Camp Meeting Devotions - Day Three

 Psalm 34:18 (NASB)

¹⁸  The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Look around at people. Look deeply into their eyes. You just might discover people living in pain. Trying to cope with emotional burdens, unexpected circumstances, sorrows buried down deep, despair, and people faking it while trying to make it through another day. 

Brokenhearted people live in our homes, work alongside us, and worship among us. Brokenhearted people are bruised, completely crushed, and shattered into shivers. Like a mirror that falls to the floor in many pieces, so are the hearts of those broken and shattered by the hardships of life. People in the pews live with the sharp pain of life without their deceased spouse. The pain never goes away. The battered bravely face each day in shame and fear of ever being found out. While their bodies are bruised, their psyche and spirts are completely crushed as well. They hide it well. They suffer in silence. The marginalized live their days alone, forgotten and neglected. The pain of nobody caring rips through them like a carving knife through a Thanksgiving Turkey. 

There is hope for brokenhearted people. God is near. He is at hand, close, and readily available. It may not feel that way. There are times we have to look past the way we feel to spiritual truths that transcend our feelings. God is near to brokenhearted people. That is truth. It is a reality that God's people must remember in the most grievous situations. We must choose to believe and expect to receive help and hope from Him. 

God can sweep up the shivers of our shattered hearts and masterfully put them back together. There may still be scars, but God heals and restores broken hearts. The pain can masquerade God's presence. We get tunnel vision about what we are going through that blind us to greater spiritual truths. God is near. He is close at hand to strengthen, comfort, help, and console. Even when we feel like He has abandoned and forsaken us. 

He saves, or to put it another way, He delivers people who are crushed in spirit. People who are oppressed. Who live in constant affliction. People who are heavy laden. Souls that are sunk down under oppressive burdens they cannot seem to shake. Anguished people longing for relief. God rescues such people. He delivers and preserves them. It is time to lay our burdens down refusing to pick them up again. To leave them with the Master. 

So many are deceived by their pain and oppression they become convinced they will never be whole. Never live free. Never have the broken shattered pieces put back together. Never live out from under the crushing weight. That may be what it seems like, but that is not the truth of what God says. His word is healing medicine to give hope. To restore faith. To rekindle the dream of living pain free days. Dare to dream banking on the fact that God is a promise keeper and not a promise breaker. 

• Identify what has broken your heart? 
• Do you believe God is close by you in your pain? Explain why or why not?
• Describe what God rescuing you would mean.
• List the things that oppress you. Pray Ps 55:22 in addition to the verse for today. 
• What do you dare to dream today?

Misty Eyes

 We talked about life and our eyes grew misty. Talk of disappointment, grief, trials, setbacks, afflictions and the like. The tear ducts reached down deep to leak the pain in liquid form. The glasses came off and fingers wiped the water away. This is all part of the human experience. 

There are times to rejoice. Times to celebrate. Times to laugh, embrace, enjoy, and enumerate God's bountiful blessings. There are also times to mourn, to grieve, to grapple, and to groan under heavy sorrows. Both experiences are part of our earthly pilgrimage. 

One person may experience the pain of an untimely death, a difficult divorce, or a devastating diagnosis from a doctor. On the other side of town, someone else may celebrate the wedded bliss of a youthful bride and groom, rejoice over the birth of a new child, and cheer a long-awaited job promotion. Our misty eyes may reflect the sorrows of sad days or the triumph of tremendous days. 

God designed those watery well of emotions to express the truth hidden deep within. When words do not suffice and are not enough, misty eyes may say it best. Misty eyes can communicate I love you. They can say I miss you. They may also express I hurt with you and for you. Or possibly I will bear this with you.

 Misty eyes form fountains sometimes when we least expect it. During a moving worship service. Lost in the presence of God. Hearing a gripping testimony. Stirred by a shared burden. Sometimes we see them coming from a distance. Like saying goodbye after a long visit from the kids and grandkids. Like sitting staring at a casket containing the shell casing of the one we loved so much. 

Misty eyes are a sign that we are still living. Still feeling the range of emotions given us by our Creator. We can become callused. Hard hearted. Unmoved by anything. Incapable of tears. Hard times can produce hard people. People who give up on joy and the abundant life. People who forge ahead stoically seemingly unphased by both celebratory and grievous times alike. Like a robot they progress like they have been programmed not to feel. 

God created pain as well as delight. Anger as well as peace. Sorrow as well as laughter. They make up the full range of the human experience. Misty eyes often express our need for to God help us navigate through these experiences. Some think they are too masculine to weep. Nobody was more masculine than Jesus and He was moved to tears. More than one strong person has choked back the tears trying to maintain control. I believe God created tears to help eliminate all those suppressed feelings. To leak both pain and praise. 

Admittedly, some are more prone to misty eyes and to ball buckets of tears than others. Tears have a purpose.  God created them. It has probably been a long time since we thanked God for tears. Thanked Him for letting us feel. Feelings can't dictate everything in our lives. Our feelings can deceive us. That is another message for another day. There is a place for tears. Something I figure we all take for granted. 

When is the last time your eyes misted? When is the last time you felt anything deeply? Recall the last time anything moved you to great joy or to great sorrow? May we not live like little programmed robots devoid of feelings and misty eyes. May God soften and tenderize our hearts to feel what He feels. Even if it means getting a little misty eyed along the way.