The Remedy

My heart hurts right now. It hurts for so many reasons I can't begin to name them all.

The things of this world are pressing all around me.

I am sad and tired every time I read McKMama's blog and hear updates about little Stellan. Please keep praying for him. My Mama's heart is breaking when I picture her there, praying over her baby boy; the same one that God healed just four short months ago, yet here they are again, wondering if they will ever take him home, or if he will go home with his Heavenly Father. It wrenches my heart when I think of the emotional roller coaster they are on.



I am also broken hearted, disgusted, and deeply disturbed when I think of some close friends of ours right now who are in the midst of divorce. I can't post details here for privacy reasons, but there is great injustice going on and few people seem to even care. My heart breaks most for the children involved; children who will be forever scarred by the turmoil that they are going through day in and day out. Turmoil that is being thrust upon them by someone they love and trust - someone who is betraying them and they don't even know it. The unfairness of it all turns my stomach.

I have to believe that God is disgusted as well. The difference is that He is the perfect judge. He is watching and He is not surprised or confused like I am. Today, as I was crying out to God on behalf of our friends, my feelings were of complete and utter hopelessness and sadness. I just don't know how to keep on keeping on when things look so absolutely bleak. I want to fix everything. Joel Rosenberg says that all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. I don't ever want to be accused of doing nothing. However, sometimes there is nothing that I can do, except pray and wait.

As I was begging God to speak to me, to give me some word of hope or instruction, I felt that still small voice speaking to my heart. "Open your Bible Study." He said. I knew exactly what He meant. I am on Week 3 of a new Beth Moore Bible Study on the book of Esther. It is really, really good. I opened the book and not wanting to just flip through it for something I wanted to hear, I decided that God probably meant for me to start reading where I am. I had two more days to do for this week's lessons, so I turned to where I left off last time.

I kid you not, this is the first thing I read. I hope Beth Moore does not mind me giving you this quote - maybe it will make you want to do this study. Here's the first paragraph of Day 4, Week 3 - remember I am crying out to God and begging Him to rescue this situation. I am telling Him how utterly helpless I feel and how I don't know what to do. Listen to my word from God, through Beth....

"I don't know exactly how God perfects plans that seem so bleak to us in process, but these two things I know: He never takes His eyes off of us or off the clock ticking over us......Sweet One, God loves you so. He is hard at work in your life, and the same eye that's on the sparrow is on the wristwatch."

Wow! Do you see that these words, especially the ones in bold were exactly what I needed to hear today? I started sobbing again, this time in thankfulness, because even though I know I don't deserve a word from my Daddy - He gave me one anyway. The day's study went on and on and almost every word, from Beth and from the Scriptures spoke directly to my heart. The day wrapped up with a verse from Daniel, chapter 7 that I want to share with you.

⁹"I kept looking
Until thrones were set up,
And the Ancient of Days took His seat;
His vesture was like white snow
And the hair of His head like pure wool
His throne was ablaze with flames,
Its wheels were a burning fire.
¹⁰"A river of fire was flowing
And coming out from before Him;
Thousands upon thousands were attending Him,
And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him;
The court sat,
And the books were opened.

The reason this spoke to me so clearly is because it tells of the Ancient of Days, sitting on His throne. The great judge over all injustice. Thanks be to God, I don't have to stand in judgement and I don't have to worry and fret over everything that is not right with the world. All I have to do is be where God places me "for such a time as this" and be ready to obey Him. That means if He instructs me to act and when He instructs me to be still. I'm not trying to encourage vengeance; not in myself or in anyone reading. However, sometimes my very soul cries out to know that justice will prevail.

Friends, there is great evil at work in this world. As I study the book of Esther and I see Haman's plan to destroy the Jews, as I study History with my children and I see Hitler's plan to destroy the Jews, as I read my newsletter each month from the Voice of the Martyrs and I see the plans of radicals all over the world to destroy the people of the one, true God, and as I turn on the news channel at night, I see that this same insidious enemy has slithered his way into America; a country that was founded on the premise of freedom, yet is no longer truly free.

My heart is burdened; it is heavy. All around us are the sights and sounds of a nation that has turned its back on God. Death and disease are just a part of that. Divorce and other problems in the family are an even bigger part.

^{Mark 13: 12-13} "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. "

However, my heart is settled now as I type. God has spoken to me, even though I didn't deserve it. What I heard was this, Beloved, I am on the throne. I am the Judge and I am the Lover of your soul. No matter how bad it gets or how bleak it looks - I am not caught off guard by the circumstances. And not only am I in control of a world that seems to be spiraling so out of control, the best news of all is that I am coming back.

This morning in church we sang a song called The Remedy, by the David Crowder Band. Here are the lyrics to the first verse.

Here we are
Here we are
The broken and used
Mistreated, abused
Here we are

Here You are
Here You are
The beautiful one
Who came like a Son
Here You are

So we lift up our voices
We open our hands
To cling to the love
That we can't comprehend

Oh, lift up your voices
And lift up your heads
To sing of the love
That has freed us from sin

He is the one
Who has saved us
He is the one
Who embraced us
He is the one who has come
And is coming again
He's the remedy

Don't miss the contrast between us: broken, mistreated, and abused, and our Holy and perfect Savior: beautiful One who came to save us - and even better, is coming again!

The series of books I am reading right now by Joel Rosenberg speak of what the Bible calls the "last days" - the time in which Mr. Rosenberg and others believe we are living right now. One thing he says over and over in the book is that America is caught off guard by events such as 9/11, and we still persist on trying to "negotiate" with terrorists simply because we do not believe in the presence of evil. As believers we must understand that there is a real and pressing darkness; an evil so black and sinister that it makes men do things that most of us can not imagine.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

Evil does exist, and we must resist it with the weapons that God has given us. We must put on the full armor of God as our protection, and then we must fight with the Sword of the Spirit.
Sometimes I am so tired of fighting, so weary of the things I see around me and the things I know are going on all over the world. My heart cries for Jesus to return - today. However, I know that God alone knows the time and that whatever time it is, it will be Perfect, just as He is Perfect.

Meanwhile, He has charged me to prepare my arrows, the children He has given me to hone and then to shoot - straight and true into a corrupt world. He has also charged me to do battle on behalf of my marriage, so that it will be the picture of Christ and the Church that He meant for it to be. And when I see the injustice and the evil all around, when I see the sickness and the pain in the lives of those around me, He has called me to persevere. To fight on their behalf in the spiritual realm, and sometimes even in the physical.

Will you join me today? Will you do battle in the name of Jesus in your corner of the earth? Will you be ready in your world "for such a time as this?"