Dull hearts

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Isaiah 5-8; Psalm 110

TO CHEW ON: “And He said, ‘Go and tell these people;
“Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.”’” Isaiah 6:9


Isaiah’s encounter with God brings an overwhelming sense of his own sinfulness. But after the angel purifies his lips with a live altar coal, he responds to God’s call for help with “Here am I! Send me.”

It is then he gets the bad news. The people God is sending him to have dulled understanding. They will see but not see. Hear but not hear. Their hearts are blunted toward God and will be unreceptive to Isaiah.

A footnote in my Bible says:

“The same message that softens a receptive heart also hardens an unreceptive heart. So in sending forth the message to a people known to be unreceptive, their condition is worsened” - Nathaniel M. Van Cleave, New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p.881.

In our society, which prides itself on skepticism toward claims of absolute truth, an unreceptive attitude toward the Gospel is common. Is there a chance some of that attitude has seeped into us and begun to calcify our own hearts?

The Bible speaks eloquently of the by-products of a dull, unbelieving heart.

1. Theological confusion and dithering - 2 Timothy 4:2-4; 3:7.

2. Moral confusion - Romans 1:28-32

3. Marriage breakdown - Matthew 19:8.

4. We become blind to the fact that sin’s attractiveness is a lie - Hebrews 3:13

5. Miracles don’t happen - Matthew 13:58

6. We become vulnerable to calamity - Proverbs 28:14

7. We become vulnerable to premature death - Proverbs 29:1

8. There are repercussions on how we spend eternity - Romans 2:5

I don't know about you - but I don't like these!

PRAYER: Dear God, please give me a sensitive, believing heart. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 110

MORE: Keith Green sings his prayer for a softened heart in “My Eyes Are Dry.”





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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

A united heart

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Samuel 28-31; Psalm 86

TO CHEW ON: "Teach me Your way, O Lord;
I will walk in Your truth;
Unite my heart to fear Your name." Psalm 86:11

In the world of words, prevailing wisdom says if you want to make it as a writer, stick to one thing. If you've had success with mysteries, for example, don't suddenly switch to writing historical romances and then over to contemporary suspense and, for a change, science fiction.

Why?  Because it confuses your readers and erodes their trust in you. Fans of your mysteries will be put off when they pick up your newest and find it's not another whodunit but a tale about life on Mars. What they wanted, and thought they were getting, when they saw your name on the cover was a puzzle, not a space fantasy.

David in our reading today asks for God's help with something similar in the realm of his life and affections when he prays: "Unite my heart to fear Your name." My Bible's notes suggest other ways of expressing "Unite my heart": "Give me singleness of heart" and "Do not let the heart have many allegiances or distractions" - Dick Iverson, study notes on Psalms, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 752. 

Why is a divided heart a bad thing? For one, it blunts the impact our lives will have because it confuses those who observe us. But even worse, it confuses us too (James 1:4-8).

It takes only a few minutes to come up with a list of things that could compete for the allegiance of our hearts: money, security, desire to be liked, success, popularity, personal appearance and image, pleasure, leisure…

How do we get to that place of having an undivided, undistracted, unified heart?

"Teach me Your ways," the psalmist begins his request here. Teach (yarah) means to instruct, direct, teach, point, shoot, aim, cast in a straight direction. One Bible word derived from Yarah is Torah which means instruction, teaching, as in the instruction Moses got from God written in the first books of the Bible (from "Word Wealth" by Dick Mills, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible p. 710).

I believe we can make the leap and conclude that spending time in God's word (for us the Old and New Testaments) will also teach us what it means to have an undivided heart.

I love how Leslyn Musch sums up this thought in her Truth-In-Action Through Psalms: "God desires for our hearts to be undivided, fully devoted to Him, daily choosing Him above all else in all decisions of our lives" - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 755 (emphasis added)

 
PRAYER: Dear God, as I read the Bible, please help me to understand how its teachings apply to me. Help me to choose to put You first in every aspect of my life. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 86

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Breaking the bondage of confusion

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Isaiah 61:1-11

TO CHEW ON: “… And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.” Isaiah 61:7

Today, as I read amazing Isaiah 61, verse 7 jumps out at me:

“Instead of your shame, you shall have double honor,
And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.
Therefore in their land they shall possess double;
Everlasting joy shall be theirs.”

I’d like to focus especially on one snippet of verse 7: “And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.”

Isaiah wrote this (entire chapter) to a nation that would spend many years in exile. This prophecy in the immediate spoke to them of a time they would again live in their own land.

A few word definitions:

“‘Shame’ and ‘dishonor’ describe the experience of the Babylonian exile of the sixth century” - Reformation Study Bible (accessed through Biblegateway.com).

“Confusion” (kalimmah) is also translated humilation, disgrace, reproach, shame, dishonor, insult, ignominy.

“Portion” (cheleq) means one’s share, part, territory, one’s possession.

To the exile, this prophecy spoke of a time when they would come out of the confusion or “humiliation” (NAS) of being exiled outsiders to again owning and rejoicing in their own “portion” or possession of land.

One of the reasons this verse speaks to me at this time is that in our western society, one of our most precious possessions, our gender norms and sexual identity, are under attack. New theories that claim our birth sex means nothing and that we can decide whether we are wishing to identify as male or female on any given day, are being instituted and upheld in society at large. Of special concern to me is that these new theories are now mandated instruction and practice in the schools—whether religious or secular.

This is leading to the need for new pronouns in our dictionary to address those who feel they are neither a “he” nor a “she,” genderless bathrooms, changes on official forms to accommodate those who don’t want to be identified with their biological sex—in other words, a whole lot of confusion.

This is especially troublesome for children who are now to be taught this new fluid sexual identity theory as truth. Who, if they question their birth sex as defining their gender identity are being encouraged to experiment with living as the other sex and in some cases given puberty blocking medications* (drugs that may make them sterile).

As a Christian who lives by the principles of the Bible, I see this gender identity confusion as only one more evidence of the “Has God indeed said...?” rebellion first sown in the human heart way back in Eden (Genesis 3:1). For God has indeed said “…male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27) and has made His position on sexual relations between genders and gender identity clear in passages like Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:27 and Deuteronomy 22:5.

Male and female is how He made us. This is not some cruel edict from a stern, unfeeling deity. It’s wisdom. It’s love. Living as a male or female, according to our physical biology is how we work best. We’re only asking for trouble when we defy the way we were wisely and lovingly created (see Romans 1:24-27).

So Isaiah 61:7 gives us the hopeful assurance that Jesus (who declared this passage was speaking of Him as the One who can bring liberty to the captives - Isaiah 61:1 compare Luke 4:17-21) can also set free from from this. Instead of the bondage of confusion over whether we, our children, and grandchildren are and should identify as the gender we were born, we can rejoice in our portion (our possession of a sure male or female identity).

Let’s pray this for and over ourselves, our children, and grandchildren in these days, as we are forced to navigate this tsunami of lies and confusion.

PRAYER: Dear Father, I pray for the children of this generation. Deliver them from confusion. Help them to recognize this theory as the lie that it is. Please help us as those who believe You created us wisely and well to know how to express Your loving intentions toward all people. Amen.

MORE:

*Additional reading about puberty suppression from The New Atlantis:
Growing Pains: Problems with Puberty Suppression in Treating Gender Dysphoria


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

When love doesn't make sense

Mary anoints Jesus' feet - Alexandre Bida

'It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil 

and wiped His feet with her hair 

whose brother Lazarus was sick" - John 11:2

TODAY’S SPECIAL: John 11:1-19

TO CHEW ON: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’” John 11:5-7


“Tough love” is a common English expression. The Urban Dictionary defines it as “Another version of ‘being cruel to be kind.’ To show somebody some tough love today will save them heartache in the future but may cause a small amount of upset for the receiver immediately after ‘tough love’ has been dispensed.”

Tough love is what I would call Jesus staying “… beyond the Jordan” (John 10:40) for a full two days after hearing from Martha and Mary that their brother and His close friend Lazarus was sick in Bethany. His love and His delay are connected in our reading with the word “So.” However, His delay and his love don’t seem to fit together, do they?

Even before the incident played out, Jesus named for His disciples two reasons for His hanging back:
1] “'that the Son of God may be glorified through it'” - John 11:4.

2] “'that you may believe'” - John 11:15.

God’s glory and a reason to believe weren’t apparent in those first hours. Our today’s reading leaves us in the middle of the story with Martha, Mary, and crowd of friends and neighbors mourning Lazarus, who had actually died (John 11:19).

I take three thoughts about God’s tough love from this part of the story:

1. God’s tough love impacts more than just those involved in the incident.
Though Jesus stayed away because He loved these particular people, what was about to happen would impact a far larger group of people. God would be glorified for all (Martha and Mary, the disciples, all the bystanders and those who heard their report) to see.

2. God’s tough love invites a personal reaction.
Jesus told the disciples this incident would help them believe in Him (John 11:15). But belief wasn’t always the result of observing His miracles. A few days ago we read the story of Jesus healing the blind man and watched as the Pharisees looked under every stone for a reason not to believe in Him (John 9). We too have a choice. Will we view His actions toward us through a lens of belief or unbelief?

3. In the middle of the story, God’s tough love may be confusing.
If we read a few verses beyond today’s passage, we can hear the disappointment, almost blame in Martha’s words: “‘Lord, if You had been here my brother would not have died’” - John 11:21. In fact, I would go so far as to say that for us, we may never, in this life, understand all the times and ways that the seemingly unfortunate incidents in our lives have been God hugging us with some tough love.


PRAYER: Dear Father, help me to trust your love and ultimate good purposes for me even when life seems to be going all wrong. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Wisdom that leads to confusion

Image: Pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: James 3:13-4:10

TO CHEW ON: "But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above but is earthily, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there." James 3:14-16


James calling "bitter envy and self-seeking" wisdom snags my attention. Of course we catch his undertone of sarcasm, for envy and self-seeking aren't wisdom at all—or are they?

It's certain that they're not godly wisdom. A sidebar article in my Bible underlines the source of such wisdom:

"This text notes both envy and strife—their source and the impact they can make. Ultimately the "devilish" source of both indicates satanic enterprise finding human cooperation" Billy Joe Daugherty, "Avoiding Strife," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible p. 1755.

One result of the wisdom of envy and self-seeking is "confusion."

[The Greek word transliterated confusion is akatastasia. It means instability, a state of disorder, disturbance, confusion.]

That word is used four other places in the New Testament.

• In Luke 21:9 it is rendered "commotions" and describes the riled up condition of the world before "the end."

• In 1 Corinthians 14:33 where Paul says, "for God is not the author of confusion but of peace…" it's after an appeal to the Corinthians to give way to each other during church ministry and not seek the limelight for themselves.

• In 2 Corinthians 6:5 Paul use of akatastasia is transliterated "tumults" in the list of things he has endured as a Christian.

• And in 2 Corinthians 12:20 it figures as "disturbances"—along with "strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance"—in the list of things Paul fears he will find when he visits the church in Corinth.

It's easy to see why envy and self-seeking cause confusion. For if we're all seeking to stroke our own egos, the goals of the group are fractured in as many pieces as there are members. But if the purpose of each is to honor and glorify Jesus and advance His kingdom with no concern about who gets the credit, unity and cooperation will result.

The trouble is, this wisdom of envy and self-seeking is not only ingrained in our society but it seems to be stamped on our very psyches. It's part of our human nature. That's why the end of our reading is important. James, after tracing the dead-end path of this demonic wisdom, even into prayer and pseudo-devotion (James 4:1-4) gives the prescription for our envious, selfish tendencies (James 4:8-10):

1. Seek God: "Draw near to God."
2. Confess: "Cleanse … hands, purify … hearts… lament, mourn, and weep"
3. Humble yourself: "Humble yourselves in the sight of God."

PRAYER: Dear Father, I have been guilty of envy and self-seeking. Help me to take a dose of Your medicine every time I find myself defaulting to this demonic wisdom that always leads to confusion. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The potent tongue

Image: Pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: James 2:18-3:12

TO CHEW ON: "For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body." James 3:2

In our reading, James uses some picturesque speech to illustrate the potency of the tongue. He likens the tongue to:

- A bit - that small piece of metal put in a horse's mouth. Attached to reins it is the bit that makes it possible to turn a horse to go in one direction or another - James 3:3.

- A ship's rudder - that movable appendage at the bottom of a ship that steers its course in the water - James 3:4.

- A hellish fire that "sets on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire by hell" - James 3:6.

- A confused spring that sends out "fresh water and bitter from the same opening" - James 3:11.

- An impossible tree that yields both figs and olives - James 3:12.

I don't know about you, but I have tongue problems. I'm not the perfect (wo)man who doesn't stumble in word.

How to do better? Here are some scriptural pointers:

• Speak less, with more thought, suppress passion, "bridle" the tongue and thus control the whole body - Proverbs 17:27; and our focus verse - James 3:2.

• Speak simply and truthfully - Matthew 5:37.

• Speak with grace having the "salt" of the gospel in mind - Colossians 4:6; Ecclesiastes 10:12.

• Pattern our speech on Jesus—His love and our faith in Him - 2 Timothy 1:13.

• Speak encouragement and inspiration - Ecclesiastes 12:11.

• Speak words of comfort - Isaiah 50:4.

• Guard our mouths from speech that corrupts (curses, dirty jokes, lying etc.) - Ephesians 4:29.

I'm sure this will continue to be a lifelong project!

PRAYER: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD" - PSALM 19:14.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The horror of darkness

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 15:1-21

TO CHEW ON: "Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold horror and great darkness fell upon him.
Then He said to Abram: Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years." Genesis 15:12,13

Have you ever had a dream from which you awoke with pounding heart, in a sweat of fear, about to scream? Abram's dream of darkness here may have been of that type. It seems the horror and darkness he felt were connected to the content of the dream itself—a prophecy of Israel's years in Egypt.

Remind you of anything? What about the ninth plague where God told Moses He would send "...darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt" and it came about - Exodus 10:21-22.

Such supernatural darkness came on the earth another time too—in the middle of the day of Jesus' crucifixion: "Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over the land" - Matthew 24:45.

Darkness is mentioned a lot in Scripture.

• It is figurative of punishment.

* Israel was threatened with darkness for ignoring the prophets - Micah 3:6.
* Jesus said the faithless Jews of His day would be "cast into outer darkness" - Matthew 8:12.
* Peter talks of a place of punishment that is made of "...the blackness of darkness forever" - 2 Peter 2:17.

• It often describes the actions and lifestyle of the spiritually lost and confused - Matthew 6:23.

• But God's light dispels it - John 1:5.

• Though our natural inclination is to prefer darkness... - John 3:19.

• ... it is something we can choose to come out of - Romans 13:12; Ephesians 5:8

• and live in light - 1 Thessalonians 5:4,5.

If there is anything that ties all of these thoughts together, it is the idea that darkness is a picture of life without God. No wonder God was so hurt and disappointed when the Israelites, en-route to Canaan, repeatedly wanted to turn around and return to Egypt. Unfortunately, all too often they are a picture of us, wanting to go back to the old ways of darkness, not realizing that that place is, finally, a place of total horror and godforsakeness.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for dispelling the darkness of our spiritual condition and destiny by sending Jesus. Help me to resist the lure of darkness whenever it tempts me. Amen.

MORE: The world's light

"Then Jesus spoke to them again saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life" John 8:12.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Weeping in the dark

"Rabboni!"  - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 20:1-18

TO CHEW ON: " ' They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him. … they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him. … Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him and I will take Him away.' " John 20:2,13,15

Mary's shock, perplexity, and desperation soak these verses. Though John's telling has her coming to the tomb alone, Mark's account includes Mary the Mother of James and Salome in this pre-dawn trek. They come with spices to anoint His body.

But the stone is rolled aside and His body gone!

I can imagine Mary's outrage as she breaks the news to Peter and John. She alone returns to the tomb with them. After they've checked the empty tomb for themselves and return home, she stays behind weeping.

But surely there must be some mistake. On looking into the burial place again she sees two angels (do you think she realized these were angels at the time?). One asks "Woman, why are you weeping?" She answers, "Because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him."

Her interchange with the 'gardener' follows the same lines. She remains grief-absorbed until His "Mary" opens her eyes.

Mary's experience here reminds me of what we often go through in our times of desperation before Jesus shows up in one way or another. He could have saved Mary all those tears if He'd showed Himself to her and the others when they first arrived. But He didn't.

In Mary's life and often in ours, that seems to be His way. He comes in His own sweet time, after leaving us to weep in the dark for a while.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, whether my time of puzzlement is short or long, please help me to never lose faith in You and Your good plans for me. Amen.

MORE: Feast of Mary Magdalene

Today the church liturgy celebrates the Feast of Mary Magdalene. The day's readings opens with this collect (the healing referred to in the prayer refers to her being set free from demon possession - Luke 8:2) :

Almighty God, whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene to health of body and of mind, and called her to be a witness of his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by your grace we may be healed from all our infirmities and know you in the power of his unending life; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Lessons from confusion

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 11:1-9

TO CHEW ON: "'Come, let us go down and confuse their language that they may not understand one another's speech.' So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city." Genesis 11:7,8

This story of Babel and the confusion of languages is only the first time in the Bible God uses confusion to achieve His purposes. Join me on a short trip through scripture to track some of the other times confusion is mentioned (I used an NASB concordance so the actual words 'confuse, confused, and confusion occur in that translation, but maybe not in others).

God often used confusion to defeat Israel's enemies

• The Egyptians became confused by the rising Red Sea when they followed the Israelites into the desert to take them back into slavery - Exodus 14:24.

• God promised to bring confusion on the people of Canaan and thus make them an easy prey for the Israelites when they were to conquer -  Exodus 23:27;  Deuteronomy 7:23.

• The presence of the Ark of the Covenant often brought confusion among enemy ranks especially the Philistines - 1 Samuel 5:9,11; 14:20.

• David prays for this type of confusion on his enemies - Psalm 55:9; 144:6.

However, God also warned the Israelites that if they forsook His laws and disobeyed, they too would be vulnerable to confusion:  "… the Lord will send upon you curses and confusion, and rebuke in all you undertake to do until you are destroyed." - Deuteronomy 28:20, also, Isaiah 22:5; 59:4.

Confusion sometimes comes as a result of bad leaders - Isaiah 3:12; 9:16, Esther 3:15.

Being under the influence of wine can cause confusion - Isaiah 28:7.

In the New Testament Paul's aggressive evangelism sometimes resulted in the confusion of his offended listeners—even riots. But in almost every case he turned the riot into an opportunity to preach - Acts 16:20; 19:29,32; 21:31, 22:1-22.

Finally, Paul reminds us that God is not the God of confusion, but the God of peace - 1 Corinthians 14:33

How can we apply this study of confusion to our lives? I can think of three ways:

1. We need to avoid things that will cause us to become confused like living in sin and disobedience, and being mastered by substances, e.g. wine, drugs etc. God's peace in our hearts can be an umpire and guard - Philippians 4:7. 

2. We should pray for clear-sightedness for our rulers as they often determine the tone of the city, region and country under them.

3. God's presence (e.g. the Ark in the Old Testament, Paul's witness in the New) brought about confusion in enemy ranks—something God used and can use  to prove He is real, and  to defeat Satan. We can ask for wisdom about how to use such confusion to spread the gospel message of peace.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for being a God of peace and order. Help me to be alert to confusion in my life as a symptom that things aren't right. May I be open to Your insights as to how to make them right. Amen.

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Job's lament

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Job 24:1-17

TO CHEW ON: "Since times are not hidden from the Almighty,
Why do those who know Him not see His days?" - Job 24:1

In this dark chapter Job asks questions that he probably never had when he was healthy and flourishing. His experience has made him sensitive to evil and the general suffering around him in a way he never was when his life was going smoothly.

- He asks why God tolerates the bullying of the wicked (Job 24:2).
- He names ways they oppress the poor and helpless:

• They take advantage of widows and the needy (Job 24:3-4, 9-10).

• They force the hard-working and deserving to live on gleanings, without clothing in harsh rain and mountains (Job 24:6-8).

• They murder and steal and get away with it (Job 24:13-17).

In fact to Job there is no observable difference in the fates of the evil and the good person (Job 24:22-24).

This is a pretty depressing read. Are there any redeeming features at all in Job's lament? Song writer and worship leader Brian Doerksen would say there are. In an article titled "Why laments are healthy" he says:

"I know in times of tragedy and crisis, it’s especially important that we express what’s going on in our hearts. To try and deny what we are feeling is the route that many modern believers have taken; maybe without realizing it strays from the biblical pattern laid out for us in the psalms and in the life of Jesus. In fact denial is one of the main ways that the world deals with loss and grief.

"There’s another ‘d’ word that describes the way the world deals with loss – distraction! Between denial and distraction you pretty much have the world’s way of coping with loss, disappointment and grief summed up. (The entertainment and travel industries are built on coping through escaping) But we are not called to take our cues from the world. We are saved and freed to live the life that Jesus showed us to live . . . and one of the many things I love about Jesus is that he was completely free to feel"

He sums up:

 "Worship is not always about bringing God our best and brightest. Sometimes it’s about bringing God our pain and grief. Sometimes it’s coming just the way we are!

"God wants to give us more than permission to feel – he wants to step into the middle of our feelings and be present with us; even in our suffering . . . even in the middle of our emotions. So let the tears flow . . . let the laments be sung . . . " Brian Doerksen, "Permission to feel; Why laments are healthy" - Read entire  (.pdf file, ellipses are in the original and do not indicate words left out; emphasis added).

PRAYER: Dear God thank You for being big enough to hear my complaints and negative feelings. Help me to be honest rather than in denial. Please help me to invite you into my times of pain and confusion and find comfort in Your presence. Amen.

MORE: How Long O Lord - Brian Doerksen

Brian Doerksen set the words of Psalm 13 to music, reviving an ancient lament.