Special Saturday Edition: Somebody Needs to Know This!
This morning I was impressed to take to the computer and write. A scripture came into my heart so clearly:
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33 (KJV)
Try as we might to bypass obstacles and troubles, they are going to come into our lives. We are experiencing a pandemic such as none of us in our lifetime have every experienced. We are seeing travesties in government that remind this old history teacher that 1776 must has have been really something to experience. We sit in our comfortable homes and forget there was a time when the snow falling from the sky as it is this January day would have meant influenza that no doubt would rob us of a family member or more.We were detached from the Great World Wars, only knowing that our soldiers came back far different than they left. We cried out against what we felt was the useless war in Vietnam and lost a generation of men and women (and many of their families) who fought because they believed it was a just war. I could go on and on. Yes, injustice exists. Yes, people make mistakes, especially our leaders, yes there is crime, there is corruption, there are many in this world experiencing unimaginable suffering.
It can make you feel as if life were not worth living, except we know that somewhere in our hearts, when travesty strikes, we fight back. Why does that urgency for survival rise up within us. Because life is worth living. Life can be good, and joyful, and productive, and satisfying. God is good, and the circumstances we. find ourselves in, don’t negate the goodness of God. Yes, there is an adversary and he is the antithesis of all that God is. He relishes in our suffering. He delights in our pain. Yet, hear the words of our Lord, "be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!" This is the good news that carries us through whatever temptation, whatever test, whatever travesty the world throws our way. HE is the source of all of our hope, our peace, our joy. He is the healing balm that soothes our sickness; He is the Jehovah Jireh that provides more than enough; He is the lily of the valley that brightens our dark world; He is the comforter who sits beside me when I’m grieving. He is the source of my strength, that pushes me to press on when I get weary. He is the voice that calms all of my fears. He is Jesus, our Savior, our Lord, our King.
Take heart my friend, "there is no temptation given except which is common to man", that will overtake you, and this Jesus will "provide a way of escape that you may bear it". Trouble don’t last always – there is joy in the morning!
Maria