JOYFUL CONFIDENCE

There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.  Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away.  Hosea 4: 1,3

         If I turn my back on my home and strive to make some distant place my abode, I separate myself from my heritage. Out of touch with my Father, I cease to be like Him. I forget his ways.  The sound of His voice becomes a distant memory; so distant that when I hear Him calling, I may not recognize the sound of it anymore.  Separated from home, from love, I languish because every living thing God created will strain for a connection with its Creator.  Even the land mourns, hungry for God’s nurturing touch.  Can you feel the labor pangs?  Can you hear the earth groaning?

All who live apart from God today waste away.  Dreams die.  Injustice overwhelms. Futility becomes a cancer that eats away purpose.  We wake up one day and wonder why we feel nothing. Estrangement from God brings death to the soul while union with God  yields vitality, passion, and optimism.  A person in touch with God will feel about life what God feels about life.  Every day is a blank canvas; a chunk of time full of kingdom potential.

When young boys and girls line up to become human bombs, all for the sake of revenge and personal significance, we see evidence of lost humanity.  When their victims and victim’s families sink into inconsolable grief and can’t find their way out, we are reminded that people perish for lack of knowledge.  No life’s event, viewed through the eyes of a sovereign God, has the power to destroy a human soul.  There is a deep confidence in the One who calls Himself “Redeemer.”  No pain is wasted.

If I lash out in anger today or lose hope in dire circumstances, it is a sign that I have momentarily lost connection with the One who created all things, offers to redeem all things, and who will eventually restore all things.  Though I often groan, my heart is in touch with joyful confidence.

I recall the years I slowly wasted away apart from You.  I came home.  Nothing can steal my joy and confidence in You.  Amen