We are definitely in a season of disappointments at the moment. This is all following on from the referendum and our 'neighbour's' reactions to it by shutting the airport and another 'neighbour' causing visa hassles for all Americans. It feels as though disappointment after disappointment has come our way. They're nothing huge in the big scheme of things, just wearing and sad. Especially missing friends who had to leave; not being able to go back on a trip to the UK to help family; potentially not having visitors who we've been looking forward to hosting here for seven years now; new team mates not being able to get in and saying goodbyes to local friends. And not just for us but many of our expat friends have had plans fall through and we share their sadness. It's a time of huge uncertainties politically, militarily and relationally about the future. I've been looking for what the Lord has to say through His Word about all of this and I am excited to see what He will teach us. I wasn't expecting it to come via Instagram though! I read a post quoting this from C.H.Spurgeon:
It made me think to myself, let's change bereavements for 'disappointments' and 'uncertainties':
We have suffered bereavement after bereavement,
but we are going to the land of the immortal
where graves do not exist.
We are going through disappointment after disappointment,
but we are going to the land of hope-fulfilled
where disappointments do not exist.
We are living through uncertainty after uncertainty,
but we are going to the land of fully-knowing
where uncertainties do not exist.
I was listening today to the song Bless the Lord oh my Soul and one of the lines made me realise once again how we react to these things is a choice I need constantly to make:
You give and take away,
My heart will choose to say,
Lord blessed be your name.
In this time I need to be a whole lot more ready to say, Lord, blessed be your name, rather than grow bitter and rehearse the irritations of the situation we are in and look for someone to blame
.
No comments:
Post a Comment