| |
|
|
Job 16:16 “My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death”. Our world is a world of tears. The rich cry so also the poor, the righteous cry so also sinners. We also see that the animals feel pain and they cry. When we notice their eyes and that side of their face is fully wet with tears. People fallen by the wayside, who are in pain because of some sickness, we see their face is fully drenched and soggy with tears. Yes, in this world there will be pain, sorrow and tears. As we see in the above passage, Job’s face is flushed from weeping, his eyelids are weak and the shadow of death is upon him. God has shown us a path to tread, if we choose any other path it will bring sorrow and pain into our lives. When we know the will of God, we must always choose to walk the path that He has paved according to His will and plan for us. Children of God also have sorrow and pain, they also cry in many situations of their lives. But we know our comforter, Jesus Christ’s hand of grace is upon us always. Ecclesiastes 9:2 “All things come alike to all:One event happens to the righteous and the wicked; To the good, the clean, and the unclean; To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath. In Ecclesiastes, God has explained 28 types of times in our lives. There is a time for everything, similarly all things come alike to all, what happens to the righteous happens to sinners as well. What happens to good happens to the bad ones as well, as explained in the scriptures above.
King David says in Psalm 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.” Yes, many times we feel we do not get answers to all our questions, But God is sitting quietly and watching over us. King David out of his closeness with God knows the truth, says many are our afflictions, but the Lord delivers us out of them all. Apostle Paul, says to Timothy his spiritual son, in 2 Timothy 4:17-18 “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!” God rescued Paul from the mouth of Lion and delivered him from all evil works and preserved him for His heavenly kingdom.
Yes, there will be tears in the lives of righteous people too, as we have seen above in the lives of Job, David and Apostle Paul. Job was full of patience, his patience brought him victory. Job was sorrowful when he lost everything in his life in seconds, but at those times, he felt God’s presence greatly in his life. We also heard in the message yesterday, we are never alone, Jesus Christ is always with us. In the various biblical examples…..we see how Jacob was sold by his own family to slavery but got with victory in Egypt. Daniel was rescued from the mouth of the lions when he was put in the den. Moses was chosen to lead the Israelites out of bondage. Elijah fought the 450 Baal prophets single handedly and won victory over them. We see how Elisha got double portion of anointing when Elijah’s shawl fell upon him when Elijah was taken up in whirlwind. Thus, God’s children are never alone, Jesus Christ is always with us. Sorrows come in different ways, from within the family, through friends, our relatives…but if our trust is in God, we will always have patience and peace.
James 5:11” Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” James writes about Job’s patience in this verse, how our Lord is compassionate and merciful to us, when we put our trust in Him, as Job says in Job 1:21 “And he said: “ Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” When Job is in great sorrow and pain, he said ‘Naked I came into this world, naked I will go’. Yes, we must believe that everything we have is given by God and he alone has the right to take it away from us. He alone has the right to put us through test and fire, that we will eventually come out of the fire as ‘pure gold’ for His Glory alone. Job 23:8-10 “Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” We must believe that God is watching over us at all times, especially when we are in pain, sorrow and lonely, His Hand of grace strengthens us to withstand all trials in our lives. Hence our face will look disgraceful when flushed with tears, but God is the one to wipe away our tears and cheer us up.
We have seen in yesterday’s message Jesus says in John 16:32 “Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” Jesus also knew that His own disciples and His close one will forsake Him, but His Father will never forsake Him. Similarly we must also have the same faith, the world will forsake us, but we must believe, our God - Jesus Christ who gave His life for us, will never forsake us. We see in the book of Job, Job’s life is sorrowful because he has lost everything in the world, his only Hope is God…..Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. Yes, we all will have testing times in our lives, whether we will come out successfully, is left in our hands. God is watching over us all times, He is strengthening us through all trials and tribulations. But are we ready today to be tested ?
Jeremiah the great prophet, says in anguish and pain in Lamentations 3:22-23 “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” Lord gives power to the weak and weary, those who have no strength He strengthens them. It is only our God, who is able to change the times of our life in every situation. Isaiah 40:29 says “He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.” We must have great patience, in all our trials. It is a passing phase in our life, because His grace and mercy are new every morning for us. As we have seen in the message yesterday, how Jesus says to His mother in John 2:4, that His time has not yet come and in John 17:1-2, Jesus says His time has now come. Hence, we must believe in God’s time. There is time for everything in our life, so also the tears will pass away and we will be blessed with Joy. John 16:20 “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.” As Jesus says, most truly I say to you, when you weep the world will rejoice…..but not for long, because He alone has the power to turn the same into Joy.
These days, we read in newspapers about several suicidal cases. These cases are on a rampant especially amongst the youth. Patience and endurance has been weakened in today’s time. They can’t tolerate defeat and be a loser is not accepted by them. Our value system here is questionable, what values we are giving our children today? Life is MORE materialistic and people are drifting away in the world with wrong priorities. In the Bible too we see many who have suffered and won victory by God’s grace. The sick received healing through Jesus Chirst, lepers were healed, blind got sight, lame walked. Once again we read John 16:20 and see how our God can change our sorrows to joy. Will we let Jesus Christ wipe away our tears today, we have to put our faith and trust in Him alone?
Nehemiah 2:3 and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?” Here we see Nehemiah’s sorrow was because of God. God’s puts pity in the King’s heart. Thus, the King asks Nehemiah about his sorrow. Similarly, we see in Mathew 28:18-19 “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” Yes, we know, all authority has been to Jesus Christ, in Heaven and on this earth. It is only Jesus Christ who can change every situation in our lives.
Philippians 2:10-11 “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” its true, at the name of Jesus Christ, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Eg. when a policeman is recruited, he is first given a uniform to wear and a pistol for his protection. Like wise, when God chooses us to be His family, He covers us with His precious blood and gives us His Spirit to lead and guide us. In the holy scriptures Jesus says in Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” We must always know that when there are tears in our life, God is strengthening us and teaching us something in every situation.
Mathew 8:9 “For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” Story of a Centurion, a rich man who says that he has many people at his beck and call. The Centurion can command them to “do this” or “do that”. Yes, we must all learn to submit to authority. Wherever we are, in whatever position we are, we must learn to submit. We have seen examples in the scriptures viz… Jacob was sold to slavery in Egypt, but with his mere submission to authority he rose the ranks and had a commanding position. He had to submit to Pharoah though Pharoah was an enemy. Similarly, we must learn to submit to authority in every position. We see in the holy scriptures Romans 13:1 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” In which ever role, Lord has kept us, we must always be obedient to authority. Daniel 4:26 ““And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you, after you come to know that Heaven rules.”
In this world of darkness, God has kept his precious treasures for us ‘His children’. In Revelation 1:1 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John” Our Lord has given us His treasures in various ways viz…… we have this holy temple for our worship, we have a spiritual congregation who fear the Lord above all, we have the Spirit of Lord leading us always, we have the powerful Word correcting and blessing our lives. In Isaiah 45:3-4 Lord says “I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel. For Jacob My servant’s sake, And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me”. Lord has never hidden any riches from His children. Daniel 2:21-22 “And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him.” All authority is given to Jesus Christ, so He can shower his children with His choicest blessings in this world. Hebrews 1:1-2 “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds”
We must believe that God alone is in control of our lives. We must have more patience and endurance. Our values in every situation must be intact. All the treasures of this world belong to God, He will pour out his precious treasures, according to our needs and in HIS Time. We must always be entwined with Him, remember we are never alone. He is always besides us leading and guiding us, especially when in sorrow and pain He will lift us up and help us through all our trying times. John 15:15 “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” Yes we are his friends, He will reveal everything to us and will not hide anything from us.
Just as Job says “My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death”, similarly the righteous and sinners both experience tears. Through all our pain and sorrow God is glorified in our lives. He is watching over us, especially in our sorrow and painful times. When our victory comes from God it is permanent. Our tears are temporary but happiness from God is permanent. World will laugh at us when we are crying, but God’s grace will abound upon us and our crying will soon change to laughter. Jesus will wipe away our tears ! But are we willing to let him wipe away our tears, or will we try to do so on our own. Remember ! God is besides us always……….but only for those who believe and have faith in Him.
-- Pastor Saroja |
|
|
|