When We Say Goodnight

At the end of the day

Do we mean what we say

When we say, "Good night"?

For one never knows

As the next day shows

Whether everything is alright

As a thief in the night

Ones demise may come

Tomorrow is not promised

And won't be there for some.

Did we tell them we care?

Or share any love?

Did we do good toward them?

Or out of mind did we shove?

Did we know of their problems?

Or care of their pains?

Know of their needs?

Help them to gain?

The Good Book says

To love neighbor as I

To go out of our way

Put our needs aside

For at the end of our days

It is not what we own

But how we treated others

The love the we've shown

We do not know 

If the kindness we share

Is the last thing done

To another who's there

We may never know

The influence we've had

Or if our love shared

Helped make someone glad

At the end of the day

Do we mean what we say

When we say, "Goodnight"?

For one never knows

As the next day shows

If everything is alright.

Give It Up

It is the natural inclination of a person to always want to "fix" things, and do so themselves.  The idea of giving up is not really in our nature.  What do the scriptures say?


I Peter 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.


There are a couple things to note here.  One is that there is no promise here of an instant fix, or some sort of miracle as you would think of wanting.   When we humble ourselves and cast our cares upon Him, the promise is that in DUE TIME we may be exalted.  Part of humbling ourselves would be to trust that God knows the DUE TIME and to not fret about those cares.  Our adversary would love to get us all caught up in worry about things of the world and steal away our peace, joy, love, and witness.  We can resist those temptations knowing that even though we do suffer for a while, we will be made perfect, established, strong, and settled.


Jesus says in Mathew 11:
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.


Jesus here hands out an invitation to those who are overcome with the cares of this world and the problems they present.  He says to look to Him, not necessarily to solve all the problems you are worrying about, but that instead of being so stressed about them, so burdened by them, so overwhelmed; you will find rest in Him and through Him.  If we look to Jesus and learn of Him instead of focusing on our problems, we are promised rest for our souls. 


When we take upon the yoke of Jesus, He is leading us.  His ways lead us to peace and rest within our souls, even though all around us chaos may reign.  Through Him we find rest instead of weariness, hope instead of heartbreak, peace instead of tumult, love instead of anger, caring instead of hostility.  He leads us to those good things if we humble ourselves and take His yoke upon us.  Then we need not worry about the other stuff.  Yes, we still have to do things, and bad things will still happen, but we will no longer let those things overwhelm us, or take our focus.  We will remain in peace if we keep our eyes on Jesus.

When the Going Gets Tough

Have you ever gotten mad at God?  There are times where things just don't seem to fit together like you thought, or you did not get the answer from Him you expected, and life just is not going at all smoothly.  I'm not talking about something superficial like you didn't get that new car you asked for.  I'm talking about gut wrenching issues, agonizing hurt, after long periods of time pleading.  Something that just makes you drop to your knees and scream, Why Lord?

You may be wondering, why Lord. why do the evil succeed?  Why do they get away with it?  How long, oh Lord, must I deal with this or that situation?  Why is it that I never seem to come out on top, Lord?  Why is it that I have been alone so long waiting?  Have you not heard me?  Can't you see that I am hurting?  Why have you not delivered me? 

I think many of us get to these desperate heart aching points in our walk where we just cannot see or understand the plan God is working in or through us.  Times where we almost can't find any words to express the anguish that we are feeling or the desperation that we are experiencing.  What are we supposed to do?  How are we to carry on when it just seems like the world is falling in on top of us and the bottom has dropped away?

I've been facing such situations recently, so as much as this is sharing with others, it is also a little therapy for myself here.  All those types of questions are swirling around in my head, and I am asking and pleading, wondering when is it going to end?  What am I supposed to do?

I got a word before the intensity of the situation I am in ramped up several hundred degrees. 

Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

When we are upset and troubled, even wounded deeply to our core, we still need to carry on in a way that is pleasing to God.  He made a promise to us in that verse.  We can't let our pain become so great that we begin hurting others.  We need to keep our focus on God and doing what is right, treating others as we ourselves want to be treated, doing our jobs to the best of our ability, being honest, not being a gossiper, etc etc...  If we do those things, we have a harvest coming.  We might not know when it is or how it is, but we can rest assured that it will come when it is ripe and ready and perfect for us.

I wish I could say that I have been a perfect soldier in this, but really, it is kind of a hard thing to do.  We are hurt and upset and do some things that don't necessarily help, or think we can do something about it and forget that God is the one in control.  We can get caught up in our emotions and reap some consequences we'd rather not.  That is the hard part about the "faint not" in that verse.    We can make things worse when we get like, I got this God.

I think that when we get past the initial "WHY GOD WHY?", we can settle back and look to the word for the practical applications of "how, Lord, how?"  Maybe God will bring some useful verse to remembrance like He did for me with the above verse, or we may stumble upon a teacher on the radio or TV that has a message that speaks to our situation, and we should of course look through the word and meditate upon what it says.  The instructions on what to do can be found there.

Another hard thing that we should be learning to do in tough situations is learning to trust God even more.  It is all well and good to trust God when things are going well, but when things happen and appear to be at their worst, that is when we really need to knuckle down with some serious faith and determined faith that says, despite what I am seeing and feeling, I know that that harvest is out there getting ripe and I have no doubt that if I do as the word says, the blessing is promised to me by God, and God keeps ALL his promises.

Presenting Truth

Proverbs 27:6
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.


As believers in Jesus, we are commanded to be as truthful as we know how to be.  Never are we told to lie about anything.  In a truthfulness, being that blatantly honest does not necessarily win you any accolades or rewards.  In many cases, the truth being told is reviled and scorned, and you, the messenger, end up being at the end of a scathing attack.  The truth is not something everyone wants to hear.


People generally become most offended when the truth presented bumps up against the way they see things.  When a truth is presented that contradicts their own view, it puts them in a position where they have to admit that they may be wrong.  We humans tend to have a lot of pride, and are not willing to concede the possibility of being wrong. 


It may very well be that the truth being told will go up against where another has put all their hope and trust.  The truth is not just offending pride in this case, but is rattling the very foundations of what another is holding on to for dear life.  The truth threatens to tear down their entire view of the world and destroy all that they were putting their trust in.  And if it was an only hope, the person is afraid that there is nothing else left to hold on to, that all hope will be lost. 


In either case (or any I missed), truth brings out a negative response from the one who is offended with it.  It triggers a fight or flight response as a defense mechanism.  Often times both occurs.  A person confronted by a truth they do not wish to hear will fight the idea, and try to ruin the credibility of the messenger.  They will try to deflect this truth and make it about the messenger.  They may just dismiss it altogether so as not to have to deal with it.


I think this issue can be summed up well when we look at the 5 stages of grief.  The 5 stages of grief are commonly accepted as follows:
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance


When a person is first confronted with a truth that contradicts them, they will go into denial, and then anger rather quickly.  They don't like the truth.  they don't want to hear that truth.  They are offended by that truth.  They will lash out against it.  This is where most of the conversation ends.  People usually end the conversations at this point.   They will say something like, well, we will just have to agree to disagree. 


The bargaining stage is something that may or may not occur later on.  They may take to heart the truth that has been told, or they may just go back to denial and move on.  This is where the Holy Spirit is at work.  As someone wrestles with truth in their mind and heart, they are no longer wresting with the messenger, but the message.  They have begun dealing with the truth.  They might slip back and forth with more denial and anger, or slip ahead into depression, but that is part of the bargaining. 


The depression stage is where one gives up the struggle.  They are not angry any more, they can't deny the truth, and they can no longer negotiate or argue it away.  They know what the truth is.  They are now there.  At this point they either shut it all of and go back to permanent denial, or they move on and accept the truth, embrace it, and go with it.


In the end, this is what truth does to us.  Whether it is the truth about our mortality, which is where these stages were coined after, our salvation, or whether it is some other truth we are confronted with.  As messengers of truth, believers are often dealing with the front lines, or the first stages in the above process.  Sometimes we are put in a position with friends or relatives where we can be involved in assisting with the other stages.   As ministers of God, sometimes we are brought in during the bargaining and depression stages to assist in moving on to acceptance. 


In the end, truth is what matters.  We can't shy away from speaking the truth.  We can't be afraid of receiving the wrath of others for sharing truth.  We are servants of the Most High God, and it is He who is doing the work, through the messengers, and in the lives of those who hear truth.  We are to just be obedient servants and speak the truth in as much as we are given it, and to do so in as loving a way as we know how.  It is not easy, but obedience is always rewarded in some fashion.


Acts 26:25
But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.