Knowing Good

James 4:17 "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

Seems pretty direct and easily understood but if we really look at the ramifications of that one simple scripture, it is quite powerful and does not leave a lot of gray area for personal likes and dislikes.  This brings to mind a time my mother was explaining how we will be held accountable for what God meant in His Word and not how we chose to interpret it.  Her example was of her telling us kids to have the house cleaned by the time she returned.  When she returned whether it was in an hour or four hours, we would be judged by what she meant in that simple statement of "clean the house." Our arguments of "well, I thought you meant..." would not hold water and we risked discipline by doing less than what she meant (because we really did know what she meant as she never expected something of us that was not previously explained).  When we stand before God, our excuses of "well, I thought you meant..." or "I didn't know you meant it THAT way" or "I didn't like that particular requirement so...", those excuses will just not hold up before the Holy One, the Righteous One, the one who died for us. We are going to be judge by what he meant and not our interpretation or what we found to be convenient or easy.

Desperately Seeking Hope

Have you ever been in a despair so deep that there just doesn't seem any way out. You can't talk with anyone about it because the despair only deepens when they tell you to, "buck up and get over it." They use words that cause your heart, mind and soul to cringe and die a little more like, "you can't wallow in your grief, you must move on." Or "You need to pick yourself up by your boot straps." Not only are you stuck in your grief and pain but they have also robbed you of the bit of hope that you were seeking. Your heart screams out to God to hear you and heal the hurt but the ceiling appears to be lead and that your prayers are going nowhere.  Each time you reach out for a comforter it seems that your hand either gets pushed away or you come up empty. Where do you go? What do you do? How do you find your way out of the darkness of hopelessness into the light? What do you do to once again find purpose and strength?

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Lamentations 3:21-22

Even within our own lamenting of the hard hand we have been dealt, we can find hope in our faithful God. Though it appears that He does not hear us, we can be assured that his compassion and mercy is ever present. When it is the darkest night and there seems to be no hope we must hold tight to His promise, "...weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5b

So pray for me while I weep in my night time and "wallow" in my grief because morning WILL come and there SHALL be joy.