I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you...
This morning I attended the burial of my Great Aunt, Irene. She would have been 91 years old this Friday and was surrounded by her family as she crossed from this temporary difficult life into eternity--where the real fun begins! Here's a little shout out to Irene because in 1995, at the apex of grief as her daughter was dying of lung cancer, she and her daughter both said a little, "Forgive us of our sins and remember us," prayer to Jesus. The reunion she is enjoying with her daughter and Jesus as we speak is so very very real to me that it penetrates all the way to my bones and puts everything else in perspective. Amen!
Going back to the verse, we know we need to have an eye-opening understanding of God. I can tell you that as Irene was day in/ day out by her daughter's side, the one thing she asked me over and again was how God could allow for a 44 year old non-smoker to get lung cancer?
And surprise, what could I possibly answer given that my fit-as-a-fiddle 47 year old mom died of cancer a couple of years earlier?
I can tell you right now that there is no way we are going to have all the answers this side of heaven. And I have often wondered if there is an answer that would have somehow satisfied me and made it all better. Besides, God does not call us to know why; He calls us to hope.
H-O-P-E!!!
What a glorious word. Purpose right now in your heart that you will never let disappointment stand in the way of hope. Can the two exist together? Read Lamentations chapter 3. You might be shocked at how angry Jeremiah was at God.
The first 20 verses say things like, "God has broken my bones," "God has made me walk in darkness," God has turned against me," "When I call out for help He shuts out my prayer," " Like a lion in hiding, He dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help...."
Those are strong words. Portraying God as an animal just waiting to pounce and ruin our lives is a serious accusation. But midway through the chapter starting at verse 21, after Jeremiah had thoroughly vented, he says, "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope..."
What is the "this?"
- His compassions never fail.They are new every morning.
- The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him.
- For no one is cast off by the Lord forever.
- He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love.
- You came near when I called You, and you said, “Do not fear.”
- You, Lord, took up my case; You redeemed my life.
So as we start to scratch the surface of what is the hope God is talking about let's keep two things in mind:
(1) You can be brutally honest with God about every single thing that has gone wrong with your life and even tell Him that He has, "trampled you in the dust," and He won't strike you dead.
AND
(2) When we set out to understand, even if it's by complaining to God, He will accept your honesty and eventually take you to your own verse 21.
It's a mystery, but it's a reality.
Irene's need to understand "why" took a back seat to her greatest need to understand "Who." Her questions gave way to the only thing that really matters--an assurance that Heaven is for real and that her baby girl would be there waiting.
PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You that no matter what heartache, loss, disappointment, pain, or grief we experience, Your compassions never fail. Open the eyes of our heart until we all have a clear understanding of the hope that You have called us to. In Jesus' name, AMEN~
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