The other day one of my daughters-in-law posted a scripture passage on Facebook from Isaiah 61:3 where the Lord, speaking to His people, promises “to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” This passage should bring comfort to all who mourn the loss of loved ones, or who fear the world in which we are living today. The Bible, both Old and New Testaments are filled with reminders of the help and care that God provides for His people. In Matthew 28:20, for example, Jesus assures us that “lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” And again in John 14:27, He tells us, “Peace I leave with you My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” But with all of these assurances of love and comfort, why are so many Christians sorrowful, depressed, hopeless? Why, in times of crisis, do so many lose their faith and turn from God?
There is another truth about the dealings of God with mankind that we sometimes overlook. God does not force Himself upon us. When he offers us salvation, for example, there is a condition. Jesus, the Son of God, did in fact die for the sins of the world and was then resurrected even as the faithful shall one day be. However, while His sacrifice became available to every living soul throughout the ages, certain conditions apply. Read the fine print.
Every child in Sunday school class has learned John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” There is the condition. To receive the benefit of the Son’s sacrifice, we must believe in Him. In order to receive something from God, we must first do something.
In another verse we are told “Yet you do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2). How often do Christians moan about their problems but never pray about them? When we pray, we may not always get the answer that we want, but at the very least we feel the presence, the peace, and the reassurance of God that whatever the outcome of our situation, He will help us through it.
Christianity is a pro-active religion. We are taught always to act; to help others, to love our enemies, to pray, to give, to believe, even in the face of overwhelming opposition. But all of this takes conscious effort on our part. We choose to believe. We choose to love. We choose to pray. And when disaster strikes us, we must choose to trust.
We often forget how much control we have over our own lives. We feel so battered by the world around us that we begin to feel powerless. But as Christians, we can tap into the power of the Creator, yet we must choose to do so. It is our own attitude to every situation in which we find ourselves that makes the difference. If someone says something nasty to us or about us, our feelings will be hurt, naturally. But we can choose to let that hurt go, to give it to God and to let His love smooth over the bruise. Or we can choose to let that hurt fester, to run it through our minds over and over, to become obsessed with it. And if we do that, we are the only ones who will be hurt over and over again from something that should have been long forgotten. A pastor once told our youth group that you can’t prevent a bird from flying over your head, but you can prevent it from building a nest in your hair. We cannot control what others say or do to us, but we have perfect control over our reaction to them. We can choose consciously to give that hurt over to God and to go on. Or we can let that bird of hurt build a nest in our hair and carry it around with us for the rest of our lives.
Let’s learn to deliberately choose peace and love rather than resentment. God will not force them upon us, but He will generously pour them into our hearts the moment we ask Him. Only then can we live the full and complete lives that He wishes us to live. Only then can we truly see in our lives the promises of God; “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” Choose to be joyful! You are a child of the King! Eternal life awaits you! Nothing that this world or the Evil One can throw at you can change that. “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). The choice is yours.