2002-01-01
Last night, Peter and I did something we’ve done several times before, take a person we are sponsoring to his Cursillo spiritual retreat weekend at a church in the area. Doing this evoked a lot of wonderful memories for both of us of our own weekends back in ’97. Suffice it to say that we would wish all of you could experience the showing of God’s grace that a Cursillo weekend brings. Close to 36 men are spending from Thursday night to Sunday evening having this most wonderful experience, one which will likely bring them closer to God this week. Each Cursillo weekend is built around a theme verse. This week’s has prompted the subject for my message this morning, JER 29: 11-13. God is probably working through my very wise husband who asked me to write about this, feeling that I needed to dwell on this message considering what is going on in our own lives right now. Jeremiah 29: 1-23 which contains this theme is the prophet’s letter to the Jews still in captivity in Babylon. In (10), Jeremiah writes, “The Lord says [to the Jewish captives in exile] , ‘When Babylonia’s seventy years are over, I will show My concern for you and keep my promise to bring you back home.’ “ JER 29: 11-13, “I alone know the plans that I have made for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for. Then you will call to Me. You will come and pray to Me, and I will answer you. You will seek Me, and you will find Me because you seek Me with all your heart.” Contained in this passage are some important lessons which certainly apply to us today. God wants us to seek Him out, and He does not want us to suffer ruin or spiritual death. Inherent in this message is that when He as our loving Parent must allow us to suffer to learn a lesson, we must go through all the suffering He has administered in His infinite wisdom. Often like children will, we complain or try to shorten the punishment before it is over in an effort to reduce the pain we are feeling. No one likes to feel pain, but a wise and loving parent sometimes needs to let us feel it in order to put us back on a course of righteousness. There are times when Peter and I have had discussions about why a criminal offender is not made to serve out his entire sentence, is released early, and then repeats his crime. So, it’s obvious to us that civil authorities grapple with the same question in these temporal matters as God deals with in spiritual ones. The difference is that God is consistent no matter what jurisdiction He presides over and has omniscience that imperfect human authorities don’t have. Yet our Lord hasn’t chosen to take away man’s free agency. I suppose His job as our Parent would be a lot easier if He didn’t grant us the choice not to follow His commands, but He would never know if we had faith. Without our free agency, we would not have to make the choice to trust God. Our wise Lord wants us to have faith, trust in Him, and to obey Him as a matter of our choice. Because of the stubbornness that is a part of mankind’s sinful nature, God needs to sometimes bring us to brokenness to make us see our need to put our trust in Him. While this part of the lesson wasn’t too difficult for me to see, the part of it about waiting for His perfect timing has been excruciatingly painful at times. Have you felt this way? God wants us to be patient, just as He wanted the Jews in Babylonian captivity to wait until the seventy years He had decreed were completed. There is a trite saying, “no pain, no gain.” It is certainly true in the corrections God gives us as our loving Parent. Yet, my understanding of God’s loving compassion is that He never gives us a lesson that is too hard for us to learn or benefit from. Just look at 1 COR 10: 13, “Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps His promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, He will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.” Our look at past history should tell us that God is not only consistent, but that He has a long unblemished record of keeping His promises. My faith is being put to the test. I have said from my heart that I believe every word in the Scriptures to be true and inspired by God. I have often quoted 2 TIM 3: 16-17 and will do so again here. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.” If my faith is real, then I also must accept JER 29: 11-13. That puts a Godly perspective on the pain I feel at having to wait for a reduction of the financial uncertainly of the last 15 months of our lives. Ask yourself, how does this lesson impact your waiting to see a solution to your own problems? If I believe the message that God has plans for us for the future we hope for and not for us to experience disaster, then I must take comfort in knowing that I must seek Him out and lay my burdens on His shoulders. Remember, MT 11: 28-30? “Come to Me, all of you who are tired from carrying the heavy loads and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the burden I put on you is light.” JER 29: 11-13 is hardly the only place in the Scriptures where God invites us to seek Him out. Here are some others. PS 46: 10, “Be still and know I am God.” MT 7: 7-8, “Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to him who knocks.” REV 3: 20, “Listen! I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into His house and eat with Him, and he will eat with me.” JN 10: 14-15, “ I am the Good Shepherd. As the Father knows Me and I know the Father, in the same way I know My sheep and they know Me. And I am willing to die for them.” JN 14: 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by Me.” I could go on and on, but the message is clear. PRAYER: O Lord, we seek You out in humility and with an understanding of the compassionate Parent You are. We ask You to help us keep our eyes focused on You and to grant us understanding of the lessons You have for us. Thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit Who instills in us a hunger for Your Word. We strive to be more patient while Your training of us is in progress. We acknowledge that through prayer and study of the Word, You generously provide Your perspective on these lessons, so that we can endure the pain we sometimes feel in going through them. Please watch over the people going through Cursillo and serving in teams. In Christ’s name, amen. Be consoled that you are not alone in struggling to learn the difficult lessons God sometimes has for us. Know that He has put us together, so that we can encourage each other to faithfully seek out our loving Abba. Know there is no greater love than the love He has for you. Peter and I also send you our love. Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn