His Compassions Never Fail

Saturday, September 14, 2013, 6:18 a.m. – The Lord Jesus woke me with this song:
Do You Love Me? / An Original Work / July 24, 2013

Do you love Me now?
Will you seek My face?
I have given you
My love and My grace.
Will you walk with Me
Ev’rywhere I lead?
Will you find in Me
All of what you need?


Won’t you meet with Me
Down upon your knees?
Will you obey Me,
And do what I please?
Will you hear My voice
Speaking now to you?
I am couns’ling you
To abide in truth.


I have died for you;
Taken all your sins –
Crucified with Me,
You have been forgiv’n.
I have set you free
From your slavery,
So that you can now
Live in victory.


http://originalworks.info/do-you-love-me/

He then put the song “Great is The Lord” in my mind - http://originalworks.info/great-is-the-lord/. Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Lamentations 3 (ESV & NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Lamentations%203&version=NIV

The author of Lamentations is anonymous, though many attribute this writing to the prophet Jeremiah. In it, the author appears to not only be expressing his own emotions but those of his people, as well. The setting appears to be the aftermath of the fall of Jerusalem via God’s hand of divine judgment which he brought on his people via his chosen instrument of judgment against them, because of their sinful rebellion and their refusal to listen to him and to obey his commandments. Yet, chapter 3 appears to stand out as a personal lament of the author because of his own personal sufferings, and is often attributed to Jeremiah.

There are many ways and purposes for which God disciplines his children. For one, there is the discipline brought upon us through suffering, much of which is unjust suffering, for the purpose of building divine character traits within us, humbling us, teaching us patience and endurance, filling our hearts with love and compassion toward the hurting and toward the lost sinners of this world, putting within us much passion and determination for God and for the preaching of his gospel, and for placing within us the desire for and the tenaciousness of regularly and consistently calling upon God in prayer to meet our needs and the needs of others. This type of suffering also helps us to identify with Jesus Christ and to feel what God feels about sin, evil, his unfaithful bride, and to understand the purposes for which he must bring divine correction, discipline and judgment upon his wayward people.

“In every generation God’s judgment and discipline are misunderstood by most people. God’s chief desire is to bring people to himself – or back to himself. When humankind willfully refuses to turn to him, God mercifully uses discipline and judgment to cause the people to recognize that he is the only true God, always faithful to what he has said in his word!” ~ Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary on Ezekiel 6

Yet This I Call to Mind

I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:


Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.” ~ Lam. 3:21-24

Whatever our suffering may be – whether it is unjust and is for the purpose of strengthening us and building within us determination to follow our Lord Jesus in full surrender and obedience, or whether we brought it upon ourselves through sinful rebellion against God and it is thus for the purpose to get us to return to God – one thing is true and is without question: we serve a loving, faithful and compassionate God who will, if we are willing, teach us what we need to learn, and he will supply all we need to make it through this time. What we are going through is not without purpose, and it is not without hope, though it may feel like it sometimes. We may grow weary and we may even lose patience with God when he does not answer in our timing or in the way we would hope. Yet if we respond appropriately to his discipline, it can produce a harvest of righteousness, not only in our own lives, but in the lives of those we love. We just have to wait for his perfect timing.

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.


Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.


For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love. ~ Lam. 3:25-32

So, if the Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, why does he allow us to suffer unjustly? I think perhaps we misunderstand the meaning of the word “good” in relation to God. The good God has in mind for us is what is best for us in order to develop within us the righteous and godly character which he desires for us, to cause us to place our trust and hope in him, and to lead us to draw close to him and to believe in him for all things. Had I not gone through the unjust suffering I have had in my life I propose that I would not have the zeal, the tenacity, the determination, the persistence, the passion and the compassion necessary for continued faith and obedience to my Lord and for showing his love to his people. I might easily have become self-absorbed and without concern for others had I not had the experiences I have had in my life which have made me who I am.

In the process of suffering unjustly, we must learn patience, endurance and to trust in God’s sovereign grace over all that he has created. It is essential that we believe our suffering is not without purpose, and it necessitates that we inquire of our God as to what he would have us to learn through it. As well, we need to increase in faith and believe in all his many promises and never lose hope. We ought to bear this yoke of unjust suffering without grumbling and complaining and without arguing with God, but we should submit to his will and his purposes, and we ought to humble ourselves before God and be thankful that he finds us worthy to suffer for the sake of his name. And, we must accept unjust suffering without retaliation. It is essential that we, in return, love those who treat us unkindly and/or unjustly. And, we must believe that, although we may have had to suffer for a time, it will not be without purpose or fruit if we respond correctly to the suffering, and if we allow God to produce within us all which he has purposed for our lives.

Let Us Examine Our Ways

Yet, not everyone suffers unjustly. There are those who are willfully sinning against their God and are refusing correction and will not repent. There are those among us who are treating others unjustly, who are crushing others underfoot, denying people their rights, and even doing so before Almighty God, thinking, perhaps, that he will not see or that he does not care because he has not yet acted against them in judgment. But he does see, and he does care, and one day, if he has not already done so, he will judge them for their many sins and their crimes against humanity. I believe the Lord Jesus has been showing me the government of the USA in this way and that God has a sword of judgment hanging over their heads, and by a thread, and he is ready to act when the time is right. Yet, this will be a judgment against not just our government, but against us as a nation, and against his adulterous and idolatrous church, too, because they have refused to repent of sin.

The author expressed how streams of tears were flowing from his eyes because his people were destroyed through judgment. Yet, the greatest tragedy of all is not that we should be destroyed as a nation, and that we should be subjected to poverty and even to the rule of a tyrant, and/or that the church should come under severe persecution for its testimony for Jesus Christ. I believe those will be blessings in disguise. The greatest tragedy, which brings unceasing tears to my eyes, is that God’s people are ruined through deceit, false teachers, humanism, the flesh of man, and that they are not, for the most part, walking in the Spirit of God, but have returned to walking in the flesh and are following after the gods of mankind, and that it will bring cause for God to judge us and to bring us harm and much, much suffering. Yet, in mercy and in compassion for God’s people who have wandered far from him, he will come to the rescue via divine judgment in order to bring us back to himself so that he can restore and renew us in his perfect faithfulness (See Rev. 2-3).

God is calling out to his unrepentant church today, and to our nation and its government, to examine our ways and to test our hearts, and to turn or to return to the Lord in humility, repentance, submission, surrender and obedience to Christ and to his commandments. Will you hear him, and will you respond to his voice today?

Return to Me / An Original Work / September 5, 2013

Based off Jeremiah 31; Cf. Rev. 2-3

I have loved you with an eternal love,
Which I give to you, in my faithfulness.


Keep your voice from weeping,
And your eyes from tearing.
You will be rewarded
With much fruitfulness.


There is hope for you that My family
Will return to Me; live in victory!


Though I discipline in My love for you,
My heart longs for you that you walk in truth.


Turn your thoughts to your Lord.
Choose to walk in His ways.
Turn from your sins daily.
Follow Jesus Christ.


Oh, how long will you wander in your sin?
Give your hearts to Me; be restored within.


I will satisfy ev’ry weary soul
Who repents of sin; is renewed within.


Behold, days are coming;
It will surely happen;
Though I discipline them,
They will thrive again.


I will be their One and their Only God.
They shall walk in white; be in Me, made right.


http://originalworks.info/return-to-me/
 
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