Hi! This week I am inspired to write about Disappointments in life. Hope and pray that it will be an encouragement to someone.
Who does not want to be happy in life? Everyone wants all their dreams to come true and success to follow them around all the days of their life. However as Laurence Olivier rightly put it: “Living is strife and torment, disappointment and love and sacrifice, golden sunsets and black storms…”
How much we love the many golden sunsets in our lives and yet what do we do when the black storms hit?…when things start to fall apart in life? Plastering a fake smile and put on an air of “all is well” is the last thing you can do especially when you feel like a broken winged bird that cannot fly!
Inspite of continuous efforts, hardwork ,heartfelt prayer,sometimes things just don’t work out , sometimes things longed for take forever to reach us ….the well deserved promotion ,the much awaited foreign assignment, the cry of a newborn, restoration of strained relationships ,the financial breakthrough to pay your bills, the life partner you are prayerfully waiting for,….sometimes it is the sting of the unexpected that crushes your spirit: the pink slip, the betrayal of a close friend, ill health, the death of a loved one….the list can go on and on and on….there is no list of hopeless situations …. as long as we live in this Imperfect world under the dominion of the evil one. We can talk easily about the Inevitability of Suffering, God’s timing, patience and much more, but …. is that really a healing balm to the tormented soul that is slowly hardening up with bitterness because of NO ANSWERS?
All the theology we can cook up or the well meaning counsel we give will only be NOISE to the one who actually is suffering. How can telling him that ‘everyone suffers’ reduce his pain in anyway? (Unless of course he is a hardcore sadist who takes joy in other’s suffering.)His pain and grief is real to him, it is very personal and if he has trusted us enough to share his secret woe with us, we can count ourselves blessed! That for us Christian, is another chance to exhibit the compassion of Jesus- it is the chance for us to be the Good Samaritan in the Bible! Many times however we end up like the Priest or the Levite (Luke 10:30-37), leaving the wounded traveler in pain to die! How ironical that we rush to worship the God who is love and yet do not have love in our hearts to see our brother in need!
We need to learn to be more sensitive to the hurting souls around us. The man’s sobs aren’t for money ie, solutions ,they are cries of despair ,cries for help just to be listened to without being condemned or preached to, his questions about the unfairness isn’t blasphemy ,they are honest pleas, his tears are expressions of grief ;genuine prayers lifted up to heaven . Even Jesus, the Son of the Living God cried tears of grief in his suffering: “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”-Hebrews 4:7-8
God doesn’t despise the tears of the helpless…then who are we to? Acco to Psalms 56:8 “Our tears are kept in his bottle.”They stir God’s heart and He hears those cries. They are precious to Him and He himself promises to wipe away our tears from our eyes!(Isa 25:8,Rev 21:4)
Job , who is considered the epitome of suffering; though declared righteous by God Himself, had to suffer. Yet we see that in Job 16:20, even his friends couldn’t understand him.
We read of the unjust suffering of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Though we may be the cause of some of the misfortune in our lives due to wrong or hasty or careless decisions or actions, sometimes we may be called to suffer for no wrong of ours. There may be a Thorn in the Flesh which torments us and will just not go away. We read in 2 Corin 12:8,9 (KJV) “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
We also read in Psalms 34:19 ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” As Joyce Meyer says “When trouble strikes,don’t rush to the phone,rush to the Throne.” When we feel weak and forsaken that is when we must withdraw from the crowd and rush to the Presence of God for strength that only He can bestow on us. At that point no amount of human comfort or counsel will comfort us.We need a fresh anointing in order to be fruitful ,faithful and in order to be a Powerful Witness for the Lord. Let me end with a few powerful quotes by Philip Yancey from his famous book ‘Disapointment with God.’
"To some, the image of a pale body glimmering on a dark night whispers of defeat. What good is a God who does not control his Son's suffering? But another sound can be heard: the shout of a God crying out to human beings, "I LOVE YOU." Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to - because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice.
Any discussion of how pain and suffering fit into God's scheme ultimately leads back to the cross. "
Any discussion of how pain and suffering fit into God's scheme ultimately leads back to the cross. "
"Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory."
"Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse."
Take care, God bless,
Take care, God bless,
Sparky Laurie
PS: Adding a poem I wrote on this Topic:
What do you do when Questions are all you come up with in life? You Look to THE ANSWER and not for an Answer:
Read on …. to understand fully:
SEEK NO MORE ANSWERS, INSTEAD SEEK HIM FOR HE IS THE ANSWER:
What do you do when dreams crash down?
What do you do when you wish someone would understand and you find no one?
What do you do when your heart is heavy and another step you cannot take?
What do you do when in the blackness of the night you lie awake?
What do you do when you want to sing but you have no voice?
What do you do when to sit still and wait is the only choice?
What do you do when you feel misunderstood?
What do you do when things aren’t good?
What do you do when you wish things were different?
What do you do when strength is absent?
What do you do when you try unsuccessfully to explain?
What do you do when all your tireless efforts are in vain?
What do you do when you want to give up trying?
What do you do when what you are saying no one’s buying?
What do you do when you’re hurt so bad?
What do you do when you can’t help but feel sad?
What do you do when all you want to be is happy and true
And you try and do all you can but all seems blue?
Nothing changes, nothing works…
You’re back where you started and darkness lurks.
What do you do when you’re alone and have none to blame
When deep down inside all you feel is grief and shame?
You wish so badly that life would be easy
But all it seems is to get more cheesy!
There’s no other way out than to look at the Cross
Forget yourself and the world-He alone is your Boss
He is the One True in this world
His kindness, mercy,compassion is more valuable than gold!
The moment you take your eyes off your Creator
The moment you believe the lies of the Traitor
That’s the moment of your doom
That’s the real reason for your gloom
This world is not here forever to stay
It will reject you, pain you all the way
It has no time for another’s sorrows
It guarantees you no hope for your tomorrows
Shake yourself off the ground
Race to His throne where grace and mercy abound
He will lift you up higher than ever
He will not forsake you, NEVER
What more assurance do you need?
The Living Word of God is the Seed
The Lord Jesus is your Teacher
The Holy Spirit your Comforter
You are secure, now and forever
You are free to dream once again
You will fly in spite of the pain
You’ll say as Joseph did ‘What Satan sought for my downfall,
God has used to raise me up high and tall!’(Gen 50:20)
-Sparky Laurie
08/03/2011
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