Skip to main content

Dismal Forebodings...

              And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

 

            Today is one of those days. Maybe it’s just that when I get up, it’s still dark. Not so long ago, it was light before I woke up. Or, it might just be something my body is doing to me. Or, it might not be anything except my imagination. Whatever the answer, the question is, “Why do I feel like I’m one step away from plunging into an emotional gully?”  You might say that I’m issuing a “depression watch” meaning that conditions are right for one. And if one does develop, that’s OK. I’ve been there often enough, I know the dance routine. And I’m thankful that I haven’t had to dance it often recently.

            I want to be cautious about this because I don’t want my “awareness” to cause a depression. It might just be that I need another nice big drink of water, after all. But today seems to be a good day to remind myself – and you – that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him. Even if we love Him imperfectly.

            Today’s passage doesn’t say that things work out the way we want them to. It doesn’t say things come easy and that you will never struggle with your body, mind, or feelings. It says things work out for the good. More often than not, that means that we become stronger, we learn lessons, we win hard-fought victories. In the long run, it is good for us if for no other reason than that we learn to recognize it, and it provides us with an opportunity to grow closer to God.

            Fortunately, my dismal forebodings seem to have faded. But whether they did or not that would not change the fact that God is good.

           

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...