I woke up this Holy Saturday morning, looked at the blue sky out my window and couldn’t help but to smile. It’s been a long, cold, rough, depressing, dark winter and it is time for it to go away. This morning, as I welcomed this new and holy day my mind drifted to what I thought was a strange verse:
Do not abandon the works of your hands. Psalm 138:8c
The reason I think I thought of this verse is because I have been struggling many struggles lately, but among them there is one that has been crippling me from my ability to do the work of the Kingdom. I have been feeling mightily unworthy of being counted as a Kingdom worker. Yesterday, however, I realized it’s been all a scheme of the enemy. Incriminating hearts beat at the drums of the Devil for there is no guilt in Christ. That’s what Paul tells us in Romans 8: 1-2,
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
A condemning heart is manipulated by evil. The thoughts of inadequacy, unworthiness, inferiority and inability which come to us when faced with the opportunity to do great things for God are the flaming arrows of the one who wants to do everything possible to keep us from furthering the work of the Lord. He fills our brains with incriminating voices, “Why do you think you can serve in that project at church when you can’t even keep your messy life straight?” “You can’t work in that ministry after what you have done!” “What makes you think you can participate in that activity, when you can’t even control your temper with your kids?” “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” “You are not clean enough to be a part of God’s plan.” “Why would you even think that someone so small and insignificant could do anything that mattered?” “You don’t even have compassion for those you love, what makes you think you can show compassion for those you don’t?” The enemy will do anything. He will use any weapon in his deadly arsenal to stop us from doing great things for the King of Kings. He plants these thoughts of defeat in our souls when we feel most vulnerable in order to make us stumble in our way to redemption.
David came to my mind, and how small he must’ve felt when he realized what he had set out to do. Of course he was full of the power of the Most High when he decided to fight Goliath…but then, I wonder what he must have been thinking while selecting the stones he’ll put in his sling. The runt of the family, his own father was so ashamed of him that he made him a shepherd and cast him out in the wilderness. He wouldn’t even line him up with his other sons when Samuel asked to see them all. “What am I doing?” I figured was about those fleeting thoughts that passed through David’s mind as he bent over to pick up the stones. He would not be human if he had not thought of such things. The difference was that he had a heart filled with the power of God and he did not let the thoughts, the other voices of defeat, drown the voice of His Maker. He pressed on to do what God was leading him to do regardless of his inadequacies.
Today, in this Holy Saturday morning, just like the disciples did the day after Jesus’ death, I am hiding in my own self-pity and feelings of defeat. There is a voice inside of me, however, that is becoming louder than all the other voices that incriminate me. That voice is saying,
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up Galatians 6: 9
Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Psalm 126: 5
Unlike the disciples who didn’t know, on that fateful, long Saturday after the death of Christ, that He would indeed be risen the next day, I do know it. I know what tomorrow will bring. Tomorrow will bring victory! So today I prepare as I wait. Today I begin to peel off the layers of guilt and sorrow in which I have been buried for far too long and get ready to see the Son be resurrected in me again with the first light of day.
Do not abandon the works of your hands. Psalm 138:8c
The reason I think I thought of this verse is because I have been struggling many struggles lately, but among them there is one that has been crippling me from my ability to do the work of the Kingdom. I have been feeling mightily unworthy of being counted as a Kingdom worker. Yesterday, however, I realized it’s been all a scheme of the enemy. Incriminating hearts beat at the drums of the Devil for there is no guilt in Christ. That’s what Paul tells us in Romans 8: 1-2,
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
A condemning heart is manipulated by evil. The thoughts of inadequacy, unworthiness, inferiority and inability which come to us when faced with the opportunity to do great things for God are the flaming arrows of the one who wants to do everything possible to keep us from furthering the work of the Lord. He fills our brains with incriminating voices, “Why do you think you can serve in that project at church when you can’t even keep your messy life straight?” “You can’t work in that ministry after what you have done!” “What makes you think you can participate in that activity, when you can’t even control your temper with your kids?” “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” “You are not clean enough to be a part of God’s plan.” “Why would you even think that someone so small and insignificant could do anything that mattered?” “You don’t even have compassion for those you love, what makes you think you can show compassion for those you don’t?” The enemy will do anything. He will use any weapon in his deadly arsenal to stop us from doing great things for the King of Kings. He plants these thoughts of defeat in our souls when we feel most vulnerable in order to make us stumble in our way to redemption.
David came to my mind, and how small he must’ve felt when he realized what he had set out to do. Of course he was full of the power of the Most High when he decided to fight Goliath…but then, I wonder what he must have been thinking while selecting the stones he’ll put in his sling. The runt of the family, his own father was so ashamed of him that he made him a shepherd and cast him out in the wilderness. He wouldn’t even line him up with his other sons when Samuel asked to see them all. “What am I doing?” I figured was about those fleeting thoughts that passed through David’s mind as he bent over to pick up the stones. He would not be human if he had not thought of such things. The difference was that he had a heart filled with the power of God and he did not let the thoughts, the other voices of defeat, drown the voice of His Maker. He pressed on to do what God was leading him to do regardless of his inadequacies.
Today, in this Holy Saturday morning, just like the disciples did the day after Jesus’ death, I am hiding in my own self-pity and feelings of defeat. There is a voice inside of me, however, that is becoming louder than all the other voices that incriminate me. That voice is saying,
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up Galatians 6: 9
Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Psalm 126: 5
Unlike the disciples who didn’t know, on that fateful, long Saturday after the death of Christ, that He would indeed be risen the next day, I do know it. I know what tomorrow will bring. Tomorrow will bring victory! So today I prepare as I wait. Today I begin to peel off the layers of guilt and sorrow in which I have been buried for far too long and get ready to see the Son be resurrected in me again with the first light of day.
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