From Pastor Chris: Counting Your Tears

Psalm 56:8 (NIV)
      Record my misery;
         list my tears on your scroll—
         are they not in your record?

The week leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus has traditionally been a time for Christians to reflect on the significance of Christ's death. It just so happens that yesterday I came upon this verse while going through some Holy Week devotionals in "More Light on the Path".

This is a poetic verse and the NIV nicely captures a word play on "record" in Hebrew in the first and last line. There is another between "misery" and "on your scroll" (lit. wanderings and in your bottle). The word behind "misery" can also be "tossings" or "wanderings", which made me think of nights I don't sleep well and things are weighing heavily on my mind.

Have you ever had those nights? Lying in your bed overcome with emotion about all kinds of things and just wanting to forget it all and get some sleep. Things you should have done or things you wish you had not, or things you wish were not so. Here in the Psalm it speaks of God counting your tears and storing them up for a day when he will answer our prayers.

But that isn't all, my little devotional had one more verse for me to read:

Revelation 7:17
       For the Lamb at the center of the throne
         will be their shepherd;
         ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
         ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

The word behind "wipe away" is very strong and could be rendered "obliterate." Immediately after this in Rev. 8 it describes the censor of the prayers of saints being poured out on the earth. God is listening to our cries for mercy, for justice, for peace and salvation. He is recording them in his book and a day is coming when he will not just comfort us, but obliterate our tears with the blessings of the kingdom to come and his salvation in all its fullness.

I hope that is an encouragement to you as it was to me this week. God is counting your tears and one day he will answer them awesomely.

Pastor Chris

From Pastor Chris - Kingdom Joy

A few months ago, I was a feeling a little worn down. I felt as if I wasn't getting anywhere and I was just going through the motions in life. It seems really silly sometimes when we catch ourselves thinking or feeling that way. All things considered we live in one of the better places to live in the United States, which is one of the better places to live in the whole world and perhaps human history.  This is precisely why it's popular on Twitter to complain about #firstworldproblems. We make a joke of out of our existential crises over the tiniest of inconveniences in our lives.

But the fact is, the modern world is often dissatisfying. But our existential crises are nothing new! There is a Hebrew word in the book of Ecclesiastes for it: hevel, which translates meaninglessness, vanity, and futile. The word is a synonym for vapor, carrying the sense of a momentary breath which is there for but a moment then gone. Like the preacher of Ecclesiastes, we long for the bigger and better, for things substantive, to just feel something, anything. So we pursue anything that we can to get a rise out of our souls. We are dissatisfied unless there is more money, more people, more fun, more emotion, more to suppress the sense that it may be all for nothing in the end. Just a flashy show for a little while then we die.

The good news is that Jesus says, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly," (Jn. 10:10). He spoke of the kingdom of God being "at hand," (Mt. 4:17), and that he himself brings the kingdom (Lk. 17:21). He spoke of his kingdom as something worth giving up all we have for in order to possess it (Mt. 13:44-46). The kingdom is a place full of joy where Jesus reigns. But he also says "whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will keep it," (Lk. 17:33). This is why the preacher of Ecclesiastes calls our pursuits so pointless; they are all about preserving our "stuff" instead of finding our lives in losing them.

It was reflecting on the kingdom of God that gave me comfort that day. Didn't Jesus say it's like a tiny mustard seed that grows into a large tree? We know in the end what satisfies the soul is reconnecting with the source of life itself: Jesus. He is the one who, by his Spirit, produces in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These things are of eternal value and do not fade away. Then Jesus' words about losing our life to gain it don't sound so "hard" after all, but freeing. I don't need more stuff, more money, or more success. I need less of them because I need more of Him and more of us for his kingdom. Only in this will we bear a harvest of joy that is deeply satisfying.

-Pastor Chris