Broken Things

[i]

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress.  Tears blur my eyes.  My body and soul are withering away.  I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness.  Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within.  I am scorned by all my enemies and despised by my neighbors—even my friends are afraid to come near me.  When they see me on the street, they run the other way.  I am ignored as if I were dead, as if I were a broken pot.  I have heard the many rumors about me, and I am surrounded by terror.  My enemies conspire against me, plotting to take my life.  But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, “You are my God!”  My future is in your hands.  Psalm 31:9-15a^(NLT)

The young man who would eventually become Israel’s revered King David knew the anguish of being publicly humiliated and even hunted as a criminal by King Saul.  Without doubt David has a lot of brothers and sisters in brokenness.

There’s tragic sense about broken people that awakens us to the reality of suffering and the loss of youthful dreams or hope.  David felt like a broken pot, useful for nothing; at best his future seemed to have only the possibility of continuing to breathe-in the dust of other people’s pity or scorn.

But, even when hope seems completely gone, and faith has been shattered like cheap pottery, and the future seems as low as the view from the bottom of a snake’s belly, faith is never completely gone.  David prayed this prayer:  I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, ‘You are my God!”  My future is in your hands.

I’ve only recently begun reading some of Martha Snell Nicholson’s writings, and appreciating the wisdom and insight of a longtime sufferer.  She was sickly as a child, and suffered a number of serious health challenges that caused her to be bedridden for much of her life.  Among these were TB, anemia, a twisted spine and crippling arthritis.  Yet being an invalid for more than 35 of her 55 years never destroyed her faith, and hardly dampened her ability to encourage others with her writings.

Here’s how Mrs. Nicholson saw the David kind of brokenness in the hands of God:

We are now His broken things.  But remember how He has used broken things:  the broken pitchers of Gideon's little army, the broken roof through which the paralyzed man was lowered to be healed, the broken alabaster box which shed its fragrance abroad and the broken body of our Savior.
Let us ask Him to take our broken hearts and to press upon them further suffering to give us a poignant realization of the suffering of the world.  Let us ask Him to show us the endless, hopeless river of lost souls.  This will break our hearts anew; but when it happens, God can use us at last.[ii]

For You Today

Got troubles?  Good!  God uses broken things.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

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[i] Title image: By Kiran Jonnalagadda from Bangalore, India (Shattered glass), via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] Heart Held High, Martha Snell Nicholson

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

[i]

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

“Now learn a lesson from the fig tree.  When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near.  In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door.  I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.  However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.  Only the Father knows.  “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.  In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat.  People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away.  That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.  

Matthew 24:32-39^(NLT)

Parables, or stories, were told by Jesus to teach one central truth.  They are like signposts, pointing to something much greater than their own reality.  When I want to go somewhere I check the road signs against my GPS.  The sign that says Thomasville 19 miles out on Interstate 85 is just a bit of metal.  The reality comes later. 

Teaching the reality of the coming destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, Jesus uses the fig tree’s flowering to tell us to stay alert, look at the signs, and be prepared.  There’s a somewhat confusing, but specific reference to the generation that would still be alive.  But that is the way people of Jesus' day measured segments of time; a generation consisting of 40 years.  The coming event was only a generation away.  But the later event, His Second Advent ^(v.36) would be sudden and unexpected by many. 

Jesus illustrates with the example of Noah.  Noah took the abuse of his neighbors as he built an ark in the sunshine for 120 years.  But one day, when God was ready, the ark door closed...the laughing subsided...Don't misunderstand the parable that tells you God will someday take care of business.

The lesson from this bit of practical advice is simply to accept the fact that God has set the time; and Jesus will be back when He is back!  You will know about it.  As a believer, He has promised to come back for you.  The event will be very open, with Jesus coming in clouds and glory.  It will be a little like the elephants at the circus; you never have to ask, have the elephants come in?  You KNOW when they've arrived!  What you do while waiting for His coming is prepare to meet the Lord at His arrival. 

Martha Snell Nicholson was a poet who spoke from her invalid’s bed of pain in the 1950’s.  Listen to her beautiful words as she spoke words of truth we should all heed:

The best part is the blessed hope of his soon coming.  How I ever lived before I grasped that wonderful truth, I do not know.  How anyone lives without it these trying days I cannot imagine.  

Each morning I think, with a leap of the heart, He may come today.  

And each evening, When I awake I may be in glory.  

Each day must be lived as though it were to be my last, and there is so much to be done to purify myself and to set my house in order.  

I am on tiptoe with expectancy.  

There are no more grey days – for they're all touched with color;

no more dark days – for the radiance of His coming is on the horizon;

no more dull days, with glory just around the corner;

and no more lonely days, with His footsteps coming ever nearer, and the thought that soon, soon, I shall see His blessed face and be forever through with pain and tears is the joy that awaits.[ii]

For You Today

Whatever you do today, keep the house of your relationship with God…in order!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

NOTES

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[i] Title image: By കാക്കര (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] From a poem by Martha Snell Nicholson