2 minute read.
Daily Reading: Psalms 87 GW; Jeremiah 30-31 GW; Hebrews 8 GW
God builds.
Today’s scripture is from the prophet Jeremiah talking to the Israelites who are in exile. God is going to rescue and restore them from their miseries. Just like the Israelites, God does the same for us. Always in unexpected ways.
One particularly rough start to my week, God built me up in an unusual way. After waking up feeling sad over a situation, my discipline of connecting with God each morning never fails. Barely awake, I grab my kindle and read the day’s Bible reading. Then I spend time in prayer through journaling. Rough mornings like the one I was experiencing, I’m on the floor begging God to get me going. God never disappoints.
A few hours later, I received a random text from a friend that instantly made me smile. Having prayed for this situation for years, I was ready to give up. God let me know; He was listening. He was in the process of building me back up.
God knows your pain.
Pain isolates us. We don’t think anyone else can understand the hurts we feel. I carried a chip on my shoulder for years after my dad died. One of the stages of grief is anger; I chose to stay in that emotion for many years. My annoyance towards other people was because they didn’t understand how deeply I was hurting. I blamed God for taking my earthly father; my vexation at Him was justifiable. But God loved me anyway. Even though I turned my back on God, He didn’t turn His back on me. I was never alone.
God knows your pain, whatever it is. He’s waiting for you to release your hurts to Him. We have to let go to allow God to build up. Holding onto our afflictions is our problem; letting them go to God makes them His. Once we empty our hearts of the aching, God can fill them with His love.
God is always building. We have to let Him do the work. When we do, we’ll dance with Joy!
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Lord, thank You for building us up in our darkest moments. Forgive us for holding onto the hurts we experience. Help us learn to process our pain with You. Give us the courage we need to confess our darkest thoughts to You. Allow us to find victory from our sufferings; all the glory is Yours. IJNIP. Amen
Question for reflection
What do you need to let go of today?
