Dear Gloomy Christian

 “For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” -Psalm 30:5

The Word of God is both true and lovely. We find in this single verse the full and honest truth about human grief as well as the refreshing help from heaven. Our anxieties, griefs, depressions are not hidden behind a veneer of “it’s nothing,” nor is the cure some flippant cliché. The honest darkness we experience as fallen creatures covers our thoughts and days like thick gloom, and the help of our merciful God is like a warm sun ray piercing through the clouds.

As a sinner before a holy God, I fear His anger. Yet to know the Father’s favor on Christ’s righteousness is on me for a lifetime is a great comfort, welcoming me to confess sin and repent knowing I am warmly welcomed by my forgiving God who is long-suffering with me.

With such a warm welcome like the father to the lost son, the second half of this verse is deeply refreshing for my often weary heart. “Weeping may tarry for the night,” sings the Psalmist. I must carry on, but what can I do with my anxiety, grief, sadness? The counsel may come from the seat of scoffers to simply toughen up, stop being so wimpy. Trust me, I have tried that. I have tried hiding my weeping behind a determined face to show the world that I am strong and I am fine. 

The Psalmist later writes, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness” (Psalm30:11). Notice, the Psalmist did not turn himself into being glad. He did not simply toughen up or straighten his crown and carry on. God, by His rich mercy, turned the Psalmist’s gloom into gladness.

This, dear brother or sister, is a warm invitation from our heavenly Father. His anger for me and my sin was poured out on Christ who became a curse for me (Galatians3:13). God is not angry with me. His mercy is on my lifespan and shall follow me all of my days (Psalm 23:6). Perhaps you need to hear this, beloved: in Christ, God is not angry with you. He invites you and me with sin, anxiety, sadness, gloom, to come to Him through Christ. His Holy Spirit draws us to Him. Our Lord is full of love, forgiveness, mercy, and wisdom for the gloomy child who comes to Him.

Go to Him in faith and go now, go often. God lifts the burdens we cast upon Him, and He is both mighty enough and caring enough to lift them (I Peter 5:7). Yes, even if the Lord does not take away from the causes of our pain, like Paul’s thorn, we hear the Lord say, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Let us, like Paul, “boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (II Corinthians 12:9).

The Lord’s mercy turning my gloom to gladness has a purpose that I “may sing Your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever” (Psalm 30:12). Go to the Lord trusting His mercy for you in Christ. He takes your gloom and gives you gladness that you will not be silent in the darkness but rejoicing with thanksgiving in the light of His glorious grace.

Heavenly Father, we come to You in honesty. We are sinners. Our flesh weakly falls into gloom, covering the thoughts of our hearts with sadness. Forgive us Lord and do not be angry with Your children in Christ. Lift our burdens as we cry out to you from the darkness and gladden our hearts that we may sing of Your glorious grace! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Unity by Divine Supply

 

“…with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…” -Ephesians 4:2

I have been meditating Psalm 27, praying to be made useful as an instrument in the Lord’s hands in the surroundings He has sovereignly placed me. It seems people have been increasingly angry and anxious recently. Factor in COVID-19 and a presidential election year, the problems in the human hearts around me have simply escalated.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to meet the problems of the human hearts head on with the good news of Jesus Christ. We work and toil in this very same angry and anxious world, which affects us far more than we truly realize. We grow wearing in doing good. Our humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance have limits in the flesh.

We need to hear of Christ’s mercies. We need reminding of Christ’s mercies. We need to receive Christ’s mercies. We each have need of Christ’s mercies in His beloved church to handle us with humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with us in love from a heart eager to maintain unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Christ’s given peace.

These characteristics do not come naturally; rather, they must be supernaturally given. Do not fall into the temptation that these attributes well up from sheer willpower or misused to accuse others in the church of falling short of our expectations. Christ who loves His bride gifts us with a heart to gently bear in love those in fellowship weakened and wounded by an increasingly angry and anxious world. Within the safety of fellowship, free to confess where we have failed obedience, pray for strength to persevere, and encourage one another to be Christ-like in view of an evil, dark world.

Our love and care for one another will not and cannot depend simply on our love for one another, but upon our love for Christ. I can only be humbly gentle, forbearing with patience with the supply I receive from Christ. Jesus said, “I will build My church.” The church’s membership and giftings are from Christ lovingly fulfilling this promise.

Church unity, as a consequence, is more than mere tolerance of each other. Rather, we share a united effort to battle ungodly desires in our hearts and strive together to conform to Christ, being a light in a dark world, fighting together for one another’s repentance and joy in spiritual healthiness.

We need a place, a people, safe to enter in with our troubled hearts to be reminded of Christ’s mercies. You and your neighbor are in need of Christ’s mercies in His church. Church family, let us prioritize one another’s spiritual health by obeying Ephesians 4:2 and invite others into such fellowship with His good news. All to the glory of our gracious, merciful God.

Heavenly Father, how I am in constant need of Your mercies. My restless heart is affected by an angry, anxious world. I am in need of Your peace. Those I love in this church family are in need of Your peace. Grant me Your peace that surpasses understanding that I may be humble, gently patient, to bear the burdens of Your church in Your holy and steadfast love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Be Merciful

“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” -Luke 6:36

Jesus is not a weak Savior begging us to be like God, but a mighty Lord commanding obedience. The King has purchased His people, and He claims complete ownership over you. As King, Jesus commands us to be merciful. What is the measure of how merciful we are to be as people? What example, definition, likeness are we to imitate and be merciful? King Jesus says, “as your Father is merciful.”

When I think about how God has been merciful to me a sinner, my heart swells. Oh, how ugly has my mind, my heart, my words, my actions have been! Yet, God has treated me with undue kindness. In my joyful obedience to the Father, the source of my own mercy in heart is to look no further than the merciful heart of God Himself. 

God is “rich in mercy,” and by His great love for us He is rich in kindness and slow to anger (Ephesians 2:4, Psalm 145:8). The objects His rich mercy are sinners deserving quick anger. His merciful kindness isn’t simply in words, but His mercy is a relief to those in misery. In Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus described the Samaritan’s response to seeing the beaten man alongside the road as “being moved with compassion” (Luke 10:33) and proved to be in obedience to God’s command to love his neighbor having “showed mercy.” Then Jesus commands, “Go and do likewise.”

Do mercy by being a relief to those in misery. Be slow to anger toward those deserving quick anger. Be rich in kindness. Be forgiving. Be gentle. Be meek. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. These are the marks of the renewed heart of the one having put off the old and put on the new creation in Christ. 

Are you a safe place for the miserable to find relief? Are you a safe place for sinners deserving your temper to find a rich kindness? Are you a neighbor showing mercy? This cold, dark world must have Christians with blazing hearts driven to glorify the merciful Father by showing His mercy! Display God’s perfect patience and be rich in kindness and mercy, dear chief of sinners, for that is God’s reason for showing you mercy (I Timothy 1:16).

Heavenly Father, forgive my prideful, arrogant heart of any boasting in my lack of showing mercy! Be a relief to my sinful, broken heart according to Your rich kindness. Relieve my heart to be merciful as You are merciful to me and to all sinners who seek refuge in the mighty Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.