10-1-2016

Good Morning All!!

    Psalm 18:6; “In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help.  From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears”

      When I was in college, I had a couple of classes with an instructor whose methods and manners were very different from my thoughts of what they should be.  He could have just walked of the local commune.  He had hair that looked like it hadn’t (or couldn’t) been combed in a few weeks.  He shaved once a week whether he wanted to or not.  We had an 8:00 am class; it wasn’t unusual for him to be 10-15 minutes late; most of the students didn’t wait.  A few of us did because we had the next class across the hall.  He would come in late, make excuses and then begin his lecture.  I really struggled with the way he presented himself.  The man he replaced was a clean shaven suit and tie kind of guy.

    For about three weeks, I told anyone who listened what I thought about this guy.  I told how poor an instructor he was.  I told how his preparation was weak and his classroom etiquette was a little under par.  While griping to a classmate, he asked me if I ever listened to the guy teach?  Why?, I asked.  Because the guy is a genius, and he was.  He was one of the top men in his field.  So the problem that I had with him was the result of my assumptions and presumptions. 

    How often do we do that?  How often do we place so many structures and restrictions on our relationships that they often go bad before we even try?  Sometimes we go to great lengths to complain about them to others.  Sometimes when we have stress in any of our relationships, we complain to anyone who will listen except to the one who can matter the most.  We need to take our distress to God.

    We often don’t think of going to God with our disappointments or our anger.  We think that this is a form of sin so we won’t do it.  We go to God with platitudes and half-baked verbiage that we hear in church.  But God doesn’t want flowery language or “church words”; God wants us to have an honest and open, prayerful conversation with him.  God already knows our thoughts, fears, desires and worries.  Even if we don’t express it, God knows our heart.  The thing is that by expressing it; we will know our heart.  Had I really listened to my comments about my instructor, I would have heard the distance in the relationship was mine. 

    God will hear your cries, even your cries of distress and anger.  He will use his Spirit to help you if you are faithful in your prayers.  A huge part of faithfulness is total honesty on your part when praying to God.  Anything less will void your cry.  It will come off as sinful selfishness.  Yet God does desire to have a relationship with you and for you to have relationships with your fellow man.  Trust God to help you build them.

Gracious Father, too often we hold our distress out of fear and sadness and in doing so we hold onto the pain of our sin.  Give us the strength to bring our cries to you.  Be with those who are in deep pain and distress.  Send your healing to them.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret