness experience led you to is such beauty for ashes. I took many notes but Susan recapped it almost exactly to my take away.
Dee’s sharing about her daughter finding out she was pregnant on the anniversary of Steve’s death. Made me think of after the loss of my father at the age of 54. I had my daughter on my birthday 3 months later ( not my due date) and then my sister gave birth to her son on her birthday. I always said my father was making those special requests up in heaven for his girls:)
Lovely, Liz.
I loved hearing about the ultra special birthday gifts for you and your sister, Liz.
What was life giving to you last week. A dinner out with a friend. We laughed so hard. The afternoon with my niece we praised the Lord together and laughed.
To console those who mourn in Zion,To give them beauty for ashes,The oil of joy for mourning,The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;That they may be called trees of righteousness,The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
Isaiah 61:3
What stood out to me?
The video of Chris which I had never heard. Sharing the sorrow and the pain is so brave. I am touched by the ministry that Dee leads and remember my feelings when she shared of Steve’s death when I attended the seminar. It was powerful.
My mother was widowed in her 20’s and the pain persisted all of her life, I believe. She could never be openly sharing of my Dad without tears. I do know she loved the Lord, and I am thankful for being with her to the end of her life.
Steve’s prayer request was so wonderful and the results so marvelous. God was a father to the father-less, and I claim that my loss drew me to Jesus as a child.
God is at work in his mysterious ways, and I am thankful, Mary, for your reconciliation story. May you continue to be blessed.
3. In the Keller sermon this week, before he turns his attention to Psalm 126, he quotes Psalm 39:12-13. What does this say? Describe the honesty of the psalmist in his lament.
He asks God to not forget him in his pain. He admits he is a wanderer as others have been before him. I’m not sure if I am understanding, but I think he is ashamed that he is so easily distracted from God. He doesn’t want God to see him this way.
4. What does it mean to you, as Derek Kidner said, that “God knows how men speak when they are desperate?”
I suppose men won’t act the same way when they are desperate. They say and do things they would not normally say and do. God knows our hearts, we cannot hide from him, can we?
5. Why does God know what it feels like to be desperate?
Because Jesus died on the cross. He was desperate in the garden of Gethsemane when he begged God the Father to lift the sentence from him.
3. In the Keller sermon this week, before he turns his attention to Psalm 126, he quotes Psalm 39:12-13. What does this say? Describe the honesty of the psalmist in his lament.
The Psalmist desperately begs God to hear him, as one of His own—and then says ‘leave me alone!’ There is such raw, authentic honesty in his words. He doesn’t “clean himself up” before crying out to the Lord. I LOVE this example the Psalms give us. Be real. I think part of what an honest cry like this says to God is, “I know You see me, all parts of me—I have nothing to cover up, because You see it anyway’. And by that incredible grace and mercy, He welcomes it. He embraces it. He clothes our nakedness with His blood.
“Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish, Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel. Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish; Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.”
4. What does it mean to you, as Derek Kidner said, that “God knows how men speak when they are desperate?”
He doesn’t judge me based on my eloquent prayer. He wants to hear my heart, and He understands that in desperate times we are filled with raw emotion—and He wants that. He wants our full heart, that passion, that anger—all of it, because when we give it to Him, we are acknowledging not only that by His omniscience He knows it anyway (so why try to hide it), but that because of His great love, He won’t turn us away at the sight of it. It is an act of trust to be fully “real” with God.
5. Why does God know what it feels like to be desperate?
He has been more desperate than we could ever imagine or will ever face. He was forsaken by God by no cause or guilt of His own, but by choice. His choice of loving us cost Him His life. He cried out what we will never need to cry: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Because God did ‘leave Him alone’–He will never ever leave me alone. Oh Dee, thank you for this week. Oh GOD, thank YOU for Your love.
I remember Dee expressing this idea in God of All Comfort…that even if we come to Him angry and yelling (she didn’t say it this way!) at least we are acknowledging that He IS just by the fact that we are still coming to Him, rather than turning our backs and walking away. Your right Lizzy, “He understands that in desperate times we are filled with raw emotion.”
Lizzy, so good. I needed to hear this today.
1. What stood out and why? Like Jackie mentioned…what did not stand out?! So much but mostly I ponder how God must mature us through smaller trials/losses/sorrows first before we can respond to the bigger, life-changing things by “pressing in” to Him. When I was younger (as a Believer) often disappointments, trials, heartaches, just caused me to get angry with Him and believe He couldn’t possibly love me and treat me that way (Woe, yuck! So much wrong with that reaction, on so many levels! screams of entitlement, “You owe me, God!!!”) Now, after many, many years of reminders that no one’s life on planet earth is (or ever will be) all they had hoped or dreamed it would be (how can a fallen world, filled with fallen people, live up to all our hopes and dreams? It’s not all about this life!) now my reactions (thankfully, praise God) tend more towards collapsing in His arms, resting in Him (or at least arriving at that place faster than I used to!)
On another note… =) I was so blessed to spend a short time last week in Salt Lake City. Way too much to share it all here, but I met one church planter there (very rough soil) who has been there almost 2 years and baptized 35 new Believers in Christ!! One young couple with a son were disillusioned with the Mormon church and not been involved anywhere for years, and they saw the signs of the new church and decided to try it. Over time, hearing the message of God’s grace in sending Jesus to take the punishment for our sins, they (and their son) all accepted Christ! After this, the woman’s mom (who is LDS) sent her a 6 page email ranting about how this young woman had ruined their family for eternity (apparently they practice something called “sealing” their families for eternity.) She said she had a dream about her dead father (the woman’s grandfather) sobbing because she had ruined the family and he’d never see his great grandson. She accused her of accepting an “easy gospel” (ha! nothing could be further from the truth, in that culture!) preached by people who “only want your money.” This baby Believer responded to all of these accusations with a few simple, grace-filled sentences: Mom, I have more peace in my life than ever before. I love Jesus more than ever. I love you, mom, and I want this for you.” (I was crying by the time the church planter had finished reading this precious response.) That experience got me out of my own little self-focused world a bit and helped me to see the bigger picture of so much that God is still at work doing in this world. It was very encouraging and I was also able to ride a ski lift 2000 feet up to one of the peaks of a mountain range and that was spectacular! It truly was one of the best experiences of my entire life. I’ve been praising God for it for nearly a week now! 😀
WOW, Mary! I love this post on every level! (even 2000 feet up!) Great to hear of the new birth and the joy and peace of that woman and her family. AND so glad to hear of this wonderful trip for YOU!
Mary
Thank you for posting this. My own father came out of the LDS church at the age of 42 through a long and patient friendship with our local Lutheran pastor. It is a beautiful story of a friendship that led to my dad asking to be ex-communicated from the LDS church because of the freedom and peace he had found in Christ. And it was no small thing for my dad to do this in the town he had grown up in. Many of his life-long Mormon friends pleaded with him not to leave “the church”, but dad stood strong. He thought that his real estate business might suffer for his decision, but God blessed him and encouraged him all along the way.
Nila, that is so encouraging about your dad! Praise God for that work he did in your dad! Yes, the church planters we visited there all mentioned how hard it is, due to community opposition, for them to even find space to rent to begin a church! But each had their testimony of what the Lord had done to make it happen! Wish there were time and space to share it all, very encouraging.
So wonderful to hear of your dad’s testimony, Nila! And praise God for that compassionate Lutheran pastor who showed such loving forbearance. What a lesson that is to me. And look at how God’s truth spread to your generation, your children and now your grandchildren. So amazing to think of how exponential growth occurs when it spreads throughout a family.
Mary, I love your word picture of reacting to trials now as “collapsing in His arms, resting in Him.” And it sure sounds like a wonderful trip you had out to Utah! That “baby believer” surely is building upon the Rock, and she was able to stand firm when the rains came through her upset family!
Oh Susan, I was so impressed with how she responded with such grace, when it would have been so easy to have responded otherwise.
Mary – how breathtaking that God gave you such a glimpse at the flesh and blood power of the gospel of Christ within such a stronghold as the culture of Mormonism in Salt Lake City!! What a gift. 🙂 And the joy of seeing this new believer and how Jesus has really begun the process of putting the LIFE in her living!! What boldness saturated with His grace she has shown. And the behind the scenes sowing with tears for years and years….. Jesus is giving you marvelous encouragements for sure!! Just reading about how Nila’s dad came to Christ out of that same culture many years ago brings such joy to my soul. Our God never sleeps. A good reminder that none of our loved one’s is without hope or in a place of being “impossible” to save…..for with God nothing is impossible.
Wonderful to hear of this Mary!
Mary–yes, this defines you to me: “tend more towards collapsing in His arms, resting in Him” what an incredible picture you are to me of that RESTING–while the storms rage around you–steady as that lighthouse picture Dee (and Chris) gave once–how you cling to Him
2. Keep building up your reservoir — what was life-giving to you this last week and why? (You did wonderfully last week — would love you to keep up with your gratitude.)
If you are asking us to list gratitudes again, this is mine for Sunday. A wonderfully, encouraging phone conversation with my youngest. She is a junior at a state university. I prayed much her first two years, that she would find Christian friends and be involved with a Christian fellowship/teaching time of some sort. She has always wanted to remain in the faith (though she gets mixed messages from her 3 siblings) and yet, the first two years, she had a hard time making Christian groups a priority. Or honestly, fitting them into her work and school schedule. That has really changed and the Lord has answered so clearly. She has Christian roommates this year, and has been regularly attending both a large group worship and a small group study AND even has gone to church a few times on Sunday mornings besides. 🙂 And the difference in her is visible! When I spent an overnight with her a few weeks ago, she initiated praying before we ate, I observed that her Bible was next to her bed. Little things, but they mean SO much after the heartbreak of watching 2 of mine walk away from faith during their college years. Any time, I can see God working in my kids’ lives, it helps me see that no matter the chaos of this world, He IS in control. He does care deeply. And I need to keep waiting patiently on Him.
Oh Wanda, this praise about answered prayer for your daughter makes my heart sing! Now I can go to bed tonight with a song. 🙂 I love this! Praising God along with you!
So nice to read this Wanda! I hope for the day when I will see the same for my children.
Such encouragement, Wanda.
Wanda, this is really an answer to all your prayers, which you are so faithful to continue. Yes, “little things”, but they mean SO much!
Wanda – this is precious! And your praise even includes the years of sowing in tears for your daughter…..as we are studying together this week. 🙂 The youngest child really can be powerfully impacted – for good or not so good – by the older siblings. My husband was the youngest of 7 and he was so molded and shaped in his teen years by 3 of his older siblings in particular. He has battled his whole life to break free of some of the fallout of those years…. :(. So thankful that L. has her older brother who loves the Lord and is living his life following Jesus. His powerful testimony is no doubt impacting her greatly!! I so LOVE to hear that she is making the choices that she is and immersing herself in good fellowship and teaching!! “….her Bible was next to her bed.” That “little thing” touched me most of all! Amen.
Here are some ‘new’ encouragements from Chris to me this morning: “It is very strange that walking through such suffering could lead me with a deeper sense of God’s love for me..” Taking in that he loves me: Stills my fears, keeps me from striving..I long for heaven…helps me to lay down my idols..I’m so much less sure of myself and more sure of my savior than I was before.”
3. In the Keller sermon this week, before he turns his attention to Psalm 126, he quotes Psalm 39:12-13. What does this say? Describe the honesty of the psalmist in his lament.
In reading the whole Psalm it seems like there is a shift at the end in these two verses..I don’t know what it is..but He is incredibly honest all throughout-almost seems sarcastically angry at first-but he is honest with God about it. It seems like he went from that to deeply wailing in these verses. His lament leads him to longing for his future home (a sojourner with God-a guest like his fathers). I am not sure what verse 13 means yet-perhaps it has to do with him needing God’s mercy so this doesn’t take him before he is done sojourning with God on the Earth???..THIS whole Psalm REMINDS ME OF CHRIS! Like in her testimony where she is honest before him-how could this happen?! Is God disciplining me or not?? She expressed all of that to him instead of backing away-like David does in this Psalm. And these last two verses remind me of her too-how she embraced his love which made her long for heaven and she saw more and more that she is a ‘guest’ here.
4. What does it mean to you, as Derek Kidner said, that “God knows how men speak when they are desperate?”
God knows because He has walked in it. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane said his soul is very sorrowful even to death. He fell on his face before God and prayed for God’s mercy that if this cup should pass-but then submitted to Him..then he went back the second time after dealing with the disciples and lamented to God for death was at his door-and I believe also he was lamenting separation from God on the cross-and that was going to be the most painful, and on the Cross as he was going through that pain of separation He cried out-my father, my father why have you forsaken me? To me that statement is pregnant-for He knew it was temporary.
So God desires honesty-that deep, naked, vulnerable honesty where we can expose the deep inside for He sees the deep and loves us to the moon..As Chris said just knowing He loves us should compel us to press into Him.
3. In the Keller sermon this week, before he turns his attention to Psalm 126, he quotes Psalm 39:12-13. What does this say? Describe the honesty of the psalmist in his lament.
It is such a desperate plea for mercy asking the Lord to hear him before he dies in and from the anguish in his soul. And yet, there is also a plea for the Lord to look away, suggesting that the psalmist recognizes that the very pain he is in, is because the Lord has allowed it….. and he can take no more. The psalmist is undone.
This gut-wrenching honesty is brokenness unbridled. And one of the only comforts in a time like this is to remember that our God does not reject a broken spirit or a contrite heart. (Psalm 51:17)
4. What does it mean to you, as Derek Kidner said, that “God knows how men speak when they are desperate?”
It means that God remains with me in the process, in the wrestling, in the complaints, in the sorrows, in the doubts and questionings. He remains with me in all of the disorientation that life can bring. He knows I am “but dust” (Psalm 103:14), that I am fragile and prone to wander both in my words and in my actions, especially when the pressures of life push in.
2. Keep building up your reservoir – what was life-giving to you this last week and why?
Sunday was a picture perfect Fall day – not a cloud in the sky, warm but not hot, and the leaves are changing into their glorious colors. Every Fall, I take my mom for a hike at a place that was her “playground” as a child. It’s called The Gorge and it’s a metropark now. The Cuyahoga River runs through it and there is a dam. When my mom was a kid, there was a working power plant there and the dam was there, too. She spent a great deal of time there with her dad and uncles, hiking, and also playing there with her friends and cousins. It’s one of her very favorite places. Mom and I went and she felt good and was able to walk down to see the dam which was running; scramble over rocks up a hilly path (and this at the age of 88), though we took a few rests sitting on the rocks! I’ve heard her stories so many times, yet I love to hear them again and again – like the time she took her cousin Leonard there and she wasn’t supposed to and he couldn’t get back up the rocky hill to go home, and she had to pull him up and he skinned up his knees. When they got home, she got in trouble! I am so thankful for that special time with my mom, to see her enjoy herself and in a sense, become a “kid” again! She stops to look at things like a tangle of exposed tree roots or massive rock formations…maybe that’s where I get my love of nature from. To sit next to her on a rock and listen, all the while surrounded by such beauty. I am thankful to still have my mom and spend time with her, to share in her memories. After our hike, we went to her favorite drive-in hamburg place down the street, which she recollected used to be called “Jerry’s”. Then we drove past the house she lived in as a child. Because my mom has Alzheimer’s, some days she seems kind of lost and gets frustrated. On this day, she really came alive – I could see it in her bright eyes and smile.
Lord, I am so thankful to You for providing this perfect day; I praise You for the beauty of the Fall – the colors, the acorns on the ground, the smells of the earth. I want to thank You for blessing me with my mom and for giving us this time together…special mom-daughter time. Thank you that we share a love of nature. I know that every good and perfect gift is from You.
Susan,
Such a wonderful day with your mom. Encouragement for me to do the same with my dad again soon (He too has Alzheimers, but I love to hear the stories he can still remember.)
So great that God has given you this special time with your mother, Susan. Beautiful!
Susan – your description was so vivid…..I almost felt like I was along with you, looking over your shoulder!! I have a feeling that this day you have shared with us is going to be lodged very deeply in your memory bank……I actually was transported back in time to another “perfect” October day so much like the one you described……the year was 1988 and my mom would only live another two months….but OH WHAT A DAY we had together in the hills of southwestern WI on the farm I grew up on!! 🙂 She was so energized that day and it lives on in my memory as “practically perfect”. Whether the mind is going (your mom) or the body is fading (my mom), it is all of God’s grace that we get the gift of such days!!
On another note……I have been praying from time to time for your request for snippets of quiet time to read the Scriptures to your mom. I will continue to pray that you get some of those precious moments too.
Jackie, that’s neat that you were transported back in time to remember your special day with your mom in the hills of WI on your farm…from things that you post, I guess you are an “outdoorsy” type, too! (I like the smell of horses, too)!
Yeah! Old places must have triggered the right places in her brain. Love that you had this day, Susan.
What a wonderful day and memory, Susan. I read it in awe of this very special, ‘good’ day when your mom could feel young, and remember things and enjoy. I know you have had a long struggle caring for her and it is so good to get those days where you can feel encouraged! What a blessing from God’s hand!
Oh Susan–I am continually humbled/convicted/amazed at how you love so well. This tender way you are with your mom just overwhelms me. I think how you model “love is patient, love is kind…love keeps no record of wrongs…” When I think of all the ways you bake cookies with your mom and take her to her favorite places–I am just amazed at how He really shines through you, strengthening you to LOVE WELL, no matter what it takes, or what you may or may not receive. This is beautiful. I pray you wrote it down!
Oh Susan, Thanking God right along with you for this precious day with your mom!
Last time we were studying the Psalms here on the blog, I mentioned the teaching by Michael Card (musician and theologian) on the Psalms, where he teaches about the worship of lament. Here’s a link to part one of seven, if anyone is interested. I love his insight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr3mNGtxd-I
“God doesn’t want us to stuff our tears because He hates dishonesty — it keeps us from having a real relationship with Him. Give an example from either the gospels or Acts that shows how God either hates dishonesty or loves honesty.”
Ananias, and Sapphira was the first thing to come to mind, but I also thought about a talk from David Powlison where he said something to the effect of, ‘in our flesh we still hear the voice of devil.’ This is terribly convicting to me, I don’t want to be listening to the lies of the devil, this coupled with the teaching here, has helped me become more alert about the importance of my thought life and my tendency towards unbelief.
John 8:44
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Mark 9:23-25
And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
Love the verse from Psalms Nila mentioned about God remembering that we are dust, and that He has made a way for us and our weak faith
Matthew 12:20
“a bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not quench,
until he brings justice to victory”
I also thought about a Sunday School class when we were studying Ruth, we were asked if Naomi was being sinful in the way she spoke to God. I said she wasn’t because that’s where she honestly was, another said she was being sinful, we had some lively discussion that morning.
3. In the Keller sermon this week, before he turns his attention to Psalm 126, he quotes Psalm 39:12-13. What does this say? Describe the honesty of the psalmist in his lament.
Here are the verses in my own words, before I have looked at any study notes:
“O, help, Lord. Please hear me. I don’t feel like I know you at all, Lord, though I have walked with you a long time and I know the Bible stories well. You are a mystery to me. I don’t understand why you are doing what you are doing in my life or in the world. I’m feeling overwhelmed. It seems all you bring is pain and sorrow. I wish you would look away. I just want things to be better. I just want to be happy again before I die.”
Man, David was honest. I don’t know if I would dare to say all those words out loud to God, let alone write them down for temple worship. It amazes me, yet comforts me so much that I can be honest with God when I am desperate and feel this way as well. It reminds me of the words of a song:
“He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees each tear that falls and hears me when I call. Yes, he hears me when I call.”
1. What stands out to you and why?
I have listened to Chris’ testimony a couple of times before, but I am still touched by what I would call her “gracious brokenness.” And I find Steve’s photo to be somewhat haunting. I never knew Steve, but viewing that photo always makes me feel that he was really going “deep”!
However, the part that “stabbed” me was the final four lines which was the quote by Ellen Davis:
“I didn’t really understand for many years why someone would go out weeping to sow the seed in their field until I began working with the African Christians who have to make a choice between eating the grain now and giving it to their hungry children or planting it in the field so there will be something to eat next year.”
What piercing, new meaning that gives to sowing your tears. I am just paralyzed when I try to imagine how I would make that decision – when I was hungry, and when I was so concerned for the lives of my children, and yet knowing the only long-term solution that would produce abundance was to sow the seed.
2. Keep building up your reservoir — what was life-giving to you this last week and why? (You did wonderfully last week — would love you to keep up with your gratitude.)
I may have been drawing on my reservoir more than building it up last week. On the previous weekend, my 89-year-old husband and I went out to eat at a restaurant. We finished our meal and stood up to leave. Then we discovered John had knocked his fork underneath the table. Three times I said, “Let me get it!” However, he bent over in front of me and picked it up and placed it on the table. We began walking single-file to leave, and at one point I turned round to see if he was still behind me, and he wasn’t – he was down on the floor. In retrospect we think his bending over caused blood to pool in his legs, and when he stood up again and began walking, he wasn’t getting enough blood to his head. Later, he said he could tell he was falling backward and didn’t want to land flat on his back, so he twisted to the left. I didn’t actually see him fall, but others tell me he hit a table going down. Someone called 9-1-1, and the paramedics came and insisted he go to the hospital. He was admitted for a couple of days. Thankfully he didn’t break anything, but he is bruised – all on his left side. He has a black eye – friends tease that I punched him out! 🙂 You all know the drill: once you are hospitalized, then upon discharge you have all kinds of follow-up appointments with various physicians. So we have been having a totally medical time! Believe me, I was drawing on my reservoir!
Yesterday I took John for a drive through a couple of metroparks. He said his left leg was still sore enough that he didn’t want to walk a great distance – so we just drove and looked at all the beautiful, colorful trees proclaiming God’s glory. I think that helped to refill both of our reservoirs.
Deanna, so sorry your husband had a bad fall. Oh, my. I’m sure you are grateful it was not worse, but it is serious enough to scare you both! I am glad that God spoke some peace to you in the fall leaves. Praying for your husband’s healing and for you as you support him.
Oh my Deanna. I guess you were drawing on your reservoir! Lord, please be with Deanna’s husband and bring healing to body and soul.
Dear Deanna, I am sorry to read of this setback, the bruising for John and then all the follow ups which can really take over one’s life. The Lord’s faithfulness is evident when we go through those times, yet sometimes, the ‘afterward’ really takes a lot out of us too. (and once the adrenaline has stopped giving us a boost!) Glad the beauty of Autumn gave lifted your spirits and I will pray for you and John in the coming days, to keep building yourselves up. With rest and health and more of God’s abundance.
Deanna, that must have been a scary time last week. I am sorry you and your husband had to go through that. I will pray for John’s speedy recovery.
Deanna, I’m very glad John didn’t break any bones, yet the bruising and the soreness can last a long time. OH. Well, I am happy that you two were able to go for a drive through the beautiful parks and hopefully the scenery lifted his spirits…it sounds like it did! Praying he recovers soon!
3. In the Keller sermon this week, before he turns his attention to Psalm 126, he quotes Psalm 39:12-13. What does this say? Describe the honesty of the psalmist in his lament.
The psalmist asks God to not turn a deaf ear to his cries. Evidently the paslmist has felt that has been the case. Actually, if we back up to vss. 10 and 11, we see that he is accusing God of disciplining him. He feels he has actually received a blow from God’s hand. Perhaps these words written by David speak of desperation when things were going badly for David. David feels as if he can no longer tolerate God looking at him, and wants God to look away from him, giving him hope that things would be better if God didn’t pay attention to him.
4. What does it mean to you, as Derek Kidner said, that “God knows how men speak when they are desperate?”
We can’t hide our feelings from God…not that we don’t try in vain. God isn’t surprised when we lose it and express our anger and frustration to Him. So I don’t have to worry or be afraid of what God might think.
5. Why does God know what it feels like to be desperate?
I want to say that God created humankind with the capacity or potential for feeling desperation. When Jesus came to earth in human form, he also experienced these feelings. I’m thinking especially of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane when he asked for the cup to pass from him if it was God’s will. However, we know that was not in the plan for our salvation. And on the cross, he expressed that he felt abandoned by God.
We also had a coincidence although it wasn’t so good. My niece died on my sister and my nephew’s birthday. When I called my sister to tell her to come to the hospital she thought I was calling to wish her a happy birthday. My brother opted to have my nephew’s birthday dinner as planned and then had to tell everyone the bad news. They both have said that they want to celebrate their birthdays on a different day.
Hmmm. That is hard. One day we’ll understand.
A. God doesn’t want us to stuff our tears because He hates dishonesty — it keeps us from having a real relationship with Him. Give an example from either the gospels or Acts that shows how God either hates dishonesty or loves honesty. I started thumbing through Matthew. Didn’t take long before I saw something in nearly every chapter. For example:
Ch. 4: Satan uses lies and deceit to tempt Jesus. Jesus meets the temptations with the truth of scripture and then demands Satan to leave; ‘Away from me!’
Ch. 5:14-16: Don’t light a lamp and hide it. Let it show. And let your deeds show who you really are. Just like we can present as better than we know we really are, we can also be dishonest by not allowing others to see our faith in action.
Ch. 6: When you give, pray or fast, don’t do it to be seen by others. Give, pray and fast secretly. To be worshiping God in spirit and TRUTH, we need to do it only for an audience of ONE. Only for God to see. He already knows what is in our heart.
Ch. 7: Don’t see a speck in another’s eye and miss the log in your own. Jesus uses the word, hypocrite a lot. Hypocrite means ‘actor’. Be honest. Be real. Be your true self. Don’t make things look better than they really are. No fake smiles and trying to look like someone you aren’t. He also warns against wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Ch. 9: It’s not the healthy, but the sick who need a doctor. He didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners to repentance. In all of these examples, Jesus is calling us out. Seeing that we can hide behind something we aren’t OR we can hide the real us, for reasons of our own comfort or control.
Paul Tripp says: “Jesus doesn’t need you to defend His reputation with your ‘functional’ life. Biblical faith never requires you to deny reality.”
I love the Tripp quote Wanda, what a change the world would see in the church if we got real.
I tried to not complain yesterday, as Dee suggested, but I failed 🙁 . I will try again today!
I am having a lot of trouble answering letter A. I thought I answered it yesterday, but it disappeared. I am still thinking about it, but Judas comes to mind here. He betrayed Christ; he was dishonest, and he ended up killing himself. God didn’t save him.
C. God wants us to “sow” our tears. Reflect on the Ellen Davis quote, on the testimonies you’ve heard, and the psalms of lament and explain what this means.
The Ellen Davis quote speaks to me. It would be awful to choose between feeding hungry children now or planting for the future and foregoing the immediate need. So sad, and does want to make me cry.
When we suffer, we join others in a relationship of people who have “been there and done that.” We are able to understand one another because we have had great pain in our lives. We relate. Because of this joining of hearts, we are able to see each other through to the other side of pain. I try to remember that there are waves of good and bad times in my life. When the bad wave hits, I hold on tightly, remember that others have suffered before me, as well as made it through – somehow. They have sowed the seeds for me and I am sowing for others in my present state.
I want to thank you all of you for all of your kindness to me, I haven’t been as free to comment as I would have liked, one of the houses I work at has no internet, plus I have been helping my niece with childcare quite a bit as her husband who is bipolar seems to have decided to leave them. She has an intense full time job, so Bill and I have been quite engaged in assisting her as well as other good things that have kept me super busy lately. I will be at the no internet house today, tonight is the Idol Lies study and tomorrow at 8 am we leave for the CCEF conference. So I don’t know how much I will be on for the rest of the week.
If you feel led to pray for me, I want to be able to be more open with our story, to be able to glorify God through it. I still feel unsure about how to redirect praise that is aimed at me to the Lord. The chapter When the earth Shakes is on the horizon in the group I am leading, I want to be brave and to point these ladies to Christ, but oh how I would rather not go there in front of people.
Thank you Dee and my sweet blog sisters 🙂
You are dear to me.
Chris-you are dear to us! Yes..we will pray..and we will also pray for your study that you will be quickened by the Lord as you lead it..praying for the hearts of those there.
Father,
I do come to You for Chris, asking that you will help her with telling this story. I know it ministers yet brings back the pain. Be with Bill and Chris in ministering to their niece, and at the CCEF conference.
In His Name I pray
Chris, you just seem to spread so much love wherever you go despite all you have been through! Your video has added so much to the study this week, and I know you do that sort of thing at an emotional cost! Never doubt that you are loved here. Father, please bless and lead Chris so she shares just the right amount with the conference. Thank you for helping her open up and share her testimony, and may she find receptive hearts all along the way. In Christ’s name, Amen.
Unfortunately I didn’t remember that I wasn’t going to complain until over 7 hours (and MANY complaints) into my work day. I happened to be working with a guy with whom I share common views of some of our coworkers and our dept. policies. When I realized that I had spent most of the day “discussing” with him the various things that are wrong and that it never even crossed my mind that I wasn’t supposed to be complaining today, it was very disheartening. Knowing that complaining is second nature (maybe first) to me.
LOL Dawn! I had the same thing happen to me today! I am going for the good ole third college try today 🙂 good luck 😉
1) Psalm 126:1-3
They laughed and praised God.
2) Psalm 126:4
They asked for restoration.
3) Psalm 126:5-6
They must have prior knowledge that if they sow their tears they will reap rewards in the end. This last verse implies they know they will be joyful in the end. God has promised it.
incidently, I have been mulling over the question in part “C” because low and behold, the chronological bible reading two days ago was the parable of the sower! I am trying to see if there is a connection between this Psalm and that gospel reading, but it’s hard. I’m no bible scholar! The parable gives the “types” of seed. Some that are lying on the ground, one that is among thorns, and one that is in good soil. The seeds lying on the ground were either eaten by birds or grew quickly but soon withered and died due to the scorching heat. The one in thorns was choked by them, and the one that is in good soil is the one that thrives because it has just the right amount of sun and water; it has many offspring. Jesus compares those seeds to Christians. He says, the seeds sown on rocky ground are people who have heard the Word, don’t understand it, and it is snatched away by the evil one. They may also hear the Word, receive it with joy, but then, since there is no root in him, and trials hit, he immediately falls away. Those seeds sown among thorns are lured away by the things of this world. The seeds in good soil hear, understand, and bear fruit.
So, with all that in mind, how can I apply it to the sowing of our tears? Is our tear sowing like the seeds? The more mature we are in our faith, the more we understand that the tears will come. The more we believe, the more chance we will have for many people to use us as a “model” and try their own hand at truly believing? I believe there must be a connection in the two passages. Anyone care to help in my thinking? Many of you are so much better versed in the bible. Please help me figure it out 🙂
Here is a gratitude for yesterday! As I have said before, my husband struggles with the finances in our home and sometimes we don’t know where money will come from to pay our bills on time. We are not poor, just living from paycheck to paycheck. I have often told him that God will always provide for us and we have had many occasions where it has happened! The latest is we needed $80 extra to pay the bills next week. Yesterday I received a notice in my paycheck that we would be getting an insurance reimbursement from the state (they project how much they need each year and when they don’t use it all they have to return it) and guess WHAT?? It wasn’t just $80…..it was $229!!!! Yay! Thank You Jesus!
Rejoicing with you, Laura!!!
I have a question about #7..and I want to listen to Keller first before I do it but that might be cheating!! :)) I did it yesterday morning but didn’t post because I wasn’t really hearing God on it yet..It seemed like they were reaping joy from sowing seeds in their past suffering..so I was a bit confused about the question-but I may still not be grasping what sowing seeds in suffering means. it was good because it caused me to think and ask God to help clear it up for me. Anyone have any insight?