”Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.”
Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of confession after his sin with Bathsheba. He was depressed and optimism seemed to be far from his mind, but in verse 8 he asked that, though he had sinned, he might once more “hear joy and gladness.” There is a deep desire in the human heart to be happy and feel optimistic about the future. This is a tall order today in the light of the death of 26 children and adults in Newtown, Connecticut. This senseless violence against the most innocent among us just seems impossible. Thinking of the death of those children and the grief of the parents, grandparents, and other family members makes it difficult for us to “hear joy and gladness.” It has consumed all of the news on television. It has been difficult to hear about anything but the deaths in Newtown. We have heard other news from time to time, but it does not encourage optimism either. This is a difficult time to be optimistic if we think that our only hope is in this world. As paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:19: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." Those of us who believe in Jesus and hold the Christian faith in our hearts know that hope is not found in this world but in the Lord. A.W. Tozer wrote: “Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will. Refuse to be average or to surrender to the chill of your spiritual environment.” We cannot let the events of this world steal from us the optimism that is ours in Jesus. Jesus anticipated that we would face difficult times and that our optimism would be tested when he said: “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) In these sad and pessimistic times we have one to whom we can flee and seek His solace. There are people who tell us that this is weakness on our part, but to those of us who believe, it is one of our greatest strengths. What do those people do who do not realize that they have an eternal and almighty God who loves them and wants to bring them solace? This does not mean that we will not grieve over the sad things that happen in this world. Christians grieve like everyone else, but Paul reminded the Christians at Thessalonica that they were to “sorrow not as those who have no hope.” Our hope is not in this world but in the Lord, who is ultimately in control of things. We can be optimistic because we do not blame God when bad things happen in this world. Why would we make Him our enemy, when we need Him most as our friend? We just have to realize that we live in a fallen world and that bad things happen because of it. There have been problems in the world since the fall of Adam and Eve and that will not change just because we want it to. We just have to believe that God is with the people all over the world who are grieving. I have had things happen in my own life that were difficult for me to understand, but I have trusted God through them. I could not let the bad things that happened keep me from continuing to put my faith in Jesus, and to trust that He would see me through them. He will see us through this time as well. There is no need for us to lose our optimism and give in to a spirit killing pessimism. One Christian writer related that “to be a pessimistic Christian is a contradiction in terms.” He went on to write that “even the most devout Christians fall prey to fear, doubt and discouragement.” This is true, but we need to remember that David wrote in Psalm 23:2a: “He restores my soul…”He restores us as we come to Him in faith and trust. This is what we need to do now and not give in to the pessimism that the devil wants for us. I’m not telling you that we need to "keep our chins up." I’m telling you that we need to keep our faith up. Believe it! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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