December 31, 2010

• year end reflections, # 2: rejoicing in "The Often Unwanted but Necessary Gift" | Letter 98 on joy

  Dear friends in Christ,

  As most of you know I've been writing a series of letters on assurance and fighting for joy.  As part of that series of letters and as a follow-up to my post yesterday where I wrote of heartaches and heart breaks all sovereignly ordained by God for ouy joy, once more I'd like to bring you something I wrote a few years back.

  Many of us struggle and fight with God, we scream and demand to have our way rather than submitting to His way for us. We're happy when we get what we want, but we're often not happy when we don't. Yet is our Father's will for us not perfect? Does He not know how to give us good gifts? Is the broken heart we often despise and try to avoid at all costs not actually God's good gift to us. No, not only a good gift, but God's best gift? Like William Cowper can we proclaim without doubt that

  behind a frowning providence, He hides a shining face?

  Is it not for our joy to remain in His easy yoke and take on His light burden?
  
  Doesn't God want us to rejoice in Him whether we receive good from His hand or evil?
  
  Shall we not drink the cup the Father has given us?
  
  Doesn't God want us to rejoice in Him whether our hearts are broken or intact?

  Contrary to what our flesh tells us, the God of the universe does not exist to meet our every whim. God exists first and foremost to glorify Himself. If we are seeking our own happiness ahead of or apart from His glory, in His lovingkindness to us, God will continue to hedge us up so we might turn again back to Him because seeking Him and His glory is for our greatest happiness. The way we are most happy is to be happy in Him, apart from all else we may have (or not have). Seeking happiness in anything but the Lord will lead us away from fullness of joy.
  
  Know this: God will not give us anything that supplants or supersedes Him as being our chief joy. He is to be our everything, our all in all. If we are craving possessions, position, power or relationships beside Him, God is going to treat us like His adulterous bride (think Gomer) and thwart our plans at every turn. God's desire is that He be our first and greatest desire. And here is the wonderful secret that the devil doesn't want us to know: as Jesus Christ becomes our first and greatest desire, we will be happy, truly happy, and be filled and overflowing with unspeakable joy!

  We see this all through the Psalms. The psalmists are struggling at times, struggling mightily. Just like us, they are questioning God, but they end up coming back to their senses and acknowledge from the depths of their hearts that God is their perfect and all-sufficient portion.

  Psalm 73:25  Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 26  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 27  For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. 28  But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

  Can you say there is none upon earth you desire besides Him?
  
  Is God the strength of your heart and your portion forever?

  If you read the first part of Psalm 73, the psalmist is dealing with a broken heart.

  The psalmist is looking around at everyone else and seeing how they have been blessed and it seems he has not been blessed. He's resentful and angry and jealous and envious and distressed. Sound familiar???!!! (Another reminder of the relevance of the Bible to us today! Christian, please take up and read - for God's Word is one of God's ordained means of grace for you to find rest and peace and comfort and joy your aching soul – to draw you near to Jesus Christ Himself!)

  And now, as we read along in the psalm, notice what the psalmist is doing to set himself straight, or rather how he is asking the Lord to set him straight.

  Psalm 73:17  Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. 18  Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. 19  How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. 20  As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. 21  Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. 22  So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. 23  Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. 24  Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. 25  Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 26  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

  How is he setting himself straight again? Do you see it there?

  Until I went into the sanctuary of God.

  That's what will set us straight – every time. Until we go there, until we go to the LORD Himself, until we go to the throne of grace, until we fix our eyes on Jesus, we will continue to seek our own way and we will continue to be bogged down and plagued by doubt and despair and question God over and over and over again – and never come to the peace and joy the God of hope wants us to have in believing (though not yet seeing), the peace and joy God wants us to have at all times, including those times our hearts are broken.

  There is no way the Christian can blossom and flourish as God has intended unless we spend time in the Word of God (e.g. - see Psalm 1, Jeremiah  17:5-10).

  When we seek God's face and get into His Word, the Word of God and the Spirit of God will begin to search the thoughts and intents of our hearts and we can see our true state before God and then we can be set right.

  When we as Christians receive those broken hearts and we are tempted to curse God, to question God, to doubt God, may God give us grace to keep going back to the sanctuary, to Him ... again and again ... like the psalmist who was overwhelmed and devastated and was ready to curse God, but then he came to see himself as ignorant and foolish for ever doubting God's goodness to him and God's sovereign love and care for him, despite appearances. Only as we go back to the sanctuary can we see our sin of rejecting God as our perfect portion and see afresh and anew His persevering love and mercies to us, even during those times our hearts are broken?

  Do we know God as our loving Father – no matter how many heartaches and heartbreaks come our way?

  Do we understand that God is our loving Father, and He will not withhold anything good from us, that He wants to give us good gifts ... and ... sometimes one of those good gifts is a broken heart ... all so we might see Him and know Him as our all in all, which is His greatest gift to us!

  In Psalm 43 we find the psalmist is giving himself a similar treatment.

  3  O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. 4  Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. 5  Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

  The devil deals in darkness and lies, that's why we must keep asking God to send out His light and His truth to us, otherwise we will begin to doubt and despair and question God's goodness and love to us and be tempted to curse God for sending the broken heart, rather than submitting to His perfect and good plan for each of us, knowing that God only allows trials (and broken hearts) if need be, all so we might be purified and refined and bring praise, honor and glory to Christ at His appearing.

  As Christians, may we have God's grace so we will not continue to be foolish and ignorant and not balk at God's plans for us. May God give us grace to go back again and again to Him in the sanctuary, to gaze upon Him, to see His thoughts and His ways are higher than ours, to trust that the all-wise God is working all things (including each and every heart-breaking circumstance) for our good, all so we might submit ourselves to His will, particularly when it crosses us and doesn't make any sense at all to us and causes us great pain and distress. By the power of Jesus in us through His Holy Spirit, by faith we can trust ourselves to our Father's loving care and willingly offer ourselves to Him like Jesus, "Not my will, but Yours be done!"

  To continue to whine at, shake our fists at and curse the God who gave us Jesus Christ is abominable! Is it not enough for us that our Father gave us His Son as an atoning sacrifice in our place? Besides that, has God not promised to freely give us all things? All things doesn't mean all things we may want, but rather all things that are for our good, for our sanctification and glorification (remember Romans 8:28 doesn't stand apart from verses 29 and 30 – if you don't know what it says there, open your Bible and read it!). God always has an eye to His glory - always. And yes, as I said above, ultimately our greatest happiness is bound up in our being happy in Jesus – and only Jesus! – no matter whether our hearts are breaking or not – and that is to God's greatest glory!

  Boyfriend or no boyfriend, can you say you are happy in Jesus?
  Girlfriend or no girlfriend, can you say you are happy in Jesus?
  Spouse or no spouse, can you say you are happy in Jesus?
  Job or no job, can you say you are happy in Jesus?
  Promotion or no promotion, can you say you are happy in Jesus?
  Bank surplus or no surplus, can you say you are happy in Jesus?
  Degree or no degree, can you say you are happy in Jesus?
  Apology or no apology, can you say you are happy in Jesus?
  ...And so on...

  May God give us grace such as He gave Job, so we might say,

  Blessed be Your Name, O Lord, in the broken heart or in the intact heart. I will praise Your Name all of my days. You are good and Your mercies endure forever.

  I know some of you haven't been reading my blog for all that long, and I realize I've already written a lot as introduction...

  But now I'd like to give a little more specific background to the post I've included below (first posted on New Year's Eve 2007 and then reposted 12/31/2008)...

  I wrote that post just over three months after we left our last church home and I was dealing with the aftermath of that, with moving beyond that and as well as other past hurts. I was being consumed by much guilt and despair over my sinfulness and was doubting God's ability to sanctify me and felt myself to be a huge failure. (Please see my series of posts about dealing w/ past sins and guilt, failure and being consumed by the past and my struggles with God as we were searching for a new church home. I am not going to go into specifics about my church experiences, though I have touched a bit on that in my posts here, here, here, here and here and my posts here dealt with that as well. I've also recounted quite a lot of that in my post Remembering the pit & bog so I might rejoice in Him & you might also! (Psalm 40:1-3).)

  I can confess that though the whole experience was painful, it was all for my good, wholly profitable, all for my refining. God has used all of it to humble me, to show me the exceeding sinfulness of my sin and then to show me the exceeding glories of His love, mercies and grace to me through Jesus Christ. He used every bit of it to draw me to Himself in a way I'd never known before, so I was assured of His love for me and so I might begin to know Him as my exceeding Joy.

  God is all about getting His children to come back to Him, to see Him as our perfect portion. Therefore His lovingkindness to us sometimes takes the form of His giving us broken hearts, those trials if need be, all so that we might love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Just as the LORD sent Israel into exile so she might turn away from her idols and turn back to worship Him, when our affections have wandered from Him, when we have lost the sense of Him as our first Love (or perhaps when we have not ever really known Him as our first Love, which I will confess was the case with me), He will give us broken hearts to draw us back to Him.

  Jeremiah 31:10 Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. 11  For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. 12  Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. 13  Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14  And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.

  See what was happening there. All along God is reaching out His arms of mercy. He is longing to bless Israel. He can see she is not happy apart from Him and He is grieved over her, but Israel is totally oblivious to the joy He wants to give her! The Bridegroom is pursuing His bride with His all. His scattering will lead to His gathering. That time of exile for Israel as well as those broken hearts for us are all part of God's good and pure and timely and perfect loving discipline which will come to those who are His children. He wants us to know and enjoy Him because knowing Him and enjoy Him brings Him the greatest glory!
  
  

  Hebrews 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

  Children of God, let us not despise our Father's chastening or faint under it, but trust His goodness and love to us even when His ways don't make sense to us. Each and every broken heart is a gift of God, ordained and intended by God to lead us back to Him, so we might know Him as our portion and be fully satisfied with Him and His goodness alone.

  Let's never presume upon God and make up for ourselves what God's peace and shalom and prosperity really mean.

  Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

  The word there for "peace" (in some translations it's rendered as "prosper") is shalom.

  But now, if you stop at verse 11, you'll miss it – you'll miss Him!

  11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

  From this passage, we see that peace, prosperity, or shalom, for the believer is:

  calling upon the LORD
  going and praying to the LORD
  seeking the LORD
  searching for the LORD with all our heart
  finding the LORD
  

  God sent Israel into seventy years of exile to accomplish those goals.

  Are those your goals?

  If they are not, will you ask Him to unite Your heart with His so they might be your goals...
  not only for the New Year ahead – but for the rest of your life?

  Will you ask God to strengthen you to accept each and every broken heart He gives you, knowing that each and every one is ordained by Him and is only given to you if need be and is aimed toward bringing you to the place where you

  call upon the LORD
  go and pray to the LORD
  seek the LORD
  search for the LORD with all your heart
  find the LORD
  

  ---

  The Often Unwanted but Necessary Gift: The Gift of the Broken Heart
  (originally posted, 12/31/07, reposted 12/31/08)

  
  For all those who received broken hearts this Christmas...

  Suddenly God breaks up a particular set of circumstances, and the realization comes that we have been disloyal to Him by not recognizing that He had ordered them.

  --Oswald Chambers

  
  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
  

  -Genesis 50:20
  

  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
  

  -Isaiah 55:8-9

  
  From Relient K's "Let It Snow Baby...Let It Reindeer":

  I Hate Christmas Parties

  I hope it snows this week,
  A snowflake on your cheek
  Would make this Christmas so beautiful
  But that would just bring the pain
  Cause things just can’t stay the same
  These holidays won’t be wonderful

  (Chorus)
  I look under the tree
  But there’s nothing to see
  Cause it’s a broken heart that you’re giving me
  
  I can’t figure you out
  Is this what Christmas is all about
  Cause it’s a broken heart that you’re giving me
  

  I don’t wanna talk
  I’m sick of all this talking
  A broken heart wrapped up in a box
  There's teardrops in my stocking

  I hate Christmas parties,
  You offer me some punch but I just shrug
  I hate Christmas parties
  You and the cookie tray hear me say "Bah humbug"

  Fa la la la la la…la la la la la la [3x]

  What did you find under the tree this Christmas?

  

  Did you find a broken heart there?

  I suspect not many of us have ever put "broken heart" on our Christmas lists.

  We balk at having our hearts broken.

  
  Don't go breakin' my heart...

  You're a heartbreaker
  Dream maker, love taker
  Don't you mess around with me!

  
  Our own flesh cries out against the broken heart. We want to feel good. We avoid pain, heartache and heartbreak. We want the intact heart. We want to protect ourselves. We either run and hide, or we stay and fight. All to keep our heart in one piece. All to keep it from breaking.

  We don't want the broken heart–but isn't the broken heart one of God's most precious and most necessary gifts?

  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
  

  -Isaiah 57:15

  
  
  The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. . . . The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.
  

  -Psalm 34:17-20, 22

  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
  

  -Psalm 51:17

  

  I look under the tree
  But there’s nothing to see
  Cause it’s a broken heart that You’re giving me
  
  I can’t figure You out
  Yet this is what Christmas is all about
  Cause through this broken heart I come to know You

  My stony heart needed breaking
  For it was You, O God, I was forsaking
  So this broken heart is what You've given me
  
  Mired helpless in my iniquity
  Your strong hand stretches and rescues me
  Cause through this broken heart You quicken me

  I am vile–I cover my mouth
  The broken heart is what Christmas is all about
  Cause through this broken heart You indwell me

  In this valley of weeping
  Living God my faint soul is seeking
  Cause through this broken heart I cry out to You
  

  Your gifts are not as the world gives
  Cause it’s a broken heart that You’re giving me
  
  
  
  Boldly I come seeking Your face
  Approach Your throne for mercy and grace
  Once hard, this broken soft heart now hears Your voice

  Bound and blinded by sin's blight
  Your Glory has become my delight
  Cause this broken heart is brought to the Light
  
  Running back to my Father's house
  Truly this is what Christmas is all about
  Through this broken heart I come to myself, turnabout
  
  I fall and kneel on the ground
  This prodigal was lost but now found
  Through the broken heart that You've given to me
  
  Ring, robe and sandals are mine
  Once a stranger, now a son of the Divine
  "Abba, Father" is this broken heart's glad cry
  
  A feast made ready through the Son
  I partake freely of His Body and Blood
  Cause this broken heart hungers and thirsts for You
  
  
  Your gifts are not as the world gives
  Cause it’s a broken heart that You’re giving me
  

  I can't figure You out
  Yet this is what Christmas is all about
  Behind this broken heart hides Your shining face

  Through this broken heart You give
  You plead, "Seek ye Me, and ye shall live"
  "Confess your sins, I am faithful and just to forgive."

  I look under the tree
  Repentance, tears and bent knees
  Those are the precious gifts that You've given me
  
  Become a child in awe of Thee,
  Born again Your Kingdom now I see
  Eternal life is the gift that You've given me

  Christ died on Calvary's tree
  Now His Spirit tabernacles in me
  Through this broken heart that You've given me

  I can't figure You out
  Yet this is what Christmas is all about
  Jesus Christ birthed in this broken heart You've given me
  
  
  Your gifts are not as the world gives
  Cause it’s a broken heart that You’re giving me
  
  
  I can't figure You out
  Yet this is what Christmas is all about
  Cause this broken heart prepares the way for You
  
  When I am tempted to doubt
  Remind me again this is what Christmas is all about
  Cause through this broken heart You revive me
  
  When tears stream down my face
  Make manifest Your glory and grace
  Through this broken heart that You've given me
  
  May I entrust my heart to You,
  Christ, Amen, the one Faithful and True
  Neither peace nor rest I find apart from You

  Broken hearted now I see
  I should no longer trust in self but Thee
  For all strength and comfort comes from Thee

  Forgetting what is behind
  Striving for the heavenly prize
  Because this broken heart fixes my eyes on You

  This heart broken by Your cross
  Helps me press on, count all things but loss
  To lay hold of that for which He laid hold of me
  
  
  Your gifts are not as the world gives
  Cause it’s a broken heart that You’re giving me
  
  
  In my flesh dwells no good thing
   Yet now no condemnation through Christ's off'ring
  The broken heart is what Christmas is all about
  
  When I rely on earthly power
  Break my disloyal heart that very hour
  Cause a broken heart seeks resurrection power
  
  Sanctify, circumcise my heart
  Unholy and unclean leaven bid depart
  Holy Spirit, kindle Your fire in this broken heart

  When against Your ways I fight
  Restore me, make Your ways my delight
  Through this broken heart that You’ve given me
  
  I can't figure You out
  Yet this is what Christmas is all about
  Cause the broken heart turns me back to You
  
  I look under the tree
  By Your grace I can rejoice in Thee
  Cause it's a broken heart that You've given me
  
  
  Your gifts are not as the world gives
  Cause it’s a broken heart that You're giving me

  Your gifts are not as the world gives
  Jesus Christ lifted up high upon the tree
  Draws all men,"Come, taste and see."

  Bids the weary "Come unto Me."
  Calls to our broken hearts, "Come, follow Me."
  "There is no other Savior besides Me."

  "Whom have I in heaven but thee?
  And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee."
  Come, break my heart until You alone are my heart's Desire.

  O, Lord God, help me to welcome the broken heart in the box. The gifts we opened on Christmas Day pale in comparison to Your gift of the broken heart. After we have opened those other gifts and discarded their wrappings, what really remains?

  

  Only through the broken heart do You come to dwell in us in all Your fullness. You break our hearts for our own good and for Your glory. You break our hearts that we might have hearts to know You. You break our hearts to show us Your perfect holiness and our total depravity. You break our hearts to show us that You alone are the LORD and there is salvation in no other.

  Only through the broken heart do You shape and mold our hearts into the image of Your Son. Only through the broken heart do You establish our hearts and make them steadfast, so we might trust in You alone. Only through the broken heart do You turn us so we might praise You with a whole heart. You alone are worthy of our wholehearted devotion.

  Help us to entrust our hearts to Your keeping hand, to Your sovereign goodness and grace, for Your mercies are great.

  
  

  And I will give them an heart to know me,
  that I am the LORD:
  and they shall be my people,
  and I will be their God:
  for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
  Jeremiah 24:7
  

  
  

  
  ...for the turn of events was from God, that the LORD might fulfill His word...
  II Chronicles 10:15b, NKJV™
  

  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
  

  -Jeremiah 29:11-13

  
  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
  

  -Romans 8:28-31

  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
  

  -I Peter 1:3-9
  

  ...we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us...
  

  -II Corinthians 1:8b-11

  Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word. . . . 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. 68 Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes. 69 The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. 70 Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law. 71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
  

  -Psalm 119:65, 67-71

  
  But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel...
  

  -Philippians 1:12
  

  
  

  

  What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?
  Job 2:10
  
  

  
  For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

  -Psalm 84:11-12
  
  

  
  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
  

  -Romans 11:34-36

  
  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
  

  -Isaiah 61:1-3
  

  
  

  
  When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. 3 The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. 4 Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
  

  -Psalm 126

  
  
  

  ---

  
  "I Hate Christmas Parties," Matthew Thiessen, ©2003 Gotee Records.

  Lyrics are subject to US Copyright Laws and are the property of their respective authors, artists and labels. Commercial use prohibited.

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