This is always a topic that can pique
the interest of true Christians. You know who you are. You have prayed for
God’s direction but have not received an answer. You have an urgent desire to
serve Him but you do not know where. Or maybe you are serving Him in a special
calling but all it has brought is trial and discomfort. Can that possibly happen? In today’s Pop-Gospel it seems it can’t.
But in the real Gospel it can.
Jeremiah was one such subject. Called
to be a prophet, he loathed the disobedience and oppressions that surrounded
him so God called him to speak out against it—his mission, to call the people
back into God’s fold; but all he got in return was derision, shame, and
trouble. In Lamentations He had this to say:
I am the man who has
seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
He has led me and made me walk
He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
Surely He has turned His hand against me
Surely He has turned His hand against me
Time and time again throughout the
day. Lamentations 3:1-3
He has besieged me
And surrounded me with
bitterness and woe.
He has set me in dark places
He has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.
He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
Even when I cry and shout,
Even when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer. Lamentations 3:5-8
I have become the ridicule of all my
people,
Their taunting song all the day.
He has filled me with bitterness,
He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink wormwood.
He has also broken my teeth with gravel,
He has also broken my teeth with gravel,
And covered me with ashes.
You have moved my soul far from peace;
You have moved my soul far from peace;
I have forgotten prosperity.
And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD." Lamentations 3:14-18
And I said, "My strength and my hope Have perished from the LORD." Lamentations 3:14-18

True believers are hedged in yet
sometimes they doubt. We do not always understand why God allows things to
occur in our lives yet we stay chained. We do not run—we do not flee … we stay
put; albeit sometimes the staying put can be painful and even disillusionary.
We stay put because we know He is there and we know He is with us. We know He
watches every step we take. We too are chained. In the throes of torment
sometimes we say to our selves “I am quitting. I cannot handle this anymore!”
Then we look to the other paths laid before us and we remember the days of
separation; in that remembrance the old familiar pang of sin hits us hard in
the heart and we rue the day—that is the day we lived apart from God—apart from
the heavy chain that keeps us hedged in.
A little later, Jeremiah says the
following:
Remember my
affliction and roaming,
The wormwood and
the gall.
My soul still remembers
My soul still remembers
And sinks within
me.
This I recall to my mind,
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have
hope.
Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed,
Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who
seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation
of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:19-32
So if you’re feeling a little
burdened, a little downtrodden and you are wondering where the Lord is, you’re
not alone. What is happening now has happened before and will happen again. The
chain that holds you bound to God is the same chain that will bear your soul to
heaven. True Christians cannot escape the stranglehold of God. We just wait and
wait, and sometimes wait some more. But in the end we realize His compassions
fail not and they are new every morning. Why, because God is faithful.
If you are ever tempted to run from God
remember the days of gall and wormwood. Remember from where you have escaped!
It His grace that keeps a fire kindled
in the heart of our soul. Call out to God and wait. He yet will speak.
"Can a woman forget her nursing
child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. Isaiah 49:15-16
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. Isaiah 49:15-16
God Bless
Bro. Mike
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