We may have all been there.
We get involved in a situation that causes some emotional pain and confusion. I have thought to myself, where an I wrong in this situation? Ready to humbly take the blame if necessary. Ready to take all fault. Then, in the need for clarity, and moral support, I go to someone who I think will understand, but, it backfires!
You leave even more emotionally torn and confused than when you came. You sought comfort and clarity, and left questioning yourself on you own innocence. Maybe I am to blame?
Job sits in immense pain and agony circled by a group that claim to be his friends. They constantly bash him and insist that he just admit to his sin and all this will be done and over with. Job wonders what evidence they have to throw him to the altar so quickly, when he has walked uprightly and devout. They insist that maybe in secret he was unlawful. They no longer trust his words. He tells them that their words would be easy for him to say if they could switch places with him. But if they did switch places he would say encouraging words, not words that tear and bite. Job, among the constant stone throwing, holds fast to the truth he knows- that he has not wronged God in anyway. He admits that he is low and in need of God, and is in much pain and agony. He is also confident in God's authority though he does not understand what is happening in his life. He is determined to wait God out- for he says" all the days of my appointed time I will wait til my change comes"
It is these times in the life of a child of God that it is important to have your anchor held in Christ rather than friends. Friends will come and go, and they can only understand as much as God will allow. There are some points when there can be nothing else but you and the Lord. The Lord will even sometimes cause it to seem that it is only you. As David said in Psalm 23 , an earlier reading from this week," Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me." It may seem that we are alone, but you can't have a shadow without light, my pastor once said. So death can only show it's shadow, because God, who is the light, is too close for death to touch you. Death's shadow may be cast, but The brightness of God's light, his presence, is greater than deaths presence. You are not alone. WE are not alone, children of God.
Of course the only way to ensure that comfort of God in your life, when no one else around seems to understand, is to make Jesus your choice, by going down in His name. For the name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run IN to it , and they are safe. Salvation is just that- to be made safe from sin and death. He will enable you to walk in newness of life, being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit of God- changing you from the inside out, starting with the one thing a man can not tame- the tongue. Then though the enemy may attack, the whole armor of God has you covered in front, and God has your back. He said he will not leave us comfortless, but the holy Ghost, who is the comforter, will bring all things back to our memory that God has said.
We are never alone, when God is in us, and around us. And he knows better than anyone else, our point of view.
We get involved in a situation that causes some emotional pain and confusion. I have thought to myself, where an I wrong in this situation? Ready to humbly take the blame if necessary. Ready to take all fault. Then, in the need for clarity, and moral support, I go to someone who I think will understand, but, it backfires!
They look at you questionably, point the finger at you, and denounce you for trying to seemingly "weasel" your way out of something they assume you really did do. They don't see your point of view.
You leave even more emotionally torn and confused than when you came. You sought comfort and clarity, and left questioning yourself on you own innocence. Maybe I am to blame?
Job sits in immense pain and agony circled by a group that claim to be his friends. They constantly bash him and insist that he just admit to his sin and all this will be done and over with. Job wonders what evidence they have to throw him to the altar so quickly, when he has walked uprightly and devout. They insist that maybe in secret he was unlawful. They no longer trust his words. He tells them that their words would be easy for him to say if they could switch places with him. But if they did switch places he would say encouraging words, not words that tear and bite. Job, among the constant stone throwing, holds fast to the truth he knows- that he has not wronged God in anyway. He admits that he is low and in need of God, and is in much pain and agony. He is also confident in God's authority though he does not understand what is happening in his life. He is determined to wait God out- for he says" all the days of my appointed time I will wait til my change comes"
It is these times in the life of a child of God that it is important to have your anchor held in Christ rather than friends. Friends will come and go, and they can only understand as much as God will allow. There are some points when there can be nothing else but you and the Lord. The Lord will even sometimes cause it to seem that it is only you. As David said in Psalm 23 , an earlier reading from this week," Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me." It may seem that we are alone, but you can't have a shadow without light, my pastor once said. So death can only show it's shadow, because God, who is the light, is too close for death to touch you. Death's shadow may be cast, but The brightness of God's light, his presence, is greater than deaths presence. You are not alone. WE are not alone, children of God.
Of course the only way to ensure that comfort of God in your life, when no one else around seems to understand, is to make Jesus your choice, by going down in His name. For the name of the Lord is a strong tower, and the righteous run IN to it , and they are safe. Salvation is just that- to be made safe from sin and death. He will enable you to walk in newness of life, being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit of God- changing you from the inside out, starting with the one thing a man can not tame- the tongue. Then though the enemy may attack, the whole armor of God has you covered in front, and God has your back. He said he will not leave us comfortless, but the holy Ghost, who is the comforter, will bring all things back to our memory that God has said.
We are never alone, when God is in us, and around us. And he knows better than anyone else, our point of view.
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