Heartache and truth

A Time to Complain          G. S. Kohler

I shake my fist at youI spitYou do not hearYou turn awayThe ones to whomI came in friendshipHave beaten my backPushed me awayLaughed at my nameI come to youAnd you have forgotten meBut, when I wake in the morningI step into your lightAnd you hear my complaintI see you hearYou have heard it allAnd so, I rest my caseRemind my heartThat you have another dayFor meI will sing againBecause you know the truth

The gift of communicating plainly with God is taken so seriously by Lent.  Christians who walk toward the Resurrection, it’s purpose and celebration, without preparing their hearts, rob themselves of growing deeper, more intimate and more assured.  So, through humility, confession, welcoming the curing presence of God into our souls, allows us to listen powerfully to the one who loves us best.  And then we can ask our questions, and share our deepest concerns about our lives, about the lives of those we love, about the things going on around us in the world.  We can lift up our heartaches, we can complain like the psalmists, because we have complete safety in God’s presence.  Over these weeks and within our souls, we’ve walked with God into a place of assurance of his love and God’s understanding.

          And it ishere that we should begin to find that God is not controlling.  God is not manipulating, shifting and slidingthings in and out of place, to move us in a direction or to get us to “followhis will.” God doesn’t control or seek to control us.  God loves us and God leads us.  When the people of Israel clamored out ofEgypt, came to Mount Sinai, they left slavery behind.  They left the authoritarian rules behind andarrived at the living authority of life. And God spoke with them about life. Many years later, people of Israel, decided that they would never breakanother rule of God.  It was then thatthey looked back at Sinai and determined that the words of God were a set ofrules that must be obeyed.  But when thepeople first arrived at the mountain of God, they were not taught that theywould enter a new slavery.

          The firsthearers of the 10 statements listened to the wisdom of God in how to livelife.  He spoke with them about thenature of life that they would lead with him. The word we translate now as “Commandments” is just as reasonablytranslated as “Instructions.”  Throughoutthe Old Testament we then find wisdom held up again and again as the way tofind and know God.

          And so, as wecome to the time to complain, to lay before God our greatest heart breaks, wecan realize that we have a companion in our dilemma, one who is ready to hearour hearts.  And, one who is also readyto look with us on what can be done as we move into the future together.

Prayer:Living Lord, healmy soul with the ointment of your grace. Remind me that I can be more honestwith you than with anyone because you already know.  Remind me that even if my heart would condemnme, you are greater than my heart and you know everything.  Hear my heart, its need and its hope.  I hope in you that you will hear and that youwill lead me into a new life.  Reach outthrough my hands to welcome those near by to join me as we travel on.  Amen.

Read all these Scriptures today. Then read one a day for three times during that day on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. And on Sunday, give yourself a break and share a meal with others.

Psalm 13    Jeremiah 29:11   Psalm 119:105   James 1:51 John 3:20