10-15-2016

Good Morning All,

         Isaiah 42:3; “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.”

      It is never easy to watch someone you love experience pain.  We watch and do what we can to comfort them but we are helpless.  I know through the times of visitation and just plain talking to couple who have been married a long time; they can handle their own pain but they tear up when they talk about their spouse’s pain.  We struggle when we see others in pain.  We want to make it go away.  We want to ease the pain and the suffering especially of those whom we love.

     So why do we find it so hard to believe that God is the same way to us?  A survey by the Barna Group said that people, who professed to be Christian, believed that God was an angry and vindictive God; almost 49% said they believed this.  They believed that God caused things in their life that was designed to hurt them.  They thought that God took pleasure in causing them pain.  This is an incredibly sad statistic.  It could not be further from the truth.

    We know God is a God of love.  He proves that by the fact that He willingly died for you.  If he enjoyed making you suffer, he would have just sat back and watched.  Yet he sees our pain and our sorrow and he gently heals us.  Now that healing may take one or more of many forms.  There is physical healing, emotional healing, relationship healing and spiritual healing.  So when God heals us, it may be any of these. Yet the question remains, why do we believe that God is vindictive?

    There really is an obvious answer and it is one that we don’t always like.  Our sinful nature clouds our vision.  We know we are sinful being and we often think that we can, and have to, hide our sins from God.  So those sins that we “hide” just lie there waiting for the devil to point them out and say, “watch out, here it comes.”  Then the next time we are a little careless and back the car into a mailbox; the devil pokes his head up and says, “I told you so.”  Guilt for sins, especially those sins which plague us so, those sins we can’t seem to let go of, keep popping up.  Guilt keeps pricking us like a needle reminding us that we are uncomfortable.

    So we hang there like a twisted and bruised reed that is waiting for the wind to break off.  Yet God tenderly heals us.  He forgives our sins and encourages us to let them go.  He has placed them aside; we should as well.  God has forgiven you; you need to forgive yourself.  All we do is give the devil the ammunition to put doubt in our minds and questions in our heart.  God is a God who loves you with a deep love that we cannot ever fully understand.  It is not his desire to harm you; it is to heal you.  His desire is to redeem you ad bring you back into his loving family where you will have peace.

Father of all love, we are often deceived by the devil.  We are misled with his lies and we fail to see you for who you are and that is our loving Father.  Give us the wisdom to see the truth of your love and to trust in that love forever.  Guide us by your grace.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret