{"id":1135,"date":"2013-11-26T20:18:09","date_gmt":"2013-11-26T20:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/?p=1135"},"modified":"2013-11-26T20:18:09","modified_gmt":"2013-11-26T20:18:09","slug":"great-is-his-faithfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/?p=1135","title":{"rendered":"Great Is His Faithfulness"},"content":{"rendered":"

We found the words of that old favorite hymn last week, tucked into the middle of Jeremiah’s lament for his people. Regardless of how bad the destruction in his war-torn land, how deep the ache of his grief and loss, he found hope springing up when he realized that the mercy and compassion of God would never fail, would never give up, never run out on them. “Because of the\u00a0Lord\u2019s great love\u00a0we are not consumed,\u00a0for His compassions never fail.\u00a0They are new every morning;\u00a0great is Your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:23)<\/em><\/p>\n

Of all the gardening results of the Holy Spirit’s work in us, faithfulness was the one I never considered much, mostly because my natural abilities to persevere tended to get in the way. But in studying faithfulness, I see this, that focus and determination to stick with a job to the very end is a pale and laborious imitation of the joy-strength the Holy Spirit gives us as we go. Without His presence, the way often seems overwhelmingly difficult– the load too heavy to carry.\u00a0To live with faithfulness and run well, with joy and peace and hope for the future, requires something more than I can summon in myself.<\/p>\n

One of the women said it well in small group the other night, that Faithfulness is the everyday outworking of what we believe, the consistent outpouring action of the Faith we hold in our hearts, new every morning– saying no<\/em> to temptations and selfishness, fulfilling the roles we have been given, doing our best with what we have to glorify the Giver and bring honor to His Name, serving with willing hands and cheerful hearts like Jesus did….and then doing it all over again the next day and the next. We can see how it is a result of the Holy Spirit’s very present help, offered anew every morning from the Lord’s unfailing compassion and mercy for us. He<\/em> is the One who is faithful to us<\/em>, giving us the strength to be faithful ourselves. Faithfulness even makes it through the horrors of battlefields and the famine of wastelands…not because we are strong enough to keep pushing on, but because there is Someone who can carry us.<\/p>\n

Maybe that was what Jeremiah knew, shining through his grief: “The\u00a0Lord\u00a0is good to those whose hope is in him,\u00a0to the one who seeks him;\u00a0it is good to wait quietly\u00a0for the salvation of the\u00a0Lord.” (Lamentations 3:25-26) <\/em>When you set your faith on God’s nature and His good plans, and see Him more clearly than your circumstances all around, you can do the things you should do and keep at it…be faithful at living well… because there is a faithful God behind the scenes Who will do all things well for you.<\/p>\n

Paul’s \u00a0prayer for the believers says it exactly right: “We pray that you\u2019ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul\u2014not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.” (from Colossians 1:9-12, The Message)<\/em><\/p>\n

As the stresses of the holidays begin to loom, and tired women begin to fray at the seams, we can ask for eyes to see God’s great faithfulness, to recognize His mercy and compassion “new every morning.” <\/em>We can rest our hearts there, and then be faithful to serve our families, with all the extra cooking and traveling and decorating and shopping to make their holidays feel special and their hearts feel loved… yes, but more than that, with joyful hearts that seek the Lord and wait quietly for Him. He will not let us down.<\/p>\n

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“Whoever dwells in the shelter\u00a0of the Most High\u00a0will rest in the shadow\u00a0of the Almighty….He will cover you with His feathers,\u00a0and under His wings you will find refuge;\u00a0His faithfulness will be your shield\u00a0and rampart.” (Psalm 91:1,4)<\/em><\/p>\n

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“You were reaching through the storm,\u00a0<\/em>
\nWalking on the water —<\/em>
\nEven when I could not see;\u00a0<\/em>
\nIn the middle of it all,\u00a0<\/em>
\nWhen I thought You were a thousand miles away,\u00a0<\/em>
\nNot for a moment did You forsake me…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

After all, You are constant;\u00a0<\/em>
\nAfter all, You are only good;<\/em>
\nAfter all, You are sovereign;\u00a0<\/em>
\nNot for a moment will You forsake me… ”
\n(Not for a Moment, Meredith Andrews)<\/em><\/p>\n

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We found the words of that old favorite hymn last week, tucked into the middle of Jeremiah’s lament for his people. Regardless of how bad the destruction in his war-torn land, how deep the ache of his grief and loss, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fruit-of-the-spirit"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9XvNH-ij","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1135"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1153,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1135\/revisions\/1153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curwensvillealliance.org\/laurel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}