Years ago, when I was just starting to get my ministerial feet wet, I had the opportunity to preach one Sunday night before a modest number of congregants. Nervous and excited at the same time, I shared a message I thought to be good, and in fact have shared it many times since. It was actually during this sermon that my (then) 9 year-old daughter drew a pencil drawing of me at a lectern, holding a Bible in one hand, with the other raised in obvious oratory. It was an amazing likeness—clearly she doesn’t get her artistic talent from me.
I was profoundly honored and anxious to have the church’s three sitting pastors on the platform behind me (One of whom, as the congregation’s Senior Pastor, did not resign until having been there for over 25 years—an unheard of tenure for church leaders. Additionally, the other two ministers had been there well over a decade each—also rare in the church employment field).
Overall, I thought the message had gone fairly well, and at the end of the service went to the back of the sanctuary to greet those leaving for the night. The people were very polite, and when all but the Senior Pastor was left, I looked to him with expectation.
“I thought it was an excellent message,” he said.
“And?” I said.
“And nothing. It was an excellent message.”
As I stood glowing in his presence, my wife explained a character trait of mine to him.
“He’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
There was more than one reason for that dominating my life, but probably the most profound one had to do with the death of my late wife. Ting passed on at age 37 after two bouts of breast cancer in five years (She experienced three glorious years of remission in between). As a natural defense mechanism, when someone you love is going through something like that, and you have to deal with it as the non-afflicted family member, you start giving up hope. That way, if healing does not occur, you’re not disappointed—and if it does—you’re delighted.
That’s the way it often is when you’re living in this world and love the Lord. You know that others hate Him—He told you they would. As His spiritual spouse, you want to fix things, but remember that the greatest of peace comes to those that let Him do the fixing.
b(Les)sings
Pss.74 (KJV)
[1] O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
[2] Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
[3] Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
[4] Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
[5] A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
[6] But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
[7] They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
[8] They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
[9] We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
[10] O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
[11] Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
[12] For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
[13] Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
[14] Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
[15] Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
[16] The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
[17] Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
[18] Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
[19] O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
[20] Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
[21] O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
[22] Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
[23] Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.(KJV)
[2] Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
[3] Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
[4] Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
[5] A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
[6] But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
[7] They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.
[8] They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
[9] We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
[10] O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
[11] Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
[12] For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
[13] Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
[14] Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
[15] Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
[16] The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
[17] Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
[18] Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
[19] O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
[20] Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
[21] O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
[22] Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
[23] Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.(KJV)
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