Yesterday some kids from the Baptist Children’s home came to Honey Lake and Kenny Munds sang some songs and played his guitar for them and I tried to encourage them with my testimony.
I was told that they were approximately 15 to 17 years of age, but they appeared to be much older. I was struck by their countenance, because they seemed sad, and not a single one of them was smiling, nor would they look me in the eye, (a sure sign of low self-esteem). A counselor shared that they had been abused and in effect been thrown away by their parents.
Lately I’ve been depressed and looking at these poor little kids didn’t help; it just breaks my heart to see them suffer. In the last several days I went into a half dozen prison yards to minister to the inmates and they also seemed so sad and hopeless (including the guards). As I look at my desk this very moment it is cluttered with letters from people suffering from drug addiction, being incarcerated, or living through the hell of divorce, and my e-mail box is full of more of the same.
And then there is the enormity of trying to do something positive to reverse the downward spiraling society in which we live by attempting to obey God’s call to unify 100 million Christians in an attempt to change our culture by renewing our faith in God in this country and around the world.
I feel old, tired, overwhelmed, understaffed, vastly underfinanced, and woefully inadequate for such a huge undertaking.
Sigh . . .
I have suffered through various levels of depression at different times through most of my life. I’ve found that there is an upside to depression in that it draws me closer to God. At times like this I feel far away from God and catch myself wondering where He went and why He left me all alone. That is when I earnestly seek Him in prayer.
As I pondered this situation this morning and prayed for Him to help me out a little, I remembered one of my friends quoting this verse in Bible study a couple of weeks ago: Zeph. 3:17 – “The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
As I examined this verse and prayed upon it this morning I was struck by the fact that it begins with “The Lord your God is in your midst” . . . I knew that God is always with me from reading and studying the Bible for 42 years, but it was comforting to hear it again this morning.
This one verse goes on to say:
The MIGHTY One will save me;
Rejoice over me with gladness;
Quiet me with His love;
Rejoice over me with singing
Notice that God emphasized rejoice twice in this verse. Why the emphasis on this word? Rejoice is synonymous with: celebrate, cheer, exult, delight, express joy, and be pleased about. God rejoices in me????
Yes me! The verse states that He will “Rejoice over you with gladness”. (Gladness is synonymous with happiness, joy, cheerfulness, delight, and pleasure.)
Then it states that God Himself will rejoice with singing!
Man oh man wouldn’t you love to hear God singing?
So why did I feel so alone?
Because I wasn’t listening to God, I was listening to my adversary Lucifer. God told me that the weight of the world does not belong on my shoulders and I should quit carping about it. He is the MIGHTY ONE and is in total control. He takes the burden of the weight of the world and goes on to say that His love will quiet me.
Hmmm . . . I feel His love right now. How about you?
I took my little dog outside a minute ago and suddenly I heard God singing. He sounded just like a whippoorwill at first and then a mourning dove, and then he hit some low notes like a symphony of frogs and then he softly sang like a mocking bird. The entire forest at Honey Lake was waking up and I could envision him standing there smiling at me and waving as He walked along singing His song of joy to me.
He loves me and I love Him . . .
And, yes I feel better now.
Isaiah 62:5
As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
June 4, 2014 – Click here to listen