Welcome!
Passage: Lamentations 5 (NIV 84)
Today: Got questions? God has the answer!
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect. 13 Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. 14 The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music. 15 Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. (Lamentations 5, NIV 84) emphasis added
When things are right, God turns our mourning into dancing and gives beauty in place of ashes (Isaiah 61:3). But here we see, dancing turned into mourning!
In the sermon on the mount, Jesus told that those who mourn now shall receive a blessing later. We don’t like to go through a period of mourning/repentance, but we want all the blessings; it does not just happen like that!
There are times when the church may “dance and praise” before the Lord; but there are also times when we have to mourn, fast and pray. When it is all dancing and no mourning, no repentance or broken-hearted prayer, it is really scary!
If you see someone laughing big as some bad thing happens to their immediate relative, what will you say? “something wrong”!
In the same way, when church chooses to laugh and enjoy when it is time to cry and weep because of the sin of the land and the church, God must be looking at us and weeping, because “his own” has lost her mind and gone crazy! Jesus himself went through the tests and became an overcomer!
The “price” is already paid on the cross; we don’t need to pay that price again. However, there is always a “cost” involved, for the things of God!
In the O.T, we see men like Joseph and David, who got their blessings only after passing the test! Before the crown, is a cross
When the people of Jerusalem found that all their dancing was now turned into mourning, they forgot that they did not mourn when God sent His prophets and gave them the strong message, “repent”!
When we look at the church which has become so established as an organization, instead of being an organism, there is so much of politics and commercialism, and a “big bill”/price is on the way. We already hear people asking, “why”?
Sometimes, when certain church elections come, they get worse than the one in the secular world. People “bite” at each other, as if they were hungry for weeks. It is true that they have not been fed properly by the word for years!
The Samaritan woman in John 4 was living in sin, while boasting about her “church”. Not very different is the situation of the church in many places
However, this is not true in all cases. There are churches that are growing in Christ, and feel what the community feels; churches that do what God would have them do! God bless them!
It is time for a come-back to God, as individuals, families, and churches. God has the answer to our questions, as long as we are willing to listen to Him!
Have a blessed day!
BG
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for speaking to me. We know that as individuals, families and churches, we have walked a long way from you, and we know that it takes much more, to come back. Restore us through’ repentance and renewal; Amen
God often gets “shocks” from us; may be it is time to give God a “surprise”!