Wordsurfers
  • Home
    • About
  • Sermons
    • The Beatitudes
    • Parables
    • Fruits of the Spirit
    • The Seven Churches in Revelation
    • Living in Christ
    • The Gospel according to John
    • Daniel
    • Other Sermons
  • Publications
  • Thoughts
  • Key Readings
  • Prayers
  • "Quotes"
  • Gallery
  • Video

Fruitful Tears

19/1/2018

 
Picture
Do we ever feel frustration with the world as it is?
Not half!  Thousands of refugees trapped ‘at the end of the road’, backs to the border wall.  No one wants them.  The news reporter describes their plight as ‘hopeless’.
People point to such things and sneer, ‘Where is your God of love?’ and, truth be told, believers at times cry out to our Father in heaven in perplexity.
‘Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?  Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?... Arise, Lord!  Lift up your hand, O God.  Do not forget the helpless.’  (Psalm 10 v 1 and 12)
When I first felt a call into Christian ministry I was wrestling with some big questions like these.  I finally found the reassurance I needed in the shortest verse of the Bible, ‘Jesus wept.’  (John 11 v 35)  It may not be the answer some people want but it settled me back then.  We have to let God be ruler and judge of his creation.  If we don’t like some of what He does or allows, we are comforted that our Master shares our grief and frustration.
My reading this morning was Luke 19 and there it was again.
Verses which I must have read a thousand times spoke fresh truth.
Jesus knew Jerusalem would largely reject Him and within a generation be destroyed, its inhabitants massacred or scattered.  Envisaging their suffering, the Lord wept in sorrow over the city.
It didn’t stop Him from addressing the corruption that was there in the Temple, from welcoming the penitent and healing those in pain.  Earlier in the chapter He showed remarkable concern for the crooked tax-collector Zacchaeus who promptly reformed his ways.
‘The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.’ Jesus says, and tells the parable about a returning king who has entrusted his servants with his business.  We are to do as He would be doing until he gets here.
So we could spend today complaining and making the state of the world an excuse for complacency or indulgence, or we could do as the Lord has demonstrated for us.  Caring deeply, we are to invest the resources He gives through His Spirit, challenging corruption, helping the poor, praying for grace and mercy and seeking to restore the broken and the lost.
He has set the example.  And scripture gives this promise:
‘Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.  He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.’  (Psalm 126 v 5-6)


Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.