Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from Chris Rice singing his version of the old hymn … It Is Well With My Soul … poignantly singing of how we Christians, as we encounter the trials and storms of life, can ALWAYS declare that “It is well with my soul.”
Tears of Lament
=============Highlight Verse[s]: Lamentations 2:18 [ESV] ... 19 “Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!
… God, thru Jeremiah, calls on His people to bring their grief and pain to Him.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Lamentations 2:10-13, 18-19 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Jeremiah exhorts believers to be willing to share their grief with the Lord, lamenting their loss or sorrows.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 3:5-6 [ESV] … 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.
… When we have to deal with loss, sorrow, or grief, it becomes a test of our faith; and we must walk on, following our Lord forward.
Reference Passage : … Matthew 11:28-30 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK ...
… Jesus invites His disciples to bring our yoke of grief or pain to Him so that He can help us carry it.
Reference Passage : … John 16:33 [ESV] … 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
… It’s certain - by the word of Jesus - that someday/somehow we’re going to experience heart-ache.
Reference Passage : … 1 Peter 5:6-7 [ESV] … 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
… Encountering the losses or griefs of life, the first place we need to share them is with the Lord.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Tim Gustafson, uses a story of a young lady who journaled her pain raising her siblings after the death of her father, comparing her story to that of Jeremiah, the weeping Prophet.. … The ODB author wrote: Her father blamed his illness on witchcraft. It was AIDS. When he died, his daughter, ten-year-old Mercy, grew even closer to her mother. But her mother was sick too, and three years later she died. From then on, Mercy’s sister raised the five siblings. That’s when Mercy began to keep a journal of her deep pain [see photo].
The prophet Jeremiah kept a record of his pain too. In the grim book of Lamentations, he wrote of atrocities done to Judah by the Babylonian army. Jeremiah’s heart was especially grieved for the youngest victims.
It would not be hard to imagine that some, if not most, of those reading this blog either have experienced - or are now experiencing - a deep loss or heart-ache, … one which resulted in deep sorrow or grieving. But … if you are in a good and joy-filled place now, it’s a certainty that you could - or will - experience such heart-ache in the future {see Jesus’ promise in John 16:33).
And so, that being truth, … what do we as Christians do about it? Well, if you believe, as I do, that we have a God who cares and you’ve taken in the the linked song and meditated deeply on the Scriptures above, believing in their truth, then you know what to do. And some of you may be thinking of a verse [not above] which is God’s prescription for a grieving or anxious heart. And that verse is Philippians 4:6-7. So, … seek that one out, put it in motion with a thankful heart, and see what results. Jeremiah did; and so should we!
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for being there to hear my grief.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to cast our cares on a caring, loving, and grace-filled God. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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