It’s been a few weeks since I blogged a Bible study. Since that is truly what I’m best at (I’m just not very good sharing my life in a blog, though I will tell you I had a blast in NYC last week), when it comes to God’s Word, I get VERY wordy…. So, here’s our topic for today, God has promised JOY!
Psalm 30:11 says: You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with JOY. (Emphasis mine)
Let’s take a minute to look at the first part of this scripture carefully. The writer states that God has TURNED something INTO something. The word “turned” is, in Hebrew, “haphak” (pronounced haw-fak). It means “to overthrow.”
In my mind, “overthrowing” takes authority.
Do you remember in John 2 when Jesus turned water into wine? What gave Him the ability to do this? Authority over the elements (because He was their Creator).
So, in Psalm 30:11, we get the sense that God is taking authority over what? Our wailing. Our sorrows. Our deepest hurts.
The word for “wailing” is translated as a cry of mourning; lamentation. This isn’t “crying over spilled milk.” This is not “sad because I missed the finale of American Idol” and it isn’t “regret that I ate that second piece of cake.”
This is gut-wrenching. This is pain that starts at your soul, works its way up to your heart and then rips hard and fast; so fast you lose your breath.
We’ve all been there. We’ve all lost something precious or done something awful or had bad things happen. We feel the world turn upside down. We think some creature has us by the throat. Our heads spin. Nothing makes sense, least of all God.
The sad thing is, most of us grab hold of the perpitrator rather than the One in authority over ALL things. We become so accustomed to the pain–practically making friends with it–that we learn to live with it rather than being willing to turn it over to God and let Him “turn it” into something else.
We’ve ALL been there. Problem is, I think, we don’t do this often enough because we don’t trust God enough to think HE CAN DO IT! “There’s no way God can turn THIS into something good…” we think. And so we hold on.
I know a woman who lost her husband as a young bride. When he died, she was left with their toddler and the memory of a sweet and beautiful love. She took a job, she raised her son, and found what joy could be found in him. Then–horribly–as a young father himself, he was tragically killed. The bitterness his mother had held on to for years and years rooted itself in soil that wasn’t about to let go. Now, twenty years later, she is an old woman. Bitter. Alone. Always looking to criticize anything and everyone.
What might have happened had she let God (she’s openly blamed him for sixty years) have her sorrow–her gut-wrenching sorrow–and took on what He gave her instead? Dancing (in Hebrew, a whirling motion, a sacred dance) & joy, the scripture says!
So, what happens then when we say, “Lord, here it is!!!” (Picture yourself tossing God a bundle of old laundry.) “Take it! I’m done with it! It’s yours! Turn it into something else!” Can you share your story with our readers?
Next week, we’ll talk more about the dancing…more about the JOY!
4 Comments
I’m writing my next book, on forgiveness. How timely, Eva Marie. It’s the hardest thing in the world to do, but the most powerful, and the most freeing.
I’ve missed you on BBR lately. : ) It’s good to hear your “voice”.
Suzie
Eva,
I can relate to you- I would much rather write about the Lord than myself or my family!
This post is beautiful. I’ve known this pain. I’ve walked through it hand in hand with our Amazing God. I was at the point when I felt that I couldn’t go on- the pain was so great. I just wanted to numb myself somehow, but the Lord was so clearly telling me “no”, you will get through this with ME (the Lord).
He did bring me through and has since used that pain (from 7 years ago) to “coach” others through their pain.
He IS faithful.
It makes me love Him even more just thinking about it!
Blessings,
Sue
Oh Eva Marie, the rip-your-heart-out pain is so real. And to think that for a long time I just minimized it, treating the pain as unreal because I thought it was less than other people’s, and thinking I didn’t have a right to feel the pain! It hurt so much more that way, and eventually I thought I was going crazy!
Then God sent people into my life to tell me that my pain was real and horrible and that I needed to release it to God. When I began crying out to Him, giving Him the pain, acknowledging it’s reality, I started to FEEL it, and it hurt even more! OW!!! But He took it away.
Looking at the pain allowed me to make changes in life, allowed me to ask God what He wanted me to do about certain relationships, how He wanted me to move forward, knowing certain people would continue to hurt me. He didn’t allow me to immediately step out of those relationships, but He did show me I wasn’t crazy and He walked me through the pain to freedom, whether I stayed in the relationships or not. He was there. It was extremely cool.
Some pain, I’ve learned, does not ever go away completely, so long as we live in fallen bodies in a fallen world. But the pain is transformed. Joy DOES come in the morning.
I was able to look at the story of Eustace, in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and draw the analogy between my pain and his being a dragon and trying to shed his skin. Aslan asked him to take off his dragon skin (he was miserable and in pain, isolated from those he loved, being a dragon). Three times Eustace took off his dragon skin and stepped to the pool to bathe. Three times he saw his reflection and was still a dragon. Then Aslan took him in His great paws and used His claws to rip away his dragon skin. It hurt more than anything he’d ever felt, but once that skin was torn away - that thick, gnarled, hideous protective dragon skin - Eustace was a real boy again, Soft, vulnerable, naked and clean. He smarted, but was whole.
I felt like that after giving my pain to God. The skin I used to protect myself (like your bitter friend) was comforting in a way. Yes, I was isolated from everyone, even my husband, but I was protected from harm. Still I kept trying to remove the skin myself (I wanted to be close to people), forgiving people who hurt me, but being conditional in my love and forgiveness. Conditional with whether or not I’d even stay in relationship. I had to give all the hurt to God and trust Him with everything. I had to go back into relationships on His terms. Allow Him to clothe and protect my naked, vulnerable self. Learn to trust.
Wow, thanks for taking me back through that time. God is always good, even, and especially, when we’re in pain. Pain is what He uses to draw us to Him, so He can heal us.
God bless you, sister!
Flea
Okay, I started reading at the most recent blog and I’ve been working my way down the list, getting caught up on what is happening in the lives of my fellow boomer babe sisters when I happen upon Eva-Diva’s post. (FYI, the nickname Eva-Diva belies the fact that she’s a brilliant woman with a deep theological background – a gifted and anointed woman whose words speak powerfully to issues that touch us deeply.)
Such as her posting above. Gulp. She writes about pain… “This is gut-wrenching. This is pain that starts at your soul, works its way up to your heart and then rips hard and fast; so fast you lose your breath. We’ve all been there. We’ve all lost something precious or done something awful or had bad things happen. We feel the world turn upside down. We think some creature has us by the throat. Our heads spin. Nothing makes sense, least of all God.”
Whew. Can I get an “Amen!”
As the Christmas season approaches and I’m here in TX and my only son is behind bars in MN and I’m knee-deep in pre-release promotions for my next book: “Setting Boundaries with Your Adult Children,” the irony of the entire scenario is not lost on me. And yet I’m not questioning God. I feel most assuredly that He is in control and that in the end there will be joy…somewhere.
I gave my son to God years ago when I stopped playing God…when I stopped bailing him out of trouble…when I stopped using money as a healing salve over the hurts of his life…when I stopped looking at the young man I wanted to see and began looking at the young man who needed to be seen for who he was. I love my son but God loves him more. And ultimately, it is only because I at last said, “Take him, Lord, he’s yours!” that Christopher is now able to fully experience not only the consequences of his actions – but the full measure of what it means to trust in the Lord…the full measure of what faith is with flesh…not just the bones of words.
For a long time my son had one foot in the world and one in the Word and God doesn’t want half of us. He wants all of us. It took putting many of His children behind bars before they could make a difference for God – and I believe my son will one day come out on the other side of this journey a better man…a more faithful and faith-filled man.
Sure, it’s painful. My heart aches. I’m tired, oh so tired, from crying for this 36-year old child. The pain is real—but not debilitating. God is always faithful.
Thank you, sweet Eva-Diva for your words of wisdom. You are loved.