The Long Dark Night of the Soul

 Commentators make mention of a period experienced by believers where they lose faith and hope. They experience the silence of God. The circumstances are confusing. The promises of God seem far fetched through the prolonged season of darkness. A person experiencing this may still attend worship services, read their Bible, and pray but be able to connect with God in a meaningful way. It is the long dark night of the soul.

Many reasons could be listed for such seasons, but one near the top would have to be spiritual attack. The closer we get to God, the more He uses us to make an impact on others, the more we are devoted to prayer and tearing down the kingdom of darkness, the more Satan wants to take us down. That might not mean killing us. It might be one trial after another. Job experienced such. So did Peter. 

In a prophetic moment Jesus foreshadowed what awaited Peter. [Luke 22:31-32] Jesus told Peter that Satan demanded permission to sift Peter like wheat. That means to funnel through a sieve to take out large lumps in a powder substance. Satan wanted permission to attack Peter. Jesus comforted Peter with the words, "I have prayed for you." He did this in advance of the attack he foresaw coming. 

It is comforting that Jesus prays for people going through the long dark night of the soul. He sees what they are going through. He cares and intercedes. Out of all the people who could pray for you, who can pray like Jesus? Who can get the Father's attention and plead the case for hurting people like Jesus? No one. 

Jesus prayed specifically and told Peter what He prayed. First, Jesus prayed that Peter's faith would not fail. That his trust would not fall away or come to an end. When the test and trials are severe enough, people can lose heart and belief that things will ever get better. This is one of the greatest lies of the enemy. To make people feel they are hopelessly and endlessly trapped in their trials. Like they will never escape. When a person is being hit from all sides and things keep getting worse rather than better, it is easy to lose faith. It is natural to lose faith. The supernatural thing to do is to keep believing God no matter what a person is experiencing. 

I can imagine right now Jesus praying that our faith will not fail in the face of adversities, afflictions, and anguishes. Faith is the muscle of our walk with God. Faith is the endurance. Faith is the will to persevere. Faith is the belief that God will intervene. Faith is the trust that God will not fail. Faith is the hope that better days will come. 

Jesus also prayed for Peter that he would return again. Jesus knew Peter would deny Him three times. He knew that Peter would live in the darkness of his failure and struggle to move forward. Jesus already knows how people will handle the long dark night of the soul. He knows how many will crumble and drift back to destructive behaviors. He knows how many will get bogged down in condemnation unable to believe forgiveness is offered. He knows how many will live in bitterness and feelings of failure. He has taken all these things into account. His grace is sufficient. His grace is enough to pull people out of the darkness back into His marvelous light. He knows how to restore people. He had a private conversation in John 21 to restore Peter. 

He also prayed that Peter would be effective at strengthening other people. God answered that prayer. Just read the epistles Peter wrote. He wrote to help suffering people experiencing their long dark night of the soul. Peter got restored and made the most out of the rest of His life. He did not spend all his time dwelling on the past. He proved faithful to the very end of his life when he was martyred. 

I hope all of us can take comfort that in the toughest seasons of spiritual assault that Jesus prays for us. I hope we are encouraged that we do not have to to endure these seasons alone. He intercedes for us. He is praying in the perfect will of God for those being sifted. Could that mean that today He is pleading for you?

Maybe you find yourself in such a position. Being hit on all side. Like your life is passing through a sieve straining out every imperfection. Maybe the pain is unrelenting and the faith is weakening by the day. Be encouraged that your Savior is at the right hand of God making intercessions even as you read this. Hang on. Be strengthened. In other words, be firm, steadfast, and firmly established in your beliefs. 

The long dark night is a season. Just like other seasons pass so will this. Blazing hot summer temperatures eventually surrender to cool brisk fall days. Fall gives way to winter. That long bitter bone chilling cold season of winter will pass eventually into spring. Just as the seasons come and go so will the season of the long dark night of the soul. Hold onto Jesus as He holds onto you through prayer. This season will not last forever. 

Remember

 Do you remember where you were 21 year ago on this day? I certainly do. I had just finished praying with a group of men. We walked out to the news about planes hitting the World Trade Center towers. We stood in disbelief watching the news. We saw the second plane hit. We watched as the first tower crumbled. So did my heart. I went to the car and called Brenda. We checked the boys out of school to spend the day together. It was a day of national mourning. I am sure people felt the same way upon hearing about Pearl Harbor. About President Kennedy getting assassinated. 

I felt disbelief. Unshakable grief. Emotionally numb. I stayed glued to the tv for news coverage. I reflected on the near 3,000 people who died. I watched as people walked around in a daze in New York City looking for lost loved ones hoping for the best and yet fearing the worst. 

We said we would never forget. We have. It has been a long since I thought about the events of that day. Watching old videos brought all those memories back. They brought a tug on the old heart strings. A sadness in my soul. It happened a long time but today I remembered. I remember the since of patriotic pride. The calls to prayer. 

America was vulnerable that day. She is more vulnerable today with the invasion of our southern border. We are vulnerable from without and imploding from within. I remember America as it used to be. Things are changing. The more we turn from God the further it seems He turns from us as a nation. May we remember Him and repent before a worse catastrophe comes our way again. Let's remember God before it is too late. He is what America needs today more than ever. 

A Test

 We have all faced tests. Spelling tests. History tests. English exams. In order to get a driver's license we had to pass a driver's examination. Those were easy compared to life tests we face all the time. Do we know that God tests us too. To reveal our hearts, stretch our faith, and teach us to persevere. 

In Genesis 22 God tested Abraham. You could substitute the word prove for test. The test defied logic. It seemed to violate the very promise of God. God tested Abraham by calling him to offer Isaac, his long awaited son, as a burnt offering. 

There are so many details left out of this story. Like did Abraham consult Sarah? I do not think she would have consented. It was one thing to trust that her husband heard God tell him to pack up everything to move to an unknown destination. Sacrificing her only son was a whole different matter. I am betting Abraham kept real quiet about what he sensed God wanted Him to do. 

Abraham's response is both shocking and inspiring. First, he rose early in the morning. I wonder if he slept at all that night. He saddled his donkey, split wood, took two servants and Isaac, and headed out to obey God. He did not argue with God. He did not hesitate in unbelief. He did not even pause for clarification of the word from the Lord. Just obedience in faith. 

I say obedience in faith because Abraham believed God was faithful. Once he arrived at his intended destination, he said in [Gen 22:5] to the two men with him, "I and the lad will over there and we will worship and return to you." We is plural. Abraham believed that he would return and Isaac would return with him. He did not know what God would do. We know Abraham was committed to obeying because he put the knife in his hand and was about to bring it down and slaughter his son when God stopped him. Abraham loved God so much he was willing to offer the most precious thing in his life. His promised son. 

Abraham passed the test. Do we pass God's tests? Most are not as severe as sacrificing a child. Some are like getting fired, having a spouse file for divorce, an untimely death of a loved one, and battling a terminal disease. They are still tough. Do we trust in Him in adversity? Do we hope in Him in hopeless situations? Do we cast aside doubt when provision is needed? Do we despair upon receiving bad news rather than leaning into God with trust? Do we believe that He really loves us even when tested? 

We may not have taken tests in school for a long time, but we still face tests all the time. Will we resolve to pass the test? When the pain is unbearable and circumstances confusing will we resolve to believe God and pass the test. It is in those moments we truly find out what we believe about God. That He is trustworthy and reliable or that He is not dependable. May our faith be sharpened like a student sharpens a pencil taking a math exam to pass it. 

Stuck

 I pulled into the drive at the house the other day while talking on the phone. I typically park under the car port, but on this day I was driving a different vehicle I typically park  that truck in the grass next to an oak tree. I did not turn sharply enough to avoid the tree so I ventured into a little dip in the ground directly behind where the pulpit used to be in the old sanctuary. The front tires rolled slightly into the dip. When I reversed the truck to back out the wheels began to spin. I was stuck. I gunned the gas hoping to catch traction and get out of the dip. More spinning the tires but no backward momentum. I was definitely stuck. 

Have you been there? Not so much stuck in a vehicle. Stuck in sin. Stuck in past mistakes. Stuck in regrets? Stuck in condemnation?

I wonder how many people around the world live everyday stuck. They are unable to live productive lives because they are stuck in the past. They spend so much time looking over their shoulders at what they have done or not done that they cannot move forward. Stuck spinning the wheels of energy on something that cannot be changed. The past should be just that. The past. Gone. Over and done with. Done. History. Behind. 

We are exhorted in Phil 3:13 to forget what lies behind and to press forward to what lies ahead. Sometimes what we did in the past caused pain to many people. It might even have destroyed some people. We. cannot undo that. All we can do is move forward in faith trusting God to help us in following Him. We do not have to be defined by our past. We do not have to wear a scarlet letter shaming us for our failures. God wills to forgive and to redeem. God desires to restore and renew. You do not have to live your life stuck in the past. 

Do you want to know how I got the truck unstuck that day? I put it in drive and pulled forward then back to reverse several times rocking myself out of the dip. Sometimes the way to get unstuck is to intentionally choose to go forward when the natural thing is to keep going backward. To pull that truck forward meant I was driving deeper into the dip in the ground. It did not feel right. In fact, I thought it would only make matters worse. Yet that is exactly what helped me eventually rock the truck out. 

Today we have a choice. We can keep focusing on our past. We can mourn past sinful choices. We can focus on our failures. Or we can choose today to go forward. To forget the past. To focus on what lies ahead instead of what lies behind. We do not have to spend another day just spinning our wheels in the direction of a past we cannot change. Yesterday is gone. It cannot be recovered or recaptured. Through Jesus, yesterday can be redeemed. It can have redemptive value as we learn lessons to help us navigate life that lies ahead. We do not have to remain stuck. Choose to go forward. 

Time at the Tamarisk

 Genesis 21:33 (NASB)

³³  Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. 

For decades Abraham and Sarah lived as nomads. They settled in a place for a while and then at God's direction they moved on. From the time God called them to leave Ur they did not have a permanent dwelling. God blessed them and they became wealthy in flocks and silver. They still had to pull up the tent pegs and pack their belongings to keep moving when God directed them to do so. 

The last two blogs have been about Abraham meeting with God at oak trees. I don't know what it was about those oak trees that made God come and meet with his servant. I am guessing trees held a special place in Abraham's heart. Practically the trees provided shade and relief from the oppressive heat. Spiritually the trees were sacred spots where God encounters occurred. 

Maybe that is why Abraham planted a tamarisk tree. By the mere fact that he planted tree would indicate that the tree had not matured. It would take years for that tree to provide shaded shelter for anyone. That cannot be the reason Abraham planted it. I think he planted that tree because he longed to meet with God as he had done at the oak of Moreh and at the oak of Mamre. 

Abraham called out to God at the tree of tamarisk. The words called out means to cry, invite, and to summon. It was at that planted tree that Abraham frequented to invite God to join him. To summon the Almighty to have audience with Him. He so hungered for more God encounters that he cried out to God. My curiosity is piqued. I wonder about the many divine appointments and communion God and Abraham shared at that little tree. 

I can just imagine Abraham strolling away from the flocks, servants and Sarah with a little tree in one hand and a makeshift shovel in the other hand. He dug into the soil and tenderly planted the tamarisk away from all. This would be his secret place to meet with God. I am sure over the time he resided there that he often stole away to the little tree to commune with God. I imagine a little path formed and the grass died from Abraham walking to the tamarisk tree to keep company with God while forsaking the company of other people. I am sure he unloaded burdens to Yahweh. I also believe he listened for God's voice and waited eagerly for God to appear to him again. 

Thousands of years have passed since then. I wonder about what that tree eventually grew to be. I also am reminded that God desires us to cry out to Him from our secret places. To invite Him to come commune with us. To listen to us, to speak to us, to strengthen us, to guide us, and to instruct us. 

I have been fascinated reading about the devotional habits of many people through history. A common theme is found in most of them. They rose early to meet with God. While others slept, they sauntered from the bed to the secret place. E.M. Bounds rose at 4:00 a.m. for prayer. George Mueller read the word of God incessantly. David Brainerd wrote in his journal about fasting, prayer, and meditation on the word of God. Even Jesus left the disciples early in the morning to go pray to His Father. [Mark 1:35]

My eyes popped open at a usual time this morning. No alarm clock other than the internal one God has placed inside me. It was time to get up and read my Bible and seek God. That is where the inspiration for so many of these articles comes from. God uses my devotions to spark new ideas to write about. 

This little corner off our living room is a tamarisk tree for me. I sit at this little desk with the soft glow of a lamp to illuminate the words of life from the Bible. It is here that I read the pages of sacred scripture and God reveals Himself to me in fresh ways. I try to pass that onto others hoping it may help them in their pilgrimage. Each of needs a tamarisk tree where we meet with God. Where we summon Him to come join us. Where we unload our burdens and seek Him. Those God encounters make each day a new adventure on this journey of faith. I hope you experience God in thrilling ways as you call out to Him from your tamarisk tree. 

The Oaks of Mamre

 Genesis 18:1 (NASB)

¹  Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.

It was an ordinary day. Just a common day. A hot day. Abram sat inside his tent to get a little relief from the heat. He sat by the entrance to get a little breeze. He pitched his tent by the oaks of Mamre to take advantage of the shade from the trees. Little did he know what a sacred spot that would prove to be. 

Yahweh decided to reveal Himself to Abram. He appeared to Abram on that very ordinary day. The word appeared means that LORD became visible. In that moment Abram had a God encounter. He would never forget his experience with the Almighty by the oaks of Mamre. 

God's revelation that day would change the trajectory of Abram's life. So much so that God changed his name from Abram to Abraham indicating the future He planned for Abraham. God planned to give Abraham and Sarah a son. The impossibility of this becoming reality is spelled out in the scripture. They were old. Getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Sarah said of herself that she was worn out. She doubted that such an impossible thing could happen. She even laughed to herself at the outlandish idea. 

God asked Abraham a question I suspect He also asks us from time to time. IS ANYTHING IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE LORD? The word impossible can also be translated as difficult or heavy. Is anything difficult for God? Is anything so heavy that God cannot pick it up or move it as He chooses? 

Every one of us face impossible situations. I have mine and you have yours. Things that look beyond the realm of possibilities. That is because we choose to see things through our eyes and our limited resources. Problems we cannot fix, mountains we cannot move, and situations we cannot solve. From our perspective things look beyond hope. Our backs are against the wall. There seems no avenue to a preferred outcome. 

What did God will in this passage? To bless Abraham and Sarah with a baby boy they were to name Isaac. What does God will in your situation? How hopeless is your situation? Do you feel there is no way of escape because you are trapped between a rock and a hard place? God specializes in helping people out of such situations. NOTHING IS TOO DIFFICULT FOR HIM! Our situations are not so heavy that God cannot remove the heavy burden. 

It really comes down to what we believe. We are tempted to believe what we see. To focus on the impossibilities right in front of us. We fixate on these problems. Our courage melts in the shadows of these situations. We have a choice in these current circumstances and for the rest of our lives. We can believe what we see or choose to believe what God says. God said He would give Abraham and Sarah a son. He said the baby would come at the appointed time. Did God do what He said He would do?

Yes. How do we know. There is a nation called Israel that is proof that God fulfilled what He said He would do. Isaac had sons and those sons had sons that became the seed of a great nation. God did what He said He would do. 

Now, what about us? Will we be the people that God finally fails? Will God break His track record with us from being a promise keeper to becoming a promise breaker? Not a chance. God is faithful. He has proven through centuries that He can be trusted. He has demonstrated over and over again that He is reliable. 

I personally think God leads us into some of our trials to test our faith and to glorify Himself when He does the impossible. What is our impossible today? What imposing, improbable, and inconceivable thing do we need God do for us today? How might God work in those areas to show His power to do what others say cannot be done? Again, what do we see and what does God say? 

Brenda and I have seen God do the impossible time and time again. When we moved to FBC Seminole the church owned a missionary house, but they did not have a parsonage.  We had no down payment money to buy a house of our own. We were allowed to live in the mission house temporarily until we found our own place. We contacted a realtor from the church and began the journey of faith. We prayed and prayed. We looked into financing. We still did not have any down payment money. We looked at several houses. None of them felt right. Then we looked at 2112 N.W. Ave B. We loved it. It seemed way out of our price range. We got preapproved for a home loan, but still did not have any down payment money. It looked impossible. 

Enter stage right God. He did two things that looked impossible. One day the chairman of deacons came to my office with an envelope. Behind the scenes many in the church took up some money to help us with the down payment on a house. We did not ask anyone but God for help. To this day I don't know how they knew our need. God sure used those people. Those loving and generous people of FBC Seminole gave us $8,000! God was not done. Not long afterward one Saturday morning we had a knock at the mission house door. We were eating pizza and watching college football. A couple from the church came inside. He served on the search committee that called us to Seminole. He also was the president of a local bank where we set up our account. His wife was heavily involved in women's ministry. After exchanging some pleasantries, they handed us envelope telling they felt called by God to help us. Inside the envelope was $5,000. In a matter of days God blessed us with $13,000 to put down on the house. We did buy that house on N.W. Ave B. We made some happy memories there. It looked impossible. God flexed His muscle and made a way where there seemed to be no way. What God did for us He can do for anyone. 

Those special people from FBC Seminole have blessed us immeasurably since then. We left Seminole to start a church. We took a major step of faith and cut in pay. Private individuals have blessed us over the past 12 years with.... are you ready for this? Over $150,000. Not the church as a whole. Individuals. A $100 here. $500 there. $1,400 each month for five years. $6,000 one time recently. NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD. We have seen it over and over again. TO GOD BE THE GLORY FOR THE GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE! We could not have possibly made it without God providing for our needs through other people. 

That is not the same impossible miracle as having a baby in old age. It is the same God working. I thank God for the trials over the years where Brenda and I were forced to trust Him for impossible things. We have learned first-hand God can be trusted. I hope you experience God for yourself. I hope you encounter Him in some powerful way in the near future. Then you will have your own testimony to share to encourage others. Maybe it will happen on some ordinary day, blazing hot outside as you sent on the front porch. When you least expect it perhaps God will reveal Himself to you setting the stage for a mighty miracle. Find your own oaks of Mamre. The God of the universe will soon reveal Himself and work in ways we cannot see right now. Press on in faith. Nothing is impossible with Him. 

The Oak of Moreh

 I completed reading through the Bible again yesterday. This morning I sat back and started over in the book of Genesis. I spent over a year teaching through the book of Genesis recently. I've read through the book numerous times. One of the things I love about God's word is that it is living and active. [Heb 4:12] No matter how many times I read it there is always something new to discover. 

I sat back in my chair and with the soft glow of the lamp on this little desk off from the living room illuminating the word of God. I started reading. Wanting God to speak to me. I read the creation account. Then about the curse of sin. About the Noah and the flood. I read the story of the tower of Babel with great interest. Then I settled in on Genesis chapter 12. I have long loved this chapter because of the first verse. The call of Abram to leave Ur and his relatives to follow God to an unknown destination. 

I slowed the reading pace when I came to that verse hoping God might speak to me again through it. He did not. He did speak. He did so in Genesis 12 but used verses this time I've never noticed before. Let me set the stage. Abram, his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot and his servants all started following God toward Canaan. Then I saw it. A few little verses nestled in the chapter that begged my attention. Here they are. 

Genesis 12:5-7 (NASB)
⁵  Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.
⁶  Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.
⁷  The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. 

The oak of Moreh became sacred ground where God again encountered Abram. It was just a simple tree. A spot in the road. It was at the oak of Moreh where God appeared to Abram and gave him the covenant for the promised land Israel occupies to this day. A much-contested land with the Palestinians.

God does that. He meets us in unexpected places at unexpected times to reveal His plans and purposes. We never know where or when the next God encounter will happen. This morning it was in the pages of the Bible in verses I least expected to discover Him. I thank God for the oak of Moreh experiences. That is what pulls me out of bed at all hours of the night and morning to keep plowing through the scriptures. I know from past experience that I will meet Him in those pages. Life altering encounters with God await the serious student of scripture. 

As a young believer I used to read through devotional books and materials in my quiet times. Nearly twenty years ago I adopted a different approach. I just started reading through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation at my own pace. I tried those reading through the Bible in a year plans. I would fall behind and read furiously to keep up with the plan but got little out of it. When I started reading through the Bible at my pace, God started meeting with me. Don't misunderstand. Every day is not like today. Some days I read with no fresh word from the Lord. Other days like today, I read, and God meets me in unexpected places. I live for those encounters. Those unexpected divine appointments at the oak of Moreh. 

I am sure Abram was exhausted when he arrived at the oak of Moreh. Traveling back then was taxing and labor intensive. I am also sure Abram had a lot on his mind. Following God in blind faith. Not knowing where He was going. Not being able to answer all of Sarai's and Lot's inquisitions about where they would settle. With all of that going on God chose to meet Abram in an extraordinary way at an ordinary place. He still does that. 

Maybe your devotions have been lacking lately. Let me invite you to change your religious routine. Set aside some time with God. Meet with Him on a porch, in a lounge chair, in an office, at a cafe, or on a slow stroll. Don't rush through your time with Him. Read His word slowly praying for God to meet you in the pages. I assure you in God's time, you too will have your own oak of Moreh experience. I live for those moments. Maybe the crumbs from the spiritual food I feasted on today will whet your appetite for more. Your oak of Moreh lies ahead. 

Himabled

 Francis was quite a girl. Bright. Inquisitive. Imaginative. She wrote a poem at eight years old. That would not be the last. As an adult she published several books of poetry. She faced setbacks. Her dad died when she was only six months old. She was raised by a single mother and her maternal grandmother. Her mother could have become self-absorbed in her own grief. Instead, she poured the word of God into little Francis. 

Francis became interested in rescue mission work as a young lady. She labored for souls. She also had a passion for writing. Especially poems as a I mentioned earlier. She is credited for writing over 1,000 poems. Quite a feat for anyone. Her poems covered both secular and spiritual matters. As her popularity increased, she began writing under pseudonyms. It is estimated that Francis used around 200 pseudonyms to conceal her identity. That is all very impressive. 

She also wrote 8,000 songs. Many of these songs were published. Not just published on a small scale. Those songs were published and printed over 100 million copies. That is 100,000,000 copies! She became a household name. She did not seek the fame or attention. She just did the work God put before her to do. Those 8,000 songs were 8,000 hymns. Many still in hymnals today. Francis was quite a woman. 

All of that is fascinating. What you may not know is that as an infant she caught a cold. The cold advanced causing inflammation in her eyes leading to blindness. Yes, Francis did all of that work without sight. Pictures of her as an adult show her wearing shaded glasses. Francis lost her sight as a young girl. God gave her spiritual sight that soars past most people with 20/20 vision. 

She once said, "It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all of my life. I thank Him for this dispensation." 

How many of us could do that? To thank God for our maladies. She did. She also meant it. She went on to say, "If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow, I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things around me." 

Francis, better known as Fanny Crosby, saw things most of us will never see and she was blind. She saw into the spiritual realm. Some would say she was handicapped or disabled. I do not think Fanny would agree. She did not allow her blindness to keep her from a fully productive life for her Savior. In her blind condition, she did more than most people who can see. 

I love one other quote from her. "When I get to Heaven the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior." She has now been seeing that face for decades lost in the thrill of worship. Though she was blind now she sees. She was not disabled. She was Himabled. Get it. Him. Abled. Jesus empowered her to do more with her limitations than anyone might have thought was possible. What could He do through you and me if we surrendered to Him? 

This is the Day

 Psalm 118:24 (NASB)

²⁴  This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

This is the day the LORD has made. This September 1, 2022. It is a new day filled with fresh opportunities to encounter and serve our God. This day is a gift from the Creator. While it may be filled with some familiar routines, it has never been lived before. It is a day filled with potential. None of us knows what this day holds. 

Maybe we will have the chance to share a gospel witness. Maybe we will get to serve someone who can do nothing for us in return. Maybe today God opens His word to us in a fresh and exciting way to reveal wondrous things we have not known. Maybe today we get so caught up with the LORD in prayer that we lose track of time and everything around us. Maybe today we finally see God answer that prayer we have petitioned Him for such a long time. 

God made this day. Sure, there is evil in this day. Sure, vile venomous demon possessed people in positions of authority seem hell bent to destroy this nation. God is not surprised nor is He shaken. He has a prescribed plan. In that plan there was contingency for September 1, 2022. God made this day. Light will soon dispel the darkness. Both spiritually and literally. Though rain is forecast for the day, the SON WILL STILL SHINE. 

I don't know what this day holds for you. I don't know what trials, adversities, and sorrows you are struggling with on this day. I only know what God's word states. He made this day. We are supposed to rejoice in it. That is the last thing some of you may feel like doing. I have certainly been there myself from time to time. When the sufferings and struggles of this world strangle the joy out of you. 

I get it. Many of you are not in joyful circumstances. Things are tough. Might I ask a few questions. Does God still sit securely on His throne on tough days and seasons? Has His power been diminished one iota over time? Is He less powerful today than yesterday? Does He see you and your circumstances? Does He know your name? Are you His child, saved through the blood of Jesus? Are your present trials temporary in nature? From God's perspective is your situation hopeless? 

We have reason to rejoice. On this very day to cheer God on for His good work. Last night a man mentioned in Bible study that the human body has a million chemical reactions per second that we are not even aware of. Today you have air to breathe, water to drink, food to eat, shelter to protect you, a Bible to study, and prayer to plead for God's help. There are multiple reasons to rejoice in this day. 

You can also be glad in this day. You can exult in God and the gift of life. It is your choice whether you approach the day with gladness or whether you approach the day with a sullen attitude. Some people live their whole lives like rain clouds hang over their head making them moody and unpleasant to be around. You can choose to be overcome by your circumstances. Defeated. Depressed. You can also choose to live by faith, with hope, and be glad. You can exult in the God of creation who helps us through tough days. 

Which will you choose? I think of a couple facing a terminal illness. They both know the end is coming for one of them. They daily choose joy in the midst of suffering. I cannot put into words how they inspire me. Anyone can be glad on pleasant paths. Choosing joy in suffering speaks to a greater treasure found in God who is the source of joy. See Psalm 16:11. Which will you choose today? Joy and gladness or despair and defeat? We are mandated to choose joy. 

So come on light of day. Let the earth awaken and people too. Let opportunities unfold. Let your people enter the secret place to encounter You and be replenished with joy. Let us go through our day splashing joy and gladness on everyone we meet.