It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
I'm still working/reflecting on Part II of the Buffalo River saga, but since I'm about to go show my car to a potential buyer, I wanted to leave you with an encouraging word from Jeremiah. I read the book of Lamentations this morning, and this passage stuck out. Enjoy. I'll have Part II up tomorrow. Send prayers/good vibes/thoughts/whichever it is you do my way re: the batmobile!
Lamentations 3:19-36
The Message
I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there's one other thing I remember,and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left.
God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks.
It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God.
It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times.
When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear. Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst.
Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return. If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
His stockpiles of loyal love are immense. He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way:
Stomping down hard on luckless prisoners, Refusing justice to victims in the court of High God, Tampering with evidence—
the Master does not approve of such things.
The Bottom of Everything
About a month or so ago, I started doing this “bible reading plan.” I heard about it from a pastor in Seattle (@raincitypastor.) I really like his writing and respect his wisdom, so I decided to give a try.
It’s actually a pretty cool deal. Every day, this website sends you links to the chapters you are supposed to read for the day. They even let you pick the translation you want – I’ve been reading The Message lately.
There’ve been some days where I get behind and have to do make-up reading. But for the most part I’ve been keeping up, and really enjoying it. Reading the Bible isn’t always something that I want to do, but lately my heart’s been in it, and I’m thankful for that.
I recently finished Ecclesiastes. I forgot how wild that book is. Solomon is forthright and forward. He’s frustrated and fed up. But he also is learning to find balance. Two of my favorite parts are from chapter 7 - verses 14 and 18.
“On a good day, enjoy yourself; on a bad day, examine your conscience. God arranges for both kinds of days, so that we won't take anything for granted.”
And – “It’s best to stay in touch with both sides of an issue. A person who fears God deals responsibly with all of reality, not just a piece of it.”
He says it’s best. Not, it’s easiest, or most convenient, or most popular, but best.
But then, next chapter over, verses 16 and 17, he admits how tough it is to deal responsibly with all of reality.
“When I determined to load up on wisdom and examine everything taking place on earth, I realized that if you keep your eyes open day and night without even blinking, you'll still never figure out the meaning of what God is doing on this earth. Search as hard as you like, you're not going to make sense of it. No matter how smart you are, you won't get to the bottom of it.”
When I was in highschool, I used to sit in class and write things like, “Everything is everything and nothing is nothing and I love/hate all of it.” I used to try and come up with these all-encompassing statements to try and get to the bottom of things. Instead of approaching paradoxes with open arms, I put up my fists and said, “Let’s go.”
There’s a reason I call this site Paradox Point, and that’s because I think we all get to a place where we make a decision to either embrace mystery, paradox, and tension, or to reject those things, and spend our entire lives wrestling with them.
Solomon said that we won’t get to the bottom of it. Now that I’ve stepped out and made a lot of mistakes, I think He was on to something. So I’m doing my best to see both sides of an issue, stay even-tempered, fear God, and take on all of reality, every day.
I'll leave you with the first track off "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning."
Recent Posts
- How the Buffalo River Taught Me to Tithe: Part 2
- It’s a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
- How the Buffalo River Taught Me to Tithe: Part 1
- The Trip of a Life
- Pah-tay-toe, Pah-tah-toh