12-8-2021

 Good Morning All!

           Exodus 22:17b; “And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.”

     One of the hardest parts to being a parent is when your children are very young, too young to speak and communicate, and they are sick or hurt. They cry and cry, but you just cannot figure out how to console them. Are they hungry? Are they over tired? Do they have a stomachache? It is painful to watch this as a parent; you want to fix the problem, but you do not know how to fix it.

    As children grow and become adults, they still experience pain. Some of it is physical, some emotional. One of the hardest parts of being that parent or a friend to someone like that is that you can see their pain; you know it is there but if they do not express it or cannot express it; you feel just like that infant’s parent. You want to fix the problem, but you do not know what is wrong. Are they having health issues? Are the under stress at work? Do they feel unloved by their friends? Has their spouse hurt them in some way? How do we fix it?

    One of the greatest evils which have befallen the world is pain. Not physical pain as much as emotional and spiritual pain. We see it everywhere. Just look at any bookstore or on Amazon and you see a myriad of self-help books on everything from dieting to surviving a divorce to surviving the loss of a child. Now you may be able to read how to lose weight and actually have it work but I don’t know about reading how to cope with the death of a child.  Yet this points to a huge problem for us; too many people think that everything we deal with has to be internal.  We show little emotion, and we express it even less. The British use the phrase “stiff upper lip” and for many in this country this is true as well.

     This is part of the reason that we have trouble understanding the tradition of sackcloth and using ashes and wailing in public like we read about in the Bible. This is such a public outpouring that we see it almost as unfit and improper.  Yet they are expressing their pain to all around. Now I am not advocating that you do this but at least express your fear or pain to someone. It can be a neighbor or a friend. It can be your pastor or a counselor but above all cry out to the Lord.

    God has made a great promise to us his people. The first and foremost is the promise of redemption from sin.  Yet the next is of great value as well.  He has promised to be our God, our “hands on” God.  He has promised to listen to our cries and to answer them. He will listen but we must cry. This can be an actual physical cry, or it can be an emotional cry from the heart, but God will hear and answer you. It may not be the answer we think we want at that time, but God’s will is always best for us. So, cry out to God; He will hear you and answer because he has compassion. His love for you knows no bounds.

Dear Father, we often suffer in silence when you tell us to pray and to call upon you. Give us the wisdom to see you as our loving Father, as our “hands on God”.  Help us to see your tender mercy when we need it most. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret