Psalm 30:2-5 - O LORD
my God, I cried out to you for help, and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave, O LORD. You
kept me from falling into the pit of death. Sing to the LORD, all you godly ones! Praise
his holy name. His anger lasts for a
moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may go on all night, but joy
comes with the morning.
David understood the full power of God’s anger. He lost a precious son once…because he had
conceived him in great sin. His whole town was besieged by a horrible plague
once…because one of the men he had chosen to help move the ark tried to touch
it. But David tells us here that God’s discipline does not last our whole
lifetime….he restores our joy….even reestablishes us with his grace and mercy
to be stronger and more successful than we were before.
David tells us here to sing to him…give thanks to him…to cry
at night when we need too…but get up the next morning and feel the sweet joy of
restoration fill our hearts with the power to go on and find new purpose for
the pain we suffered. God wants us to learn
from the discipline he allows in our life…that we need to change…be transformed
by the renewing of our minds….as Paul says in Romans 12:2.
It’s easy to praise God when we see him heal someone from a
fatal health condition…..cancer….heart conditions galore…aneurisms…or perhaps blood
clots. It’s harder to praise and thank
him when the prayers are answered with no healing…and death comes knocking at
the door of your loved one. We can’t see…we can’t feel…the joy they feel as
they stand in God’s presence. We only
fill the emptiness of the space they once occupied in our lives.
I know all great losses are not the result of some sin we harbored
in our lives….but the concept David is trying to teach is the same for all
sadness and mourning. David was
explaining to us why he changed his clothes and washed his face when he heard
of his son’s death in 2 Samuel 12. He
even went to the temple to praise God ….to begin anew walking in God’s purpose and
strength for the days to come. David is
telling us not to live in the past…to let it go…and start the next morning we
wake with a new purpose in our heart…so God can use the pain he helped us
endure to help others.
David’s right folks…I know first hand the pain of loss. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t
miss the gift God gave me for 4 short months.
Mitchell’s love restored the abandoned feeling that gripped my heart after
the divorce. He helped heal my broken heart and teach me what true love really
is. I have to thank God for our sweet 3 months of dating…and the wonderful
month of marriage he blessed me with before he called him home to heaven.
To be honest…God used his death to teach me some valuable
lessons about myself….how I needed to be more attached to God than a person in
my life. I began the blog because Mitchell once told me I needed to write. He
was basing that on some very cheesy e-mails we sent first thing when we got to
our different schools to teach ….but God used the memory of those words to tug
at my heart till I sat down for the first time to process what I had read in
his great Bible each night.
Oh father…how I thank you for the last 3 years of Bible reading
and writing. It has given me new purpose
and kept me from crying non-stop because I lost Mitchell. I have been blessed
so many times to hear that you are using the simple words you help me write
each day in countries around the world. I praise you …like David did…for helping
me to wash my face and find new purpose for my pain. I thank you for the short
time you gave me with Mitchell and how you used him to heal my broken heart. I
pray this morning that you help me keep the joy I feel in my heart forever….so
strong that satan can never trick me into being sad again. Amen.
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