Focus
Stop and thank God for being present with you today. Ask for God’s guidance as you hear God’s voice through scripture and the writer.
Read
Isaiah 30:19-26 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like filthy rags; you will say to them, “Away with you!”
He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures; and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. On every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water—on a day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
Reflect
There was a time when I could and would cry openly. That changed in September 2016 when my brother died. I do not fully understand why I refuse to, or simply can’t cry openly anymore. I just know that something changed inside of me. Something hardened.
Though I do my best to withhold my emotions from even those closest to me, I cannot hide them from God. God hears my cries. No matter how much I try to stifle them, they are heard. Not just heard, but answered. God answers my cries by giving me strength to get through another minute, another hour, another day, or whatever it is I need.
Giving me the strength I need to take my next breath is only a taste of what is to come. One day I will not have to hide my tears because there will be no more tears to cry. They will all be wiped away by God. I for one find comfort in that.
Pray
Lord, thank you for hearing my cries and answering me in ways only you know how to. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Go with God!
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