Tag: Sorrow

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The Latter Rain: Celebrate Lent-Day 7

Scripture Focus:

10 For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. 2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT

As we continue to look at our Lenten journey as a form of celebration, we need to think through what it means to ‘repent’. We often misunderstand this word as sorrow for our sins. Actually the word ‘repent’ means to “turn around and go the other way.” The word we often confuse with repent is ‘contrition’, which is a form of sorrow.

We need to feel sorrow for our sins but scripture teaches us it needs to be the right kind of sorrow. We can be sorry for different reasons. For example, we can be sorry we got caught doing something wrong. However, while that is a form of contrition, it may or may not lead us to repentance. Negative reinforcement rarely teaches us to turn from sin.

Today’s scripture focus tells us that God wants us to be sorry for our sins with a form of ‘true contrition’ that will draw us closer to Him, not drive us farther away. Such true contrition allows us to see God as our loving Father. He wants us to turn away from our sin because He knows what is best for us, not because He is mad at us for what we did; this is a critical difference in how we see and respond to God as our Father.

“Godly sorrow draws us closer to God – not push us further away.”

Far too many people see God only as a ‘Just Judge’ who caught them in their sin, is mad at them, and cannot wait to punish them. Nothing is further from the truth!

God is our loving Father. Like in Jesus’ story of The Prodigal Son, when with true contrition for our sin we turn around in repentance, God not only waits for us to return to Him with open arms, He runs out to meet us shouting, “Welcome Home!”

Lent is a season of turning around. During Lent we do not want to focus on our sinfulness in order to make us feel so bad we end up feeling even more distant from God. We want to confess our sins in joy, knowing our Heavenly Father is excited to hear our confession and see our repentance, as we turn around with the help of His grace.

The excitement we are to see in our Father God is the pouring out of His latter rain. He is raining down blessings of His Spirit upon us. So today, as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, “…do not harden your hearts…” There is no regret in Godly sorrow, so open up your heart and let the rain fall down!

Shalom,

Pastor Brad

Image credit: http://vernetteoutloud.com/2012/08/04/standing-in-the-rain/

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Springs of Joy

“The statutes of the Lord are just
and rejoice the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear
and gives light to the eyes… By them also is your servant enlightened, *
and in keeping them there is great reward.”

Palm 19:8,11

Read Psalm 19

springs-of-joy-music-groupMany people walk through life with heavy hearts. Some are heavy because of sadness or grief, some because of consequence. To some people Lent seems a time for sadness. They dwell upon their sin and sing “woe is me”. They think that in their sadness the Lord is pleased. While it is true that we should be sorrowful for our sins, it’s not true that we should dwell in that sorrow.

Lent comes in the Spring of the year for a purpose. God wants to remind us there is always new life waiting to spring up within us. Repentance should always produce joy, and it is that joy that should be our dwelling place, for joy comes from the Lord.

The Psalmist reminds us that God’s ways are not weary or hard. His laws are not boring or meant to keep us from enjoying life. In fact, God’s laws are the very source of our joy. When we learn to listen to the Lord and obey His teachings, he leads us in paths of refreshing. He renews our hearts.

Are you struggling to keep God’s commandments? Do they seem burdensome to you? Perhaps it’s because you don’t really understand them. Scripture says there is a way that seems right to man, but leads to destruction (Proverbs 14:12). Sometimes we see those who live in open sin and they seem to have everything, even joy. But, what they have is a fleeting moment of euphoria, not true joy. The consequences of their sin catch up to them sooner or later, and there is no real peace in their lives. Like the addict who feels serenity for the brief moments of a high, they soon come crashing down to a state worse than before.

Everything God asks us to do is always for our own good. Christians should be the happiest people on earth. We are always faced with choices of good and evil but they rarely look so stark. Evil is disguised in many ways to look good. If sin wasn’t fun, in some measure, Satan wouldn’t be able to entice us into it. But, to do the right thing always brings a feeling of peace and joy, a joy that comes from the Holy Spirit who confirms the right choices within us.

As you look around you at the signs of Spring, may you see the signs of God’s love and forgiveness washing over you in this Lenten season. Meditate on His statutes, and He will renew your heart with springs of joy.

Shalom,

Pastor Brad

My daily Lenten prayer – “Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and sustain in me a willing spirit. ” NRSV

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Dancing for Joy?

10 Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be thou my helper!”

11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,

12 that my soul may praise thee and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to thee for ever.

Psalm 30:10-12

When was the last time you danced for joy? Maybe a long time ago, if ever? I hope not. When I was young, I was fascinated with the dance moves of actors like Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Donald O’ Conner. They looked so graceful as they moved about the dance floor in perfect sync with their partners. The Psalms speak of dancing as a kind of release of inner emotions of joy. I can just imagine David being so overwhelmed by the goodness of God he just broke out into dancing.

In High School I was what you might call a ‘Social Introvert’. I wasn’t shy about meeting people or talking to strangers, but I was too shy to ask a girl to dance. The thought of possibly being rejected was more than my fragile self-esteem could handle, so I didn’t ask. In fact, I didn’t even go. I can only remember going to three dances in my growing years. The first was in the fifth-grade. That scared me so much I didn’t try again till my Freshman year of High School. I’m not really sure why I even went then. It must have been peer pressure.

The third time was the Jr./Sr. Prom. Since I had a girl friend at the time I felt sort of obligated. I know what your thinking. “How did this shy kid afraid of rejection get a girl friend?” She asked me out. “Whew!” That was a real relief. But even then, those dances were not something that flowed from my inner being. They weren’t expressions of joy.

However, after High School I began to loosen up a bit. I even joined the community theater. And would you believe it? One of the roles I was cast was as a dance instructor. I thought I was really something then. Talk about an ego booster – but it was short lived.

I don’t know if David grew up dancing at festivals or not. I’m thinking he probably did since dancing was a part of the Jewish culture of celebration. Several times in the Psalms we see dancing as an expression of inner joy, like in Psalm 30:11. Scripture even says God will cause his children to dance. Jeremiah the Prophet spoke of time when God would give such inner joy and peace that God’s children would break out in dance…

“The young women will dance for joy, and the men–old and young–will join in the celebration. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing.” (Jeremiah 31:13 NLT)

In Psalm 30 we not only hear the voice of David praising God for his deliverance from a life on the run at the hands of King Saul (Psalm 30:1), we also hear the voice of Jesus praising His Father for delivering him from death (Psalm 30:3). Furthermore, throughout the Psalm we can sing our own prayer of thanks for the LORD’s salvation.

I was so thankful for being cast as a leading character in that community theater play all those years ago, I almost broke out in dancing. How ironic that a boy who never really danced was cast as a dance instructor. I thought to myself, “Well, this is my chance to really act. I can make it look like I know what I’m doing without really having to dance”.

But then it happened. Not only would I have to learn to actually dance and teach others, my dance partner in the play was the lady doing the choreography for the production. There was no fooling her. I had to move back and forth and turn and twirl as if I was Fred Astaire and she was Ginger Rogers. Well, at least that was the plan. But in life as well as in the theater, things don’t always go as planned.

One evening during rehearsal there was this one move I just couldn’t get. I tried over and over. I had to actually catch the lady in mid-air, suspend her on the side of my right hip as her left arm went round my shoulder, and my right arm went round her waist to hold her up. Then, at the same moment take her left hand as we turned and swirled around in a circle with her leaping off my hip and onto the floor on the other side of where she began. Those were some real ballet moves. It all sounded so graceful. The only problem was I wasn’t strong enough to hold her on my hip.

We always practiced the motions without my actually having to hold her up in rehearsals. Then came dress rehearsal and the great disaster. Not only could I not hold her on hip long enough to complete the twirl, I dropped her on the floor and as she fell she tore ligaments in her arm that was wrapped around my shoulder. Not only was I embarrassed beyond words, we had to re-write the script and cut a few scenes of dances.

I still love the thought of dancing for joy. Even all these years later and knowing I’m not good at at. I still love the thought of a heart so overjoyed it breaks out in dancing. How are your dance moves? Are they filled with joy? If you’re filled with sadness right now, listen to words of the Psalmist as he praises the LORD in verse 11. God wants to turn your sorrow into dancing, and take it from me, if nobody is watching – go for it! Our God is the one audience who will always give you a standing ovation no matter how bad you dance.

Shalom,

Pastor Brad

image credit: http://www.geocities.jp/artanisjp/510Letsf.htm