Glory in This

Have you ever wondered why God included stories & examples of doubt, despair, judgment, & betrayal in the Scriptures? Why are the books of Jeremiah & Lamentations included in the cannon? Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet--can I really be encouraged as he pronounces judgment on God's people?

Yes.
{Doubting? Check out Hebrews 4:12--God's Word pierces our hearts because He knows our deepest thoughts and desires.}

As my youth leader has taught the teens about God's message of judgment to His people through Jeremiah, I have been challenged. Am I right with God or am I living a pharisaical, rebellious life? That's a tough question to swallow. In Jeremiah 9, God shares His desire to purify His people. Unfortunately, this purification can only come through righteous judgment. The chapter is filled with a rather depressing account of the judgment that will come to Judah. How can this passage be encouraging? Jeremiah talks of the destruction of Jerusalem, the wailing of the people, & the impending death. How can even we modern Christians glory in this?

We can't. But we can glory in the truth found in Jeremiah 9:23-24:

"Thus saith the Lord, Let no the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth & knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, & righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord."

I am no better than the Israelites to whom Jeremiah pronounced judgment. I have repetedly failed, openly rebelled against, & turned away from my God. I do not need to ask if God is just in His judgment of the unfaithful & rebellious. He is a holy, righteous, perfect God. Not only does He have the right to judge me in my sin, He must  judge me or He is not God. If I, like the Israelites, glory in my own wisdom, strength, or riches, I am a fool and deserve to be judged. The only thing I can glory in is this: my knowledge of & relationship with the God of the universe.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 blew me away. I can glory in my relationship with God. Can you?

Why Worry?

Sometimes "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine" (Proverbs 17:22) just doesn't cut it, right? I know it's not easy to trust God when the bills come. Or when family members are sick. Or when your dreams never seem to come true. Or when your enemies triumph over you. What do you do with worry then? I mean, this is worry's breeding ground.

As I thought about this cancerous characteristic in my life this weekend, I realized that the answer to worry is WORRY.

WAIT on the Lord.
Worry manifests itself the most in the moments when I refuse to be patient (another dominant struggle of mine). Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, & He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." Twice I am commanded to wait on the Lord. Why? So He can strengthen my heart in Him. Still not conviced? Check out Isaiah 40:31 & Psalm 40:1. God is listening to your worries, be sure you are willing to wait on Him.

OMIT insecurities.
In order to truly strengthen my faith in Christ, I must omit the insecurities in my life by admitting them to Christ. I cannot move forward if I am looking back. For me, omitting insecurities means recognizing that I can accomplish nothing outside of Christ. 1 Peter 5:7 encourages believers to "[Cast] all your care upon Him; for He cares for you." Do you realize that cast off means to fling or throw away. When you & I cast our cares on Christ, we're not setting them casually to the side where we can reach them again; no! we are flinging them away with such force that recollecting them would be impossible. Am I really casting all my cares on the One who cares for me?

RELY on the Lord.
Two summers ago I worked at my church's summer camp as a youth counselor. Each week I led my cabin of 4-8 girls into the woods to complete an obsticle course while learning about teamwork. Most of the activities were completed with ease, but there was one activity nearly every cabin tried to avoid: Faith Fall. Not a tremendously terrifying looking activity. Just a wooden platform nailed to a tree about 6 feet in the air. The goal: one girl stands on the platform & falls backwards off the plank into the loving arms of her cabinmates. No big deal, right? Wrong. Trust is such an easy word to say but a hard action to carry out. I mean, what if they drop me? When I worry, I am telling God, "Hey, thanks for dying for my sins, but I really don't believe that You're going to catch me when I fall." How stupid is that?! Psalm 37:3-5 tells me to "Trust in the Lord, & do good; . . . Commit thy way until the Lord; trust also in Him; & He shall bring it to pass." Fall into the arms of Christ--lean all your weight on Him--He will catch you. [Other verses I love that remind me to rely on the Lord are Proverbs 3:5-6; Psalm 27:13-14.]

REJOICE in the Lord.
Psalm 42:5 asks, "Why are thou cast down, O my soul? & why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God:" Everytime I find myself enslaved to the cancerous characteristic of worry I reprimand myself--why am I worried when my hope rests in the Lord? Remember, worry is the absence of trust. Worry is choosing to complain about the situation God has chosen to lead you through. In Philippians 4:4, Paul admonishes believers to "Rejoice in the Lord always: & again I say, Rejoice!" I am commanded to rejoice in the Lord always. No exceptions. [God has a plan for your life: rejoice in it! Jeremiah 29:11; Psalm 118:24)

YEARN after the Lord & His will.
When I shared this with my junior high girls' Sunday School class, I received puzzled looks: "What is yearn, Miss Lawson?" I didn't realize I had chosen such an ancient word! To yearn after something is to have an earnest or strong desire for something; to be moved or attracted toward something. To yearn after Christ means to be consumed with a crazy love for the Savior of your soul! Psalm 27:8 says, "When You said, 'Seek My face"; my hear said back to You, 'Your face, Lord, will I seek.'"

Worry is a deblitating cancer, but there is a cure! Wait on the Lord. Omit your insecurities by admitting your weakness. Rely on the Lord with all your strength. Rejoice in Him always. Yearn desperately for His soul. Next time you're worried, let WORRY return you to your joy.

a cancerous characteristic

Do you have any cancerous characteristics in your life? A habit or attitude that starts out small but rapidly multiplies until it holds nearly every aspect of your life in its iron-like clutches? For some, the cancerous characteristic in their life is an immoral relationship, others are consumed by fashion, finances, and fame. Me? Well, my heart has fallen pray to the cancer of worry.

I have always been a worrier. My imagination ran wild fretting of the what ifs that came into my life. What if one of my parents died? What if I can't go back to school/college next year? What if I never get a job? What if I never . . ? Of course, preparedness is one thing, but I become consumed with the [often] impractical & improbable what ifs.

For a long time I assumed that my cancerous characteristic was no big deal. I wasn't really hurting anybody by worrying & time eventually proved what my heart already told me: my imaginations were often impractical & improbable. Not until high school did I realize that my worry was a defiant sin against the character of God.

How? By the word's own definition. Dictionary.com defines worry as a verb meaning "to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret." I don't know about you, but even without spiritual application, I'm convinced. Did you read that? Worry is tormenting yourself. Anyone else sensing the stupidity of worry? But worry is more than tormenting yourself. One of my counselors recently defined worry as the decision to omit joy & contentment by believing that God is not who He says He is. Worry is a decision with disastrous side effects. Like the lifestyles of smoking or drinking, worry begins as a small act of rebellion or independence--a lifestyle that I claim can end at any time, but, before I know it the seed of selfish worry has grown into a cancer that grips & controls nearly ever aspect of my life. 

So what's the cure? How do I treat this cancerous characteristic? Scripture.  Proverbs 17:22 says, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth up the the bones." If worry is the absence of God given joy & peace then the cure of worry is trusting in God! Only through Him can we find joy & fight against the cancerous characteristics of our lives.