My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be moved.
In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Psalm 62:5-8, KJV
Marketplace Monastics returns, for we have need of one another and the “reset” of which so many have been speaking. Here we may discuss, cry out, and exalt the goodness of God together.
Whatever we may have thought or anticipated in this New Year, no matter what we wanted and no matter how deep our desire, we are left with … the faithfulness of God. Of what shall we complain?
Has it occurred to you, as it has to me, that if I have put my faith in anything or anyone other than God Himself, I now have the opportunity to repent and recalibrate … yes, reset … my faith and my hope until they rest in God alone.
Have we thought our nation was poised to make us glad? Have we hoped our governors would set things to rights? Now some are exulting and some are despondent, and once again the pendulum swings . . .
But not so for the people of God. We are unmoved, for we build upon rock, and that rock is the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not in political issues alone, not only in matters of health and wealth, but in all the well-being of our souls and all the anticipation of life on earth and life after death, not to mention our vital trust that those we love and those for whom we pray will be gathered in, brought to faith, restored in every good way, even as our souls are restored in peace and joy. For all this, we have been given faith, and not just faith in Christ, but the very faith of Christ Jesus.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
(Galatians 2:20, KJV)
We fight the good fight, and neither battles won or battles lost dissuade us, for we war against principalities that are not yet mitigated. No battle is lost if we are still standing, rejoicing, asking good of our God, our hope untarnished. We praise Him for many cataclysmic things accomplished under His hand, we refuse to consign them to loss, we refuse to believe that God would abandon those of us who pray for justice and for righteousness in our land. Has anything happened to indicate that our prayers are less welcome or less necessary for those who have not yet believed? Only let us not lose hope; that is really what is asked of us, and by God Himself.
When word came that Jairus’ daughter was beyond healing, that she had died and the mourners had taken up their wailing lament, what did Jesus say? “Don’t be afraid!” He said to the desperate father, “Only believe!” If we will not surrender our faith, then we are truly faithful, and such faith has great reward.
For Jairus, the request was simple … “Come and heal my daughter.” Of all things complex and circuitous and deceptive and horrifying – like legalized abortion – our request needs to be simple enough that we can bring it before God and keep our hearts fixed upon His faithfulness, “Come, Father, and heal our land.”
Our land will never be healed until hearts and homes are restored in truth and grace and the knowledge of God. Come, Father, and heal our land.
Image of a rose left on a wall at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, a symbol of “hope after terror.” (Puisney, Wikipedia, by permission)