12-21-2023

Good Morning All,

      Psalm 116: 1-2; “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.  Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.”

       “Hello? is anybody out there?” This was a tag line from a “Twilight Zone.”  Like many of the episodes, it was predicated on a nuclear attack between the United States and the Soviet Union.  In this episode, Burgess Meredith was a man who hated people.  He never wanted to interact with people; his only passion was his books.  He loved books.  He was in his basement when he heard the civil defense sirens.  After the explosion, he waited a few weeks and then went out to look at the city.  As he wandered, he found that he was all alone; there was no sign of life anywhere.  He wandered until he found what he wanted to find; he found the library and he found most of the building and the books were intact.  He was ecstatic; he had all those books and no one to bother him.  As he sat down, he stumbled.  His glasses fell off and broke.  He could no longer read.  So, he set off, with a book in his hand, looking for someone to help him read his book. 

     Most of us never seek this kind of solitude.  There may be times when we seek a little alone time, but we rarely want to be completely alone.  This is especially true when we are hurting or lost.  At times like that we usually look for someone to hear us and more importantly to listen to us.

    It is one of the devil’s greatest ploys.  He puffs us up when something seems to be going well.  He tells us that it is all because of our talent, our skill, and just the fact that we just deserve some good luck.  He tells us that we accomplished this on our own without any help from anyone.  He tells us we are self-made.  He tells us that we are invincible.  Then he leaves and we are left to strut on our own.  All is fine until trouble strikes.  Maybe it is an illness, maybe it is a job-related setback; something happens and then we find that we are alone.

    We try to fix the problem on our own, but it only gets worse.  We call out for help but the devil, who puffed us up, is long gone and laughing at our pain.  People, some we may have pushed away, are too far away to hear us.  We are left alone, lost, and crying for help.  The pain and the sorrow become too great for us to bear.  The suffering weighs us down like a stone.  Soon we are completely defeated; all alone and suffering immensely.

    Yet God hears our cries, and he rescues us from the suffering.  He listens to us and knows our pain.  He knows our fears and our deepest concerns.  He comes to us with his Spirit of comfort, and he comes to us with his words of comfort and hope.  He brings into our lives the people whom he has to speak to us and to comfort us and to ease our pain.  God is always listening, inclining his ear to hear each whispered word; to hear each hushed sigh of pain.  God is always listening and offering us hope through his love and through his promise of salvation.  It is ours to hold.

Father, you hear us as we cry.  Give us the certainty that you listen and give us the peace that we so desperately need.  Cradle us in your loving arms.  In Jesus name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret