Sometimes the words that best express the heart cry, have already been uttered. I found that to be the case recently as I revisited the words of one of my favorite hymns: Jesus, Lover of My Soul. I hope that this prayer uttered more than 250 years ago will minister to your heart as it does mine.
Jesus, Lover of My Soul
Jesus, lover of my soul
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide,
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide;
Oh, receive my soul at last.
Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me.
All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing.
Wilt Thou not regard my call?
Wilt Thou not accept my prayer?
Lo! I sink, I faint, I fall -
Lo! on Thee I cast my care.
Reach me out Thy gracious hand!
While I of Thy strength receive,
Hoping against hope I stand,
Dying, and behold, I live.
Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in Thee I find;
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
Heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is Thy Name,
Source of all true righteousness;
Thou art evermore the same,
Thou art full of truth and grace.
Plenteous grace with Thee is found,
Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound;
Make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art,
Freely let me take of Thee;
Spring Thou up within my heart;
Rise to all eternity.
(Charles Wesley, 1740)
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"Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." (Hebrews 13:15) "A sacrifice of praise..." what does that conjure up in your mind? Sacrifice recalls the Old Testament follower of God bringing something of value and laying it down on the alter in worship. If an animal was brought, it was always the best of the flock, unblemished. The gift was costly. What does it mean to bring "a sacrifice of praise to God... the fruit of the lips that give thanks to His name?" At no other time in life than during a season of suffering is praise to God a beautiful, costly act of worship. In Luke 17:11-19, Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem and entered a village where 10 leprous men cried out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" Jesus, who is the compassionate Master, told them to go present themselves to the priest, and as they went, the scripture tells us, they were cleansed. One of them, a Samaritan, when he realized he was healed, turned back to Christ and with a loud voice glorified God, fell at the feet of Jesus in an act of worship, and gave thanks. What a dramatic depiction of Hebrews 13:15, "the fruit of the lips that give thanks to His name." I'm sure for that leprous man it was sacrificial. Being a Samaritan and now aligning himself with this Jewish rabbi from Nazareth, much was at stake. He was separated from his loved ones for who knows how long due to his illness, but now healed could he return to family and friends and be received with open arms? Would they receive him now that he pledged allegiance to a Jewish Messiah? On the other hand, would he be accepted by the Jews who were following Christ or be viewed by them as an outcast because of his questionable roots? I want to emulate that leprous man, to have my first response to God's mercy and answers to my prayers be overflowing thankfulness. But what if we ponder sacrificial praise at a deeper level... what about before the answers come?... what about "the fruit of the lips that give thanks to His name" in the midst of suffering? Would that not be the ultimate sacrifice, a more costly act of worship? The picture of the flower (above) was taken last summer in the gardens of our dear friends in Montana. Their gardens are always full of beautiful flowers that beg for the attention of my camera lens, but this flowering cactus drew me in. We visited our friends during a time of intense suffering. Our son, who had been chronically ill for quite some time was at the height of his painful, debilitating symptoms. We had no indication then that his suffering would end any time soon. Being our family in Christ and knowing our situation, our friends welcomed us with open arms and prayed that our time in Montana and the beauty of God's creation might refresh and renew us all. There in the midst of the panoply of blooms was this cactus. Surrounded by sharp and piercing thorns, was the unfolding of exquisite beauty. A flower in the midst of thorns might seem like an oxymoron, but I believe God gave me a stunning representation of sacrificial praise. The contrast ~ praise in the midst of pain ~ is dramatic. What thorns are piercing your soul right now? What pain, what suffering overwhelms you? May I encourage you, before the answers to your prayers come, to enter into a sacred act of worshipping the Master, the One who Himself knows the pain of piercing thorns? In our human frailty and in the midst of distress, we may feel unable to do this; however, Hebrews 13:15 tells us how to do what feels impossible. "Through Him, then, let us offer up..." through the One who was pierced through for our trangressions... through the One who can sympathize with our weakness... we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. Ask Him to strengthen you and enable you to praise! Hebrews also tells us when to enter into this act of worship... "continually..." Let praise be the common denominator of your day. Before your feet hit the floor in the morning, let your lips bear fruit in thanksgiving; before your eyes shut at night, extol His marvelous name. Speak out your sacrifice of praise. The Samaritan who was healed spoke out in a loud voice glorifying God. My soul is amazingly strengthened when I hear my own voice audibly praising God. Yes, He hears our silent prayers, but perhaps there is a reason why the book of Hebrews specifically mentions the "fruit of the lips" rather than the 'fruit of the heart' or 'the fruit of the mind.' Think about those in your life who will be blessed to hear and see the fruit of your sacrificial praise ~ children, husband, friends. Maybe others will join your chorus, but whether they do or no, we know that "...with such sacrifices God is pleased." I must admit, I have always felt uncomfortable reading the book of Job. What is it that made me squirm? It isn't the cosmic battle going on in the heavenlies over Job's faith (Job 1-2). That is actually somewhat comforting to me - to think that there is more going on than meets the eye when pain and difficulties crash over you like a tidal wave. It isn't Job's initial response to the calamities that befell him (Job 1:20-22; Job 2:10). As a Christian, I aspire to face such penetrating pain and loss with a 'first response' of falling at the feet of God, weeping and worshipping.
What a powerful testimony and one I actually witnessed firsthand the day my friends lost their 17 year old son who was crushed under a two ton boulder in a "fluke" accident. I watched these dear christian friends standing at the foot of the mountain waiting for the paramedics to bring their son down, weeping and worshipping, and affirming that their God is the God of boulders. In like manner, after losing all of his possessions to marauders, losing his servants to the sword, experiencing the cataclysmic loss of his seven children in the rubble of a collapsed house, we read this about Job, 'Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshipped. And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.' As much as the opening chapters of Job stop my breath short with the searing pain of rapid fire calamity and the raw but rare response of Job, it's the chapters that follow that made me squirm - the painful expressions of Job - especially regarding his view of God - and the confusing give and take between Job and his three "friends." Why would God allow Job to express in the permanent record of His eternal word such laments as: "For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, their poison my spirit drinks; the terrors of God are arrayed against me... If I called and He answered me, I could not believe that He was listening to my voice. For He bruises me with a tempest and multiplies wounds without cause" (Job 6:4; 9:16-17). If you are a Christian, how calmly poised are you now as you read those words? Any squirming going on? Could it be that our perfect heavenly Father understands something we are apt to forget or perhaps never consider, especially when we are watching from afar the suffering of others: that there is a difference between feelings of despair and cursing God? Job in his frailty and limited understanding didn't know about the cosmic battle in the heavenlies proving that saving faith, his faith, could not be destroyed. However, in the midst of his intense suffering, the Lord allowed Job full expression to his despair. The Lord of glory recorded Job's thoughts and words for eternity, uncensored. We know that ultimately God did not leave Job in that place of despair, and - even before restoring Job's health and family - He instructed him as to God's impeccable nature and character - Job 38-41. But at the end of the day, God reveals to us through Job that words expressed from a despairing heart reflect the emotions of a Christian and not the essence of that Christian. Are you the friend of someone who is suffering? Ask yourself, 'Have I ever felt the level of despair described by Job?' If not, be careful with your words. Learn the lesson of Job's friends who started well, but in the end inflicted deep emotional wounds. They came it says, "to sympathize with him and comfort him... they raised their voices and wept... They sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great" (Job 2:11-13). So far so good, but because they did not understand what God Himself reveals through the life of Job (first and foremost that saving faith cannot be destroyed and secondly that feelings of despair in the heart of a Christian do not reflect their core but rather their emotions at a given point in time and must therefore be met with compassion), they went on through misguided words to add to Job's misery. May we never be "friends" of this sort. May God never say of us what He said to Job's friends, "My wrath is kindled against you... because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has" (Job 42:7). May we always strive to have gentle words on our lips in the presence of pain. Are you suffering, dear Christian? Have you felt the despondency of Job? Then come. You have a safe place in the arms of your heavenly Father where you may pour out your heart, uncensored. You have the company of your dear Savior who Himself understands experientially the deep anguish of your soul. Allow God to reveal to you that He is not only sovereign, but the God whose very nature is Love. Because God is the same yesterday, today and forever, you will be able to assert what Job in his heart of hearts knew, "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another... He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 19:25-27; 23:10). Do you ever feel like you are in a desert, dear pilgrim? I don't know too many people who, if given the choice of where to spend a few days away, would choose to be plopped down in the midst of an unirrigated, undeveloped desert. The desert is dry, the sun is blistering hot during the day, and the absence of the sun brings extreme temperatures of cold at night. My soul, I must admit, often feels like a desert place when I am in the midst of suffering. The intense heat of the pain makes me feel parched, dry, weak, and at times, when circumstances are particularly dark, I can be cold toward the Lord and His goodness. If you find yourself in that place, I want to share something I recently learned about streams in the desert. I'm not speaking of the book by that name, though I know many have received comfort from the pages of that particular devotional. I'm talking about actual streams that run through actual deserts. There are some regions of the earth where streams run continuously through a desert area and these streams never run dry. The Nile, the Colorado, and the Yellow Rivers are all examples of this phenomenon, but the interesting thing about these streams is they exist because of what is called "exotic" water sources. That's a fancy way of saying the water must come from a source outside of the desert itself. (For example, the Nile comes from the mountains of Central Africa.) Whenever you find a stream that runs continuously through a desert region, it is the result of an exotic water source. Well, that set me to pondering and then the comfort came. I realized that when I find myself in the desert place, I too must look to a source outside of my circumstances and outside of myself to strengthen, to enliven, to refresh. What is your "exotic" water source when you are in the desert? Scripture paints a contrasting picture for us. "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13). Are you trying to drink from broken cisterns that cannot hold water? You see the broken cisterns are the ones we hew for ourselves; the attempts we make on our own to deal with our pain apart from the living water of Christ and His Word or even perhaps because we are angry at the One who has the power to change our circumstances, but rather than bringing us out of the desert is inviting us to draw deeply from the river of His grace and mercy in our circumstances, in the wilderness. Let these words soak into your dry parched soul, dear believer. "Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise" (Isaiah 43:19-21). Do you see the source of the exotic water? God says, "I will do something new... I will make rivers in the desert... I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." I promise you, that water source will never run dry. All we have to do is stop hewing out broken cisterns that can hold no water and come, come to the living waters. If the beasts glorify God for this gift, how much more should we, those He has chosen for Himself, declare His praise? Come, dear suffering Christian, draw deeply, and let your heart overflow with thankfulness, even in the midst of the desert. "Someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." I wonder what Peter thought when Jesus spoke these words to him. Did he have any idea of the cost involved? Peter went on to live his life of faith, doing great things for his Lord, but in the back of his mind Jesus' words must've echoed... "When you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." When the final chapter of Peter's life was being written and the fulfillment of those words in the form of a cross was imminent, Peter chose death over denying the One who died to purchase his life.
Here "in the land of the free" we may not face the ultimate sacrifice Peter faced, but in your life circumstances have you ever felt that you have been bound and led somewhere you did not wish to go? I remember feeling, when diagnosed with cancer, like I had been lifted off the path of what was "normal" life and set down on a road not of my choosing. I felt hemmed in, and I knew I had to move forward, one step at a time, without any certainty of where that road would ultimately lead. My oncology nurse, early on, told me that I might want to go ahead and shave off all of my hair before the dreaded two week mark when it would begin to fall out one clump at a time, because then at least I could feel that I had some control over my circumstances. You must understand; I loved my oncology nurse! She was not being calloused. She had walked through two diagnoses of breast cancer herself and knew how little control one has in that situation. Well, I'd like to tell you about a hero of mine - someone whose life circumstances have bound and led them where they would never have chosen to go, but also someone who epitomizes how we as believers in Christ can choose to glorify Christ even when His sovereign love places us on the road marked with suffering. This young person was diagnosed with a debilitating chronic illness that causes immense and almost daily pain. I've watched this friend over the past few years since the diagnosis submit under the mighty hand of God and put roots down deeper in Christ, to the point where the stronger the pain, the deeper the roots seem to go, as if they are pushing down through the darkness searching for Christ alone, the source of Living Water. My friend does not know how long this journey will last, but he does know and love and trust the One who has mapped it out and who lovingly walks with him one day at a time. Listen to these words written in the midst of his pain with no promise of relief. If you find yourself in a similar place, whether your pain is is emotional or physical or perhaps situational, may my friend's resolve give you courage to trust afresh our great God and Savior and to "release yourself to the wisdom of a compassionate God." "When as a christian, you are engulfed in a pain that clings to you with the persistence of an old friend, and every day drags on with the same twisting, wrenching torturous predictability, you are left with only two options: You can become embittered, call down futility on every tear and groan, and charge with cruelty the very One who laid down His life for you, or you can release yourself to the wisdom of a compassionate God, and let the severity of your circumstances teach you to suffer and to cry, to love and to care as you ought. The choice is your own." May you, by God's grace and with His help walk in the footsteps of Peter and of my amazing young friend as well. "Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." Psalm 62:8 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name…” Psalm 96:7-8a
TV commercials are rarely worth watching, and so at our house if we do turn on a program, it is always with the clicker in hand. Every now and then, however, a commercial catches our eye. Picture several individuals in the conference room of a company, each addressed by name. Though the point of the commercial escapes me, I do distinctly remember that each person’s name clearly had a deeper meaning. Harry – well you guessed it – was endowed with a head and face full of thick, dark hair. Bob responded to a question with a profuse nodding of his head. Joy spontaneously erupted in a shower of giggles. Eileen was leaning precariously against the table, and finally, Mr. Turkey Neck… well, let your imagination run wild. In an amusing way, that commercial made me think of the fact that the Bible often uses names clearly meant to give us not only a means of identifying people, but also a glimpse into the character of the person who bears the name. Some of my favorites are found in the book of Ruth. Elimilech, for example, means “my God is King,” Naomi – Elimilech’s wife – means “pleasant” or “lovely” which she later changed to Mara meaning “bitter.” Mahlon and Chilion, their two sons’ names, mean “puny” and “pining” respectively. (As a mom, all I can say is, ‘Naomi, what were you thinking?’) It shouldn’t surprise you, then, that the Bible uses numerous, specific names to describe our great and awesome God. A Hebrew Lesson Obviously, our English bibles translate the names of God into descriptive phrases we can readily understand, but if we were to take a look at the original language of Hebrew, we would clearly see these various names for God. Consider this partial list. Adonai – Lord (Exodus 34:9) El Elyon – The Most High God (Psalm 78:35) El Olam – The Everlasting God (Isaiah 40:28) El Roi – The God Who Sees (Exodus 16:13) El Shaddai – The God Who is Enough, God Almighty (Genesis 28:3) Elohim – The Strong One (Genesis 1:1) YHWH – “I am the One who is” (Exodus 3:14) later written as ‘Jehovah’ Jehovah Jireh – The Lord our Provider (Genesis 22:14) Jehovah Rapha – The Lord our Healer (Jeremiah 3:22) Jehovah Rohi – The Lord our Shepherd (Psalm 23:1) Jehovah Sabaoth – The Lord of Hosts (Psalm 84:3) Jehovah Shalom - The Lord our Peace (Judges 6:24) Jehovah Shammah – The Lord is Present, The Lord is There (Ezekiel 48:35) When we read through this list we realize we cannot exhaust God: He is El Elyon, ‘the Most High God.’ We will not out live Him: He is El Olam, ‘the Everlasting God.’ We cannot hide from Him, nor is He unaware of our woes: He is El Roi, ‘the God who sees.’ Are you feeling weak? Know that Elohim, ‘the Strong One’ is your God. Are there deep and painful wounds in your heart? Come to our Great Physician; let Jehovah Rapha, ‘the Lord our Healer’ bind up your wounds. Do you feel frightened or lonely? Reach out to Jehovah Shammah, ‘the Lord who is there.’ Are you lost in a wilderness of uncertainty? Jehovah Rohi, ‘the Lord our Shepherd’ will come and find you. Is your faith being tested by financial trials? Remember Jehovah Jireh, ‘the Lord provides’ and El Shaddai, ‘the God who is enough,’ ‘God Almighty’ is your God! May Jehovah Shalom wrap you up in His love this day and may He be your peace. All Content On This Is Blog Is Copyrighted ~ All Rights Reserved |
ValorieI am first and foremost a follower of the Lord Jesus who is my life (Phil. 1:21). In February 2005, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My diagnosis came 4 months after my mother-in-law was placed on hospice in our home and was succumbing to the ravages of Alzheimers. That journey has changed my life in many ways. Even since that time, the Lord continues to shape this clay vessel through suffering as one of our precious sons battles severe and chronic illness. My heart's desire through this blog is to point people to the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction (2 Cor. 1:3-4) and to encourage those who are burdened to trust in that Man of sorrows who is acquainted with grief Archives
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