1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Thank you for listening to your Daily Bible Verse, 2 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: the podcast that examines one verse each day to learn 3 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: more about God and his will for our lives. I'm 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: your host, Kyle Norman. After a brief message from one 5 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,600 Speaker 1: of our sponsors, we will continue with our Journeying through 6 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:44,240 Speaker 1: the Wilderness series with a discussion of today's verse. Today's 7 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: verse can be found in Lamentations, Chapter three, Verse thirty two. 8 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:53,560 Speaker 1: Though he brings grief, he will so compassion, So great 9 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: is his unfailing love. I once led a healing service 10 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: at my church, invited to come forward, receive a prayer, 11 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: and get anointed by oil. Many people came up, some 12 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 1: articulating relational hurts, other's illnesses that they wanted to be healed. 13 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:15,279 Speaker 1: But one woman came forward, whose husband of fifty years 14 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 1: had died the month prior. She came wanting to be 15 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: healed of her grief. I remember it distinctly. Put my 16 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: hand on her shoulder, and I prayed for God's love 17 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: to unfold her. But that I prayed that she be 18 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: reminded that grief was not something to be healed, but 19 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 1: that it was an expression of her love and an 20 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:41,679 Speaker 1: opportunity to rest in Christ's love. We live in a 21 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: world that elevates the easy and the complication free. It 22 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: promotes a vision of life filled with moments of bliss 23 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: and joy. Things that are negative or emotionally draining are 24 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: seen as somehow working against our true life or our 25 00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: true selves. We sometimes translate such idea into our sense 26 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: of faith. God wants us to feel great all the time, 27 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: we assume, and so when grief comes, when loss comes, 28 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: when sorrow fills our heart, we can sometimes think that 29 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: it signifies an absence of God's presence. But that's not 30 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: the case. God calls us to live in the midst 31 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: of a fallen world, and because we are called to 32 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: engage in the fullness of life, we often experience times 33 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: of sorrow, weeping, and loss. This isn't contrary to our 34 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: life with God. In fact, Scripture frequently articulates this reality. 35 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: Just consider the fact that most of the psalms are 36 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,359 Speaker 1: laments articulating cries for God's help in times of difficulty. 37 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,359 Speaker 1: We have Jeremiah the prophet, who is known as the 38 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: Weeping Prophet. We even have a whole book in the 39 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: Bible called Lamentations. In an act of love for us 40 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: God has given us these books, psalms and verses to 41 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: help us articulate our faith in the light of grief 42 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: and sorrow. So how do we be faithful in the 43 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,919 Speaker 1: midst of these times? How do we find God's love 44 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: and grief and sorrow? Firstly, we recognize the truth of 45 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: what we feel. God never wants us to hide our emotions. 46 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 1: We are to mask what we feel. We are to 47 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: declare it openly. As God guides us in our lives, 48 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: God will inevitably guide us into times where we feel 49 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: the sting of loss, or where we mourn over what 50 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: has not occurred, where we might feel overcome with sorrow 51 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: and sadness. Lamentations three says, though He brings grief. Now, 52 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: this doesn't mean that God is rolling the dice of 53 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: misfortune in our lives. It means that God leads us 54 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: in a life where grief and sorrow can be a 55 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: reality for us. But the times of grief and sorrow 56 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: are not times where we are left to our own devices. 57 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: God is with us. We dare to believe that we 58 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: are not alone. When we find ourselves grieving for any reason, 59 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:19,280 Speaker 1: it's natural to turn inward. We withdraw from community Occasionally 60 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:21,359 Speaker 1: this might make us feel like we are alone in 61 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: our grief. But Jesus is not immune to sorrow. He 62 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: experienced a loss of Joseph. He walked through the beheading 63 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: of John the Baptist, He wept over the tomb of Lazarus, 64 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: and he mourned for the future destruction of Jerusalem. The 65 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:38,840 Speaker 1: Book of Isaiah tells us that Jesus was a man 66 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:43,479 Speaker 1: of sorrows, one acquainted with grief. It means that Jesus 67 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 1: enters into our experience of heartache. In nineteen twenty three, 68 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: Thomas Chisholm, who is a Methodist pastor in the United States, 69 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,720 Speaker 1: he wrote what became his most famous him you may 70 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 1: know it well. The chorus reads, great is Thy faithfulness, 71 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: Great is Thy faithfulness, mourning by Mourningnu mersies, I see 72 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: all that I have needed. Thy hands have provided. Great 73 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. What makes this him powerful, 74 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,280 Speaker 1: I think, is the fact that it is a reflection 75 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: on Lamentations Chapter three, In a book that articulates the 76 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:29,160 Speaker 1: reality of waiting, suffering, sorrow, and grief, we find the 77 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: words the Lord's compassion never fails. They are new every morning. 78 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: Great is Thy faithfulness standing in the literal center of 79 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 1: the Book of Lamentations is this reminder that in the 80 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: place of grief, God shows compassion for His unfailing love 81 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: is great, and it reminds us that lying in the 82 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 1: center of our times of grief and sorrow lies the 83 00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:00,480 Speaker 1: endless love of God. So if you were going through 84 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: a time of loss, may you know that Christ surrounds you. 85 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: May you know that you can bring your full self 86 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: to the Lord and prayer, your grieving self, your sorrowful self, 87 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: and in his arms you will find peace.