Tag: Psalm 13

Distant or Delighted? Not Feeling the Love of God? How About Learning to See Jesus With a Smile? 1 John 3:1-3

1 John 3:1-3 Amplified Bible

Children of God Love One Another

3 See what an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2  Beloved, we are [even here and] now children of God, and it is not yet made clear what we will be [after His coming]. We know that when He comes and is revealed, we will [as His children] be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is [in all His glory]. 3 And everyone who has this hope [confidently placed] in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (holy, undefiled, guiltless).

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

See How Well We Are Lavished With Love?

1 John 3:1 New International Version

3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

The word lavish presents a picture of extravagant abundance.

It is almost too much, too generous and luxurious.

Being lavish borders on being wasteful.

But the Father has lavished his love on us.

God’s love is even more than what a wonderful mother showers on her infant.

Isaiah 66:12-14 New International Version

12 For this is what the Lord says:

“I will extend peace to her like a river,
    and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm
    and dandled on her knees.
13 As a mother comforts her child,
    so will I comfort you;
    and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”

14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice
    and you will flourish like grass;
the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants,
    but his fury will be shown to his foes.

God’s love and care are supplied all the time.

God’s love is a constant bombardment of affection and care.

We may be as oblivious as an infant to the presence of his love, but God still continues to pour his love into our lives.

God’s love flows into us deeply, redefines who we are at the very core of our heart, mind and soul.

When we open our hearts to God’s love, we are transformed by it.

We are remade, regenerated into children of God.

It is God who makes us his children, not us.

We cannot earn that status.

It is a gift of God’s great love.

Because we are sinners, we do not understand God’s love for us at first.

We don’t even know we need him until we realize we are stuck in sin and cannot save ourselves.

We become God’s children when we receive Jesus as our Savior (John 1:12).

Not one of us is worthy of God’s love.

We cannot earn it.

God just loves us.

We would not be God’s children if he were not already deeply in love with us.

How amazing is that!

Being said with an exclamation mark, what if we turned that into a question?

“How Amazing Is That?”

“I Really Do Not Feel God’s Love.“

Psalm 13 Authorized (King James) Version

Psalm 13

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

1 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?
how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
having sorrow in my heart daily?
how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God:
lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him;
and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
5 But I have trusted in thy mercy;
my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
6 I will sing unto the Lord,
because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

Have you ever said or thought these words in public or in private?

If so, you’re not alone.

Truth Be Told, Too many times I have really struggled with the disconnect between knowing that God loves me and actually seeing, and feeling His love.

It might be tempting to brush aside the discomfort of this disconnect and get on with the responsibilities of life.

“After all,” some will pat you on the back, say, “love is an action, not a feeling.”

But if you look closely at the love displayed in the Bible, it’s clear that it’s not just automatic rote Christian responsibility—it’s also passionate emotion.

God doesn’t just act lovingly toward us, He feels love for us.

And He doesn’t want us to only understand His love, but to experience it in a deep way, a deeply visual and tactile way – to visualize it and touch it daily.

If, like me, you’ve struggled with a disconnect between knowing about God’s love and actually seeing, feeling it, accept your feelings as being quite real.

Sometimes, like the Psalmist who penned Psalm 13, we will not feel loved.

Sometimes, like the Psalmist who penned Psalm 13, we will not see God’s love.

Psalm 13 is someone’s deepest expression of a heart and soul in angry anguish.

It has remained in the Bible through countless edits because God wants you the reader to know, the maximum extent to which God feels, visualizes our hearts.

Heart Distant or Delighted? Learning to See Jesus With a Smile …

Psalm 13:5-6 Authorized (King James) Version

5 But I have trusted in thy mercy;
my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
6 I will sing unto the Lord,
because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

1 John 3:3 Amplified Bible

3 And everyone who has this hope [confidently placed] in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (holy, undefiled, guiltless).

I recall many years ago sitting in a circle with the other members of my Bible study group when our leader invited us to imagine what Jesus’ face looks like.

Dutifully, I closed my eyes and tried to picture Him.

The image that appeared was of a man with long, greyish silver locks and dull, piercing brown eyes.

His unsmiling lips were hard set in a neutral line.

He didn’t look disapproving, but he didn’t look very happy either.

As I studied His face, I felt sad, fearful, and unsure of how He felt about me.

I was deeply troubled by this experience because, intellectually, I knew God always loved me deeply and felt positively—even passionately—about me.

Throughout the Bible, God describes His love in the most tender terms known to humankind.

He compares His love for us to the love a parent has for their child—a warm, welcoming, compassionate love (Isaiah 66:13; 1 John 3:1).

He also describes His love for us as the love a groom has for his bride—a passionate, ardent, sacrificial love (Revelation 19:7; Ephesians 5:25-27).

Yet, my picture of Jesus that evening revealed that, deep down, I also perceived Him as uppermost serious and restrained, maybe even a little depressed at me.

It also highlighted my fear that I was not a source of joy or pleasure to God, and that, though He loved me, it suddenly felt more being with a distant, aloof love.

I knew this isn’t how God wanted me to view Him.

Ephesians 3:18, the apostle Paul prayed, “May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully” (NLT).

More than anything, I wanted to experience the love of God—I wanted to feel it, not just know about it.

So I started asking God to take my understanding beyond intellect and into a more studious, scriptural, deep heart knowing of my value to Him.

1 John 3:1 Amplified Bible

Children of God Love One Another

3 See what an incredible quality of love the Father has shown to us, that we would [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Truth be told, sometimes it’s so much easier to notice the love people have for you than the love God has for you.

Why?

Because you can physically see them and the way they express love.

But when it comes to God, it can be challenging to see, understand, the extent to which He loves you.

After all, none of us can physically see Him on this side of Heaven.

That’s why God gave us His Word… to help us to see, feel, and understand who He is and how much He really does love us. 

See, throughout the Bible, God is described as an all-powerful and eternally just God, but also as deeply loving to those He created.

In the entire biblical story, God is presented as a character who strongly cares for us… so much so that He even allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to enter this world to bring about a redeemed and restored relationship with humanity.

In fact, Jesus is the physical embodiment of God’s eternal love, showing us that His love is a real, tangible being we can cling to and put our hope in rather than just an abstract concept we cannot ever hope to even begin to .01% understand.

Now, before we dive further into how Jesus loves us, first let’s clarify the meaning of biblical love.

BIBLICAL LOVE

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Amplified Bible

4 Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. 5 It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. 6 It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. 7 Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].

There are many different kinds of love.

There is parental love, brotherly love, and romantic love.

When anyone says the word love, we often first associate it with anything from dating to sex.

But, the word is so much more broad than we often think.

According to the above passage, biblical love is simply putting the needs of others before your own. 

All of us fall short of the expectation set by this passage at some point, because selflessness does not come naturally to us (Romans 3:23).

But, the good news of the Gospel is that God perfectly embodies these four verses.

He is the one that created love in the first place!

In turn, this means that God is LOVE itself (1 John 4:8).

And because He is love, He displays this quality not only through His words, but through His actions as well.

GOD’S DEVOTED LOVE

Psalm 103:12-14 Amplified Bible

12 
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 
Just as a father loves his children,
So the Lord loves those who fear and worship Him [with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence].
14 
For He knows our [mortal] frame;
He remembers that we are [merely] dust.

As any good father would, God feels sentiment and shows affection toward His children.

This picture of God as the perfect Father is a deeply intimate one because it illustrates how far [east from west], He would go to keep us safe and secure.

Another illustration of God’s love is seen in Hosea 2:14-23.

Rather than a father this time, this Bible story describes a faithful husband that comforts and treasures his wife – which is also meant to be seen as a metaphor for God’s devoted love to an unfaithful Israel.

Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, God expressed His infinite love for His people all the more through love poetry, painting a beautiful image of God’s extreme devotion and affection towards His Bride, the Church.

LOVE AS AN ACTION

Romans 5:8-10 Amplified Bible

8 But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Therefore, since we have now been justified [declared free of the guilt of sin] by His blood, [how much more certain is it that] we will be saved from the [a]wrath of God through Him. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more certain, having been reconciled, that we will be saved [from the consequences of sin] by His life [that is, we will be saved because Christ lives today].

But, love is not merely a feeling.

Love is also an action… that God shows from the very beginning of the Bible.

Out of His love, God established a rescue plan for humanity in the wake of Adam and Eve’s sin (Genesis 3:15).

Out of His great love, God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt – not because they earned it, but because they were His people (Exodus 12-14).

Out of His love, God became fully human, yet fully God through the person of Jesus Christ – living a perfect life and dying a death we deserved so that we could all be restored into unto, a right relationship with Him (John 3:16-17).

In each scenario, all of God’s actions toward His people are motivated by pure love. He doesn’t just say He loves us, but He actually does something about it.

THE LOVE OF JESUS

John 15:13-16Amplified Bible

13 No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you keep on doing what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you [My] friends, because I have revealed to you everything that I have heard from My Father. 16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you.

By coming into the world and sacrificing his own life for us, Jesus demonstrated the ultimate love of God.

He died for us because He considered us friends worth dying for (John 15:15).

This is the radical love that Jesus showed during his time on Earth… and still shows us today even if we do not see it in quite the same way we see the love of our friends and family.

So, when asking the question “Does Jesus love me?” the simple answer is “yes.”

Jesus really does love you not because of anything you have done, but because of who He is!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Almighty God, we praise and thank you for making us children of God, not through our own power and piety but through our baptism into crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ. We turn daily to you, and in that turning we find peace, courage and purpose. Make your whole church a witness to the great good news of Christ’s resurrection. Father God, may we have the grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to grasp how immeasurable wide and deep and high and long is your love for us, expressed in all that Savior Jesus has done for us, that we may be your children. In his name, Amen.

Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.

Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.

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What if we are Contemplating Falling Out of Love with God? We Desire No time alone with God? Our Preference? We will devote No more time for God. Psalm 13

Psalm 13 The Message

13 1-2 Long enough, God—
    you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head
    long enough. Long enough
I’ve carried this ton of trouble,
    lived with a stomach full of pain.
Long enough my arrogant enemies
    have looked down their noses at me.

3-4 Take a good look at me, God, my God;
    I want to look life in the eye,
So no enemy can get the best of me
    or laugh when I fall on my face.

5-6 I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—
    I’m celebrating your rescue.
I’m singing at the top of my lungs,
    I’m so full of answered prayers.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

David the psalmist had feelings of God-forgottenness.

He had a multitude of times of being surrounding by enemies.

This was no brief time, these were extended periods of time – weeks, months and perhaps even a short number of years.

He wrote of the consistent continuous feeling of aloneness one can feel when it seems God has turned His face away and the enemy is forever at the gate of life.

Does it seem as if right now that David’s thoughts are now seeping into your soul becoming your thoughts, leaking like a sieve, from a heart which is fast becoming a stranger to the feelings of love, to the desire for feeling any love?

What if we and our heart and our soul are at the point where we are simply tired of believing and hearing from men, “the Lord is my Shepherd, I have all I need.”

We are at or nearing the “breaking point” where those encouraging words “God is Love” is very fast becoming utter nonsense, wildly clashing cymbals, gongs.

We will hear no more of “God’s Love” – “do not dare to step on my last nerve!”

Do we dare to believe that our current measure of our alleged forever “unfailing love” for the Lord our God can even .01% fail and falter under the worst of tests?

Do we dare to believe such a notion our “unfailing faith, steadfast hope and our immovable love for God are miles and miles from the very precipice of failure?

Do we dare to allow ourselves to believe we are so iron clad strong in ourselves?

Do we dare to allow ourselves to believe that any failure of our faith, any failure of our hope in our future, any failure of our Love for God is 100% inconceivable?

If David had dared to have those thoughts, failure was inconceivable, that he should throw God out of his life we would not now have the words of Psalm 23.

What of our fleeting thoughts, feelings about God’s 100% Love?

Dare we to ask ourselves, our “Sermon in Shoes” Christianity, the question:

ARE WE FALLING OUT OF LOVE WITH GOD, OUR SAVIOR JESUS?

Never say Never …. We are not God, our Savior Jesus or the Holy Spirit!

Failure is always a meal that has been prepared for our feasting on our tables!

Failure is always waiting to be served, to be placed in some corner of our plate.

We can in no way escape failure …. it will forever be before us.

Despite the unceasing fervency of our prayers ….

God will not remove failure from our DNA!

Jesus, the Logos, will not remove the word failure from the Holy Scriptures.

The Holy Spirit will not remove our self will nor keep us from failure, failing.

Failure is always an option – it is absolutely inescapable!

But then again, even though we may have lost or given up “that loving feeling,” our God who is love, has not lost or minimally given up on that “loving feeling.”

God is still speaking directly to us even though we refuse to listen any longer.

The face of God is still facing us, the Words of God still mouthing these words as if we are always directly looking at each other – face to face and eye to eye:

1 Corinthians 13:1-10 The Message

The Way of (GOD’S) Love

13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

I have been a Christian for a long time – just over 21 years. 

The weirdest thing to me about being a Christian is how often I will forget the miracle of God’s love.

I forget the power of it.

I will take it for granted at every opportunity I get. 

I forget how wonderful it is that a holy God should pursue me.

It stops being such a big deal. 

It stops feeling so amazing.

I fall out of love with him a bit.

For a long time, whenever I’d hear the phrase “God loves us,” I pictured a kind, doting, grandpa.

But you know what? 

Grandpa love is not the kind of love you get with God.

God is a lot more like a spouse.

God’s Love for me is Sometimes Uncomfortable

God pursues us with this wonderful, miraculous love. 

Then He moves in, begins turning everything upside-down and inside out. 

He wants us to share everything with him. 

He wants us to talk to him. 

He wants us to consult him about all our decisions. 

He’s always there, aware of everything.

And he wants us to give him our all.

That kind of love love – true love – isn’t all that comfortable. 

It doesn’t always feel miraculous. 

It doesn’t always feel easy or cozy or even based in reality. 

In fact, the love of God doesn’t feel all that miraculous when I am busy living in my faults, failures and failings, because God is busy rearranging my entire life.

Even when the Prodigal Son angrily left the home of his Father, Love remained in the home, love waited for the Prodigal to return, love waited to welcome him.

Do We Get too Used to God’s Love?

God’s love isn’t very comfortable, but even so, over time we get used to it.

That happens sometimes with love.

I was single for so long; at first, then met my wife, and the sudden, subtle prospect of one day, every day of being with my wife felt like a great gift.

Fast-forward a 12 1/2 years and I’ve gotten used to her. 

She’s always around. 

I can hardly remember what it felt like to be single.

I hardly want to remember what it felt like to be dedicated to my singleness.

This happens with God’s love too — especially for those of us who grew up in the church. 

We can hardly remember a time when we didn’t know God’s love. 

We get used to it.

We might even get “too” used to it.

We start to take Him and all He is and forever will be, for granted a little.

Acknowledge that Sometimes God’s Love Hurts

Sometimes we will fail God and we will struggle greatly to hold on to any kind of truth that God still loves us because God lets us suffer. 

We hear the words, “God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life,” but then we look around, and maybe our life’s not all that wonderful.

We ask “How can a loving God, an all-powerful God, let this bad stuff happen?”

How, Why, do we keep trusting in the love of God when we are so disappointed?

I try to remember that God is not me and I am not Him.

And sometimes that is a rather tough one for my belief system to sort out.

He’s mysterious and big. 

He’s complicated. 

His ways are not my ways, and his thoughts are not my thoughts.

When I do not want to, I still need to keep giving God the benefit of the doubt.

I need to keep believing in God’s good intentions for me, in the fact that he never allows pain unless it has a purpose. 

He loves me. 

The best thing I can do when I am hard at work distancing myself from God is not distance myself so far from God’s face or give him the silent treatment.

That just makes me more miserable. 

His love is the source of all comfort.

The prophet Jeremiah understood this. 

In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah is crying out to God. He’s devastated — and with good reason.

He weeps. 

He yells at God.

But then he says this: 

Though the Lord brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to any human being (Lamentations 3:32).

He also says this: 

Because of the LORD’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him” (Lamentations 3:22-24).

This is what we have to hold on to. 

The LORD is our portion — his love might not make perfect sense to us. 

But it’s also what keeps us from falling apart.

It’s the only thing, really, that ultimately brings us from utter sadness to joy.

We Will Have to Contemplate Falling in Love Again!

So what do we do when the excitement of God’s love seems to wear off?

When I start to get irritated with my wife, when I start to think it’s no big deal I am married to this woman, I work very hard at thinking back to the beginning. 

I take some time to remember our early days.

I call to mind all the reasons I can recall I fell in love with her in the first place.

We can do this with God too.

 We should do it. 

In fact, it’s why God gave us the ritual of communion (the Lord’s Supper). 

The bread broken for us, the blood spilled for us — it’s the labored discipline of remembering over and over again how wonderful it is Jesus gave himself for us.

By reading, studying the Word of God, meditating on the cross, we can go back.

The other thing I do is I ask myself, “What would life be like without him?” 

I imagine how life would look if my wife did not love me.

Imagine what life would be if God didn’t love me. 

Imagine if my Savior Jesus had not died for me.

Being a faithful human being, I will get angry and I will sin mightily ….

I cannot help myself.

I cannot help being myself …. Romans 7:13-25

It’s all too easy to take God’s love for granted.

It is all too easy being all too human – and turn my face and walk away.

But it’s also easy to be bowled over by God’s love all over again.

Psalm 13The Message

13 1-2 Long enough, God—
    you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head
    long enough. Long enough
I’ve carried this ton of trouble,
    lived with a stomach full of pain.
Long enough my arrogant enemies
    have looked down their noses at me.

3-4 Take a good look at me, God, my God;
    I want to look life in the eye,
So no enemy can get the best of me
    or laugh when I fall on my face.

5-6 I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms—
    I’m celebrating your rescue.
I’m singing at the top of my lungs,
    I’m so full of answered prayers.

Dare Yourself – To Fall in Love with God AGAIN!

If God feels far away, go back to the beginning, back to the cross, and labor to remember what God has done for you. 

Read the accounts of Jesus’ sacrifice each day for the next week.

Meditate on them, asking God to show you the depth of his love for you.

If your life is in turmoil, give God the benefit of the doubt. 

If you have been giving him the silent treatment, you can return to him right now, knowing God will hear your prayer.

Commit to an extended time of prayer each day for a week.

Start your prayer time by listing out the qualities of God.

Focus on who God is and who you ARE NOT. 

No matter the ceaseless fervency, motivation of, or behind our prayers,

We can never pray ourselves into actually becoming God.

God will not answer that prayer as we prayed it – it is not in His will.

Acknowledge and Remember – We ARE NEVER stronger than GOD!

Bring your concerns to God and then take time to listen to him.

Dare to ask thyself; Where Am I in my own relationship with God?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

O soul are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There’s light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

His word shall not fail you he promised
Believe him and all will be well
Then go to a world that is dying
His perfect salvation to tell

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

O soul are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There’s light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace

Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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My Personal Reflection on our Suffering in our Silence and our Perceptions of the “Silence” of ‘Father’ God. Psalm 13

Psalm 13 Amplified Bible

Prayer for Help in Trouble.

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 
How long must I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart day after day?
How long will my enemy exalt himself and triumph over me?

3 
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Give light (life) to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 
And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.

5 
But I have trusted and relied on and been confident in Your lovingkindness and faithfulness;
My heart shall rejoice and delight in Your salvation.
6 
I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Silence, disappointment, doubt, and suffering are not things that are foreign to Christians – they are common to us all.

When we are at our end, desperate, alone, surrounded by darkness, it seems like God is not there, is deliberately, intentionally maliciously hiding his face; those feeling of abandonment can be devastating to the maximum.

It can feel worse than the trouble itself to feel alone in our pain.

As we set our hopes and prayers on something, someone, our trust, our heart, and it shatters at our feet, this can hurt more than to have never hoped at all.

They say it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all, but the pain and loss of not knowing love or having known true love are very real.

Silence hurts.

Theodicy, the issue of how a loving God can allow suffering, is a perennial atheist question, and a legitimate and honest one.

But I think it is first and foremost a question for believers.

It is of vital importance to us, precisely because we do believe in a good and sovereign God, that we resolve this issue with ourselves and with God.

It’s crucial and vital to our spiritual development and a healthy growing trust with God that we face these questions and our pain head on.

That is what this devotional is prayerfully going to be about.

Theodicy is not a cold theological question.

It is one of passion. “I cry to you God but you do not answer. I stand before you, and you don’t even bother to look” screams Job in genuine state of desperation.

Clever intellectual answers won’t cut it here.

The deeply desperate answer we each seek in our pain is not so much one of explanation but of relief.

When we desperately cry “Why!” what we genuinely mean is “Make it stop.”

Before we can really approach an answer to the problem we need to stop for a moment, realize just how close this question is intertwined with our very being.

We cannot approach this from a distance.

This is not even close to being a neutral subject, or anonymous topic for us.

It deals with our entire lives in the most intimate and central way imaginable.

So long as we, our allegedly not too foolish theories, stay on an intellectual level and do not touch us so close to where we live, they will remain merely academic.

We must yet each approach these questions from a different angle, a personal angle, a Father, Son and Holy Spirit angle, if we truly want an answer that will touch us and heal us rather than only a superficial and theoretical explanation.

Whether atheist, believer, or never introduced to God, these are our questions, no amount of mental gymnastics can make the questions, our needs, go away.

We have all these myriad questions because God has placed them in our hearts.

God always wants us to ask – when we stop asking we stop being truly human.

God wants us to perpetually, persistently, perseveringly, ask Him “why me?!” “why must I long suffer like this?!” “Why must my suffering persist?” (Luke 18:1-8)

Jesus said, deeply pleaded, Matthew 6:33 AKJV: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

God is to bring it to a point where even our darkness asks: “why am I yet here?”

God has given all of us an inborn need for love and meaning – Psalm 139:1-18

139 O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me.
2 
You know when I sit down and when I rise up [my entire life, everything I do];
You understand my thought from afar.
3 
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And You are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4 
Even before there is a word on my tongue [still unspoken],
Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
5 
You have enclosed me behind and before,
And [You have] placed Your hand upon me.
6 
Such [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high [above me], I cannot reach it.

7 
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), behold, You are there.
9 
If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will take hold of me.
11 
If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me,
And the night will be the only light around me,”
12 
Even the darkness is not dark to You and conceals nothing from You,
But the night shines as bright as the day;
Darkness and light are alike to You.

13 
For You formed my innermost parts;
You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb.
14 
I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was being formed in secret,
And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth.
16 
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were appointed for me,
When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].

17 
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 
If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

Ultimately, until “every tear is wiped away” we will silently carry these heavy, and very deeply intimate questions around with us – in the silence of our hearts.

As soon as we stop asking why, as soon as we stop yearning for justice, yearning for God to step in unannounced, to touch, to heal, to restore, as we all dispel the reality, the devastating effects and the affects of spiritual darkness, as soon as we casually justify suffering, Hell, there will be something very wrong with us.

God gave us His Spoken Word – The Words of God for His Beloved Children.

Through however many opportunities for ancient scriptural editors to modify, to remove those passages which might be too harsh for future contemplation,

Guess what?

We still have these “ancient words, these “ancient truths” as God spoke them.

Keeping ancient desperate pleas like Psalm 13 in the Scriptural Canon means God has a very specific 2022 intention for them which ancient New Testament writers and ancient biblical editors and too interpreters succinctly recognized:

We should never stop asking these “why me” questions on our side of eternity!

It is absolutely fundamental to who we are, how Father God reveals His Image.

What we need to learn and know is how to live healthily with these questions.

13 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 
How long must I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart day after day?
How long will my enemy exalt himself and triumph over me?

The importance of persistent prayer, how to live in the raising tension of being in a fallen world, full of pain, injustice, but having hope and trust in a good God.

3 
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Give light (life) to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 
And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.

These eternally complex, “unanswerable,” “unknowable” questions – because they are so deeply ingrained in our being, so crucial to us – have the potential to pull us into despair and away from God, or, if we have the courage to face them, can tell us a great deal about ourselves, about what life is about, and who God is.

Psalm 23 (Authorized King James Version)

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

The real question becomes, “what does God want to tell us by making us ask?”

5 
But I have trusted and relied on and been confident in Your lovingkindness and faithfulness;
My heart shall rejoice and delight in Your salvation.
6 
I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

But sometimes trusting and relying on God is easier said than done.

When your health is failing, your finances are taking a beating, or you lose someone you love, or your job or marriage is on the line, or something happens to your child, it’s not always easy to say, “But I trust in your unfailing love.”

When life becomes a valley, it can be a challenge to “sing the LORD’s praise.”

And yet the only way to live is by trusting the Lord through persistent Prayer.

You can’t always trust your health or your investments because they can fail you at any time. You can’t bank on your government because its power is quite firm, expansive. The only one we can really trust is the Lord. He never fails us.

It is only God’s grace that enables us to perpetually, persistently, perseveringly say, shout and sing: “I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us persistently, perpetually, perseveringly, Pray,

God, my Fortress, what a joy it is to have a friend in Jesus. Even when I am overcome by feelings of abandonment, prolonged silence, You are there with me. I know that I am never truly alone. Fill me with Your love and direct me in the way I am to love all neighbors. Change my priorities away from needing approval from other people to instead having comfort in knowing that I am accepted by You. Thank You, Father. Thank You Jesus and Holy Spirit. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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What if I Really allowed God to Love Me? Developing A Great and Intimate Relationship with God, The Father.

Forgetting God’s Love. Ignoring God’s Love. Believing that God only sometimes loves us because we only sometimes love ourselves. Sometimes we will believe because of all that is happening around us, an overwhelming negativity has too much influence and directional control over our existence, and God does not, is not immediately stepping in or we believe we are being unreasonably punished by an inconsiderate, uncaring, totally lacking in empathy God, our anger arises! Our hearts are hurting more than we can know, we want God now, we love God still, but His unknowability, His invisibility, assures us our relationship is done.

I pray to God, my Father, I guess it is alright if you do not love me right now. I suppose you have your reasons and I believe your reasons to be 100% righteous and purposeful and true. I guess I will just have to figure out for myself, how I can get back into Your Book of Life again. but please know, “I Love You, Yet!”

Psalm 13Authorized (King James) Version

Psalm 13

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

1 How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever?
how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
having sorrow in my heart daily?
how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God:
lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him;
and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
5 But I have trusted in thy mercy;
my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
6 I will sing unto the Lord,
because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Yesterday, we had considered the wisdom of God from 1 John 4:7-21 (NASB)

God Is Love

7 7 Beloved let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 By this the love of God was revealed [a]in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the [b] propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has [c]for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear [d]involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.

But that conversation lacks thoroughness without our also considering just the opposite. Because there are those among us who for their given circumstances spend a great deal of their time, energies and lifetimes believing the opposite is true. They possess an image of their God which is quite diametrically opposed to what the Apostle John wrote in our devotional text for today. They have their reasons which have been born of a crucible of time amidst life experiences that leave more room for doubt than room for acceptance. We 100% acknowledge this view of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is real to them and unto God.

Therefore, for the sake of God’s grace, in prayer for their souls, in our efforts at understanding their views, I give unto you these essential Questions to Ponder

1. Do you see man as a “tyrant”? Do you see God as a tyrant? If so, why?

2. Do you feel you cannot come or go to Him for everything? If so, why?

3. Are you fearing Him to the point of not talking to them, Him? If so, why?

4. Are you mad at God and or mankind for your life or current situation? If so, name and claim the situation.

5. Are you unhappy with how He created you? Are you unhappy that God created you (Psalm 138:13-18)? If so what is it you believe you don’t like about yourself?

6. Do you see God as your Earthly father or as your Heavenly Father? If so, how?

7. Who do you believe to be in more control of your life right now? Yourself, Mankind or God? Why do you believe this to be true? How might it be false?

We are in this mess called Pandemic where it seems everything under the sun is being controlled by someone other than ourselves – air travel. mask mandates, social gatherings, being in and among crowds in a shopping mall or in markets. New Year’s Eve is but a few days away and we are human, and we love to PARTY! Do we trust the person sitting next to us or near to us in our favorite restaurant?

Regulation after regulation is coming from well-meaning people to protect life. Perhaps it is the sum total of everything about your and my life which are right now converging into this moment, into this season. Perhaps we are simply tired of it all, quite overwhelmed, spiritually exhausted. Perhaps these feelings which have been represses, suppressed by our belief in Father, Son and Holy Spirit are being rigorously and vigorously challenged as the Patriarch Job found himself. Maybe the Lord of all Creation, this sovereign God who is all about “first love.” is inserting Himself once again directly into the affairs and works of mankind?

His Question becomes even for faithful in Jesus Christ – Okay, where are You? “I see you are getting distracted again like my faithful, faith-filled servant Job was by all of the blessings I gave to him over his many years of devotion. Job needed a “reality check” and I saw zero reason why I should not learn for myself where my servant Job’s life was zeroed in on – his abundance or MY abundance alone.” “I had to have an answer directly and decisively from the soul of Job himself!”

So, as many or as few as may find themselves righteously questioning the very presence and sovereignty of God, the value of His scriptures, His promises from His scriptures, the genuine trueness of His “FIRST LOVE,” ask of yourselves the questions which would otherwise go unasked if pandemic were non-existent. It is a good time and a proper season to question exactly where God is, His Son is, where His Holy Spirit is. Take the other side of the belief question for a while.

From the position of those who question God’s FIRST love, dare to ask yourself this day; What about God’s FIRST LOVE is losing its luster for me, for my family and for my friends and for my neighbors and my community and my church? I am asking you to prayerfully take the time to reconsider “church” in your soul. How is it we can reach unbelievers to be 2022 Acts 2, Acts 3 and Acts 4 church? How is it we can overcome our own doubts to reach into our neighbor’s doubts?

God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit really want to know if we ourselves truly know what the plan is for the continuance of God’s kingdom. To reach the unreachable. To teach the unteachable, Preach to the unreceptive. The year of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 2022 is a critically pivotal season. What confidence do we have to put on full display, to witness, our Testimony? What about a prospect of developing a “pandemic free” intimate relationship?

What if we 100% really, genuinely allowed God to get that close to us and His Children again? What if we genuinely gave God, Jesus, Holy Spirit permission, unconditionally reveal, unconditionally unleash His FIRST LOVE to us again?

How would our pandemic conditioned responses, respond to such a revelation?

HMM …

I SHALL NOW LEAVE YOU IN GOD’S MOST CAPABLE HANDS TO PONDER THIS!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us now pray the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray,

Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, The power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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