“When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions. Wait for hope to appear.”
(Lamentations 3:28-29)
Honestly, it’s been a challenging week. It’s always demanding to move across the country, changing homes and schools and jobs and friends. If you were to add up the life events on the Holmes-Rahe Stress Inventory, our family numbers soar petty high. Rob and I have had to be flexible and energetic, two attributes that are more challenging to muster in our forties then they were in our twenties. And unfortunately, for whatever reason, all of this personal upheaval kicks up the dust of the loss of my folks. I keep mentally reaching for my phone to call them and remembering there’s no parent to pick up on the other end any more.
I don’t say all this complain. I say it to let you know right where I was when I stepped into the sanctuary for yesterday’s Power Hour: tired, grumbly and missing my folks.
I suspect the original writer of Lamentations could relate to some of my feelings of displacement; only times about a hundred. He had watched the Jerusalem get sacked. He’d seen the Temple ravaged, torn down and her treasures carried off by strangers. Death and sorrow dominated every street. His response to such hardship is a prescription fo us. Seek spiritual solitude. Go to the sanctuary. Bow in prayer. Wait for hope to quake in the heart again.
One of my most favorite things about following Jesus is how I’ll have an experience with Him and then nearly immediately read a confirmation of it in His word. It’s like Holy Spirit deja vu, meant to solidify and personalize His truth, and it happened again yesterday.
I went into the sanctuary. At first, I sat in silence and spent a few moments re-orienting myself to His presence. Then I began praising Him; not asking questions, just expressing joy and gratitude over His attributes. And then hope appeared, like dawn overtaking my hart and covering my inner world again with His glorious light.
When the hour was up, I left different, infused with His Spirit. My step was lighter and my outlook brighter. That hour, paired with a power nap in the afternoon, reset my soul and got me ready the evening’s ministry opportunities.
Friend, don’t hesitate when the chips are down and you’re feeling sad or sorry for yourself. Go to the sanctuary instead. Sit before the Lord and wait on His presence. Let hope erupt anew in your soul.
“God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. It’s a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God.” (Lamentations 3:25-26 MSG)
Dear Lord, we are so glad we can be real with You. May we have the courage to bring all our stuff into Your presence. We wait on You to step into the room with hope again. Amen.