Month: December 2020

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JOY

 Let’s talk about joy for a minute.  Where is it? Honestly, as a believer in Christ, the right thing to say is: “In His Presence, there is fullness of joy” (Ps 16:11).  It’s the right thing to say because it’s true.  But I’m still asking.  Where is it? 

I was walking a long walk today – it was cold and I was deeply sad.  The past few weeks have been lonely, aching ones.  I listened to music the reminded me of Jesus and His goodness.  These songs urged me to look at His face.  They recounted His sacrifice and the singers wept with gratitude.  They recalled His promises of new life and eternity.  Tears began flowing semi-freely from my eyes (I was walking in public and didn’t want to look like a total loony tune)  and I realized something there that I want to carry with me through this season.  

Joy isn’t found when our circumstances change.  If every dream I ever dreamed came true in the exact way I dreamed it, true joy would not be found; disappointment is sure to follow and tear down the altar this dream built.  If every hope I ever hoped played out exactly as I hoped it would, true joy would not be found; tragedy is always right around the corner at all times, ready to spoil everything.  

Joy – truest joy – is found when we remember; when we remember who God is; when we remember that Jesus is Immanuel (“God with us”); when we remember the friendship of the Holy Spirit; when we remember that we are chosen by God; when we remember that we are seen and heard by this infinite, immortal Being that designed the smallest and the greatest parts of life; when we remember that He loved us enough to die for us; when we remember that He came back to life to give US new life; when we remember that He came to establish a kingdom, and He chose us to be a part of it; when we remember His promise of eternity; when we remember that no matter what happens, no matter what tragedy strikes, no matter what disappointments await, He is making it all good.  Not for us, but in us, in order to magnify His great and remarkable Love and be known throughout the nations.  

What joy is found when we remember that this life we have been given was given in order to be redeemed, restored, and lived with a purpose greater than our tiny dreams and hopes can offer.   

May this Christmas season offer you joy, not because of where you are or who you are with, but because of what you have remembered.

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PEACE

A warfare waged on earth in dark of night 
Where fires blazed and burned out deepest holes
Inside our weighted, worn, and weary souls
And left us for dead, far too weak to fight
This fight, you see, was in the human race
Feverishly searching for truest peace
 O, but sin’s death grip would never release
Had we only violent recompense to face?

But there was only One who could restore
This One who came to fuse the earth and sky
With his two tender, healing, wounded hands
That too had holes the world had cruelly bore
His body hung within our space and time
Extending truest peace, from God to man
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HOPE

“Come, Lord Jesus, you are our hope.”

Lament: Psalm 10
On this shadowed earth we waited 
Inside a night that we created 
Mouths exploded with desperate pleas 
With backs bent low and aching knees 
"Why, O LORD, do you hide yourself?"

Our blood-shot eyes could find no sleep 
For peace was far beyond our reach 
The night was all we'd ever known 
A world afraid and all alone 
"Why, O LORD, do you stand far away?" 

And when all hope seemed out of sight 
We saw a ray break through the night 
Its human cry was like our own 
Flesh and blood and skin and bone 
"Arise, O LORD, lift up your hand" 

This Light ripped through the darkened veil 
And mended hearts with thorns and nails 
It was this Light that took on shame
So death would have no more to claim  
"The LORD is King forever and ever"

So now we wait a second time 
For Light to make the wrong things right 
Where thousands weep and watch and pray 
And long for peace to rule and reign 
"O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted"