Loneliness and Sorrow...

Monday, February 9, 2009

Chapter 20 and 21: The Wife's Loneliness and Sorrow

I am combining these two...I can't write about one and not the other....This one is not from the book but from my heart...

Loneliness and Sorrow have been two of the greatest gifts to me from the Lord.They are what drew me closer to Him and made me realize that He is my all in all.. That He is my strong tower, my fortress, my strength and most of all my companion at all times. The One who will never leave me nor forsake me..there is nothing that man can do to me...My God is with me. Solomon writes in the Song of Solomon..."Come away with me, my love....I have learned to seek the Lord and go to Him...my bible is my friend...it is my most precious possession. I have received such comfort from the Lord through His word. I can remember reaching the top of my emotional pain scale and right at the time of my greatest suffering I realized without a shadow of a doubt that I would not trade this trial for my life to be back the way it was...No...what would cause more pain then and now would be the removal of my desire to seek Jesus...I finally wanted Jesus more than I wanted anything else! (not that there aren't battles)...but my heart truly learned that day (I can remember the moment and I can remember where I was) that fellowship with Him was to be desired above all else. I understood that my greatest joy was Him..that despite my circumstances I could rejoice in Him and live for Him.

Some of my wrong reactions to loneliness and grief were: self-pity...woe is me, a lack of thankfulness, trying to push away the feelings instead of bringing them to God, focusing on what I didn't have, discontentedness...Self-pity sends a lonely and grieving person into the pit of despair and depression...Looking outward and upward rather than inward is the only remedy. Spending time in God's word helped me renew my mind and see the loneliness and grief as an opportunity to obey God even though my feelings wanted me to do something else...It was a huge step of faith and I took very tiny steps but with each one my Lord was there to light up my darkness and show me the results of my tiny steps of faith. Loneliness and grief became my companions (Hinds feet on High Places) and that was okay because I was learning and seeing so much truth as God's word came to life for me...it also gave me opportunities to do things I wouldn't normally have tried...my focus always being on people and the gratification of being in relationships) There is much more to me today than there was 10 years ago...I have had the opportunity to spend lots and lots of time with my children, my husband and with the Lord and His word. I have developed many hobbies...drawing, writing, sewing, crocheting...Much much fruit has come from that time. I no longer see my husband as someone to fix my feelings and be my sole and only companion but as a fellow sojourner whom the Lord has graciously given me to be a helpmeet to.

In summary what did I learn through my own loneliness and sorrow...seek Jesus without ceasing...cry out and admit your need to Him. Read, study and memorize His word. Look to it as your necessary food. Look at the moment...at what God has for you to do right now...pray and by faith do it.

Just a few verses that I meditated on during that time: Owe no one anything but love...love suffers long and is kind...love does not seek its own...hopes all things, endures all things, bears all things...love never fails...let my gentleness...my bigheartedness, my willingness to overlook offenses be known to all men...commit myself to Him who judges righteously, let the Lord fight for you and you shall hold your peace..before honor is humility...humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in due time casting all your cares upon Him for He cares for you, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble...but may the God of all grace who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you..Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path...If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," Even the night shall be light about me; psalm 130, the Lord will perfect that which concerns me, in the multitude of my anxieties within your comforts delight my soul...psalm 139....the joy of the Lord is my strength...but you O Lord are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth...

The following verse from psalm 84 is the background music behind everything: Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca (tears or weeping) They make it a spring. The rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength, Each one appears before God in Zion..remembering that as Christians our suffering has meaning and purpose...that the Lord works all things together for good to those who love God to those who are the called according to His purpose should help us to use it as an opportunity to glorify Him and fulfill His purposes in us and through us.

Be Strong in Grace...

You therefore, my son, (my daughters) be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.--2nd Timothy 2:1

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,

This one really spoke to my heart.  I am getting older.  I see some of my closest friends suffering through serious illness...I see the same in my own family.  I also see the effect of sin and the terrible grief and sadness it produces.  I see the consequences of it years later.  The older I get the harder it is to be strong in myself.  To grit my teeth and just get through this life.  This life is meant to break us girls.  It is meant to drive us to our Savior.  We are suppose to see our weakness and our inability to make anything work or do any good for any length of time. That is God's mercy and compassion at work. He does not want any of us to perish but for all to come to life in His Son.  His desire is that we come to Him in our brokenness and admit our need.  It is then that He can give us new life and continually supply us with His grace in our time of need.

I am so glad Paul did not say...get a grip Timothy...stop complaining....be strong in yourself.  Paul told his precious son in the faith that he was never to see again in this world, to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  Paul says this in 1 Corinthians about his own ministry:  "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." Be strong in God's undeserved favor on your behalf. We are saved by grace, and we are to walk in grace.  We have this treasure, Christ, in our earthen vessels. We are to trust completely in Him and His power to get us through.  Surrender is the way to victory.


It is so good to remember this especially when we are ill,  or weak emotionally or when we are having a day when we are feeling inferior to those around us.  I only have to be strong in His grace...it is not me...I don't have to be impressive....I can surrender and leave the results to Him. 


But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.  But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”--1 Corinthians 1:27-31

How freeing...how relieving.  How wonderful it is to remember that I am a foolish thing that God has chosen to use for His purpose and His plan.  I can relax and let Him do the work. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.--Ephesians 2:8-9

Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus...

Love
Mom

Fix your eyes on Jesus...

Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, ¹⁰ but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,--2nd Timothy 1:9-10


Dear Girls,


This is a quick note...there is lots and lots in this small passage of Scripture but the words that spoke to my heart this morning were these:  "but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ,".  Wow...it has all been revealed in Him.  God's purpose and plan for each one of us before time began is revealed in Jesus Christ.  The King James version says made manifest.  It is all about Him.  This verse brought me to John 1 and also the the Servant Songs in Isaiah.  Whatever we want to know about God, about His purposes and about His plan has been revealed in Jesus.  Here is John 1:1-18. 


¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.   There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Two of the Servants songs in Isaiah start out with Behold My Servant.  Heed those words, girls.  They will change you from the inside out.  They are the answer to every problem you will face.  They can be the song in your heart as you go to sleep at night and your peace as you go about your day.  Study...gaze upon....Jesus.  Immerse yourself in His word.  As you fill your heart and mind with Him, He will make all your crooked places straight and will focus your eyes on what profits.  Jesus is the Becoming One...He becomes whatever you need...He will be your guide even unto death.

Girls...it says this in verse 12 of the first chapter in 2nd Timothy:  "For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day."   Meditate on "KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED.  Know WHO you believe.  That is key. Knowing WHO you believe will get you through the dark times that occur in all our lives.   For more go here:  Behold My Servant




Love
Mom