Daily Journal: 6 June

Offenses, Worship

and Comfort

Psalm 43:3-4

Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.

We go through passages of time where God has to deal with our hearts and our minds. We collect offenses and carry hurts that become burdens. If undealt with, they interfere with the way we live and every relationship around us. It’s like a spill that quickly spreads, leaving a stain unless it’s properly cleaned up.

Grace can be stripped away and our thoughts contorted when we focus on ‘me’. Thankfully, when we seek God, we find Him. He ministers directly to our souls to readjust our thoughts and heal our hearts. It’s not a magic cure. We have to be honest about our own attitudes and perceptions and diligent in the work of releasing wounds.

God is always faithful to see our need and to step in and help readjust our lenses when we are ready to do the work.

Worship will always bring His comfort and realignment. When we take time to worship Him, His Spirit rises in us and is able to work in our lives in all the places that hurt. When we take time to worship Him, His Spirit rises in us and is able to shift our thoughts to their true north in Him. When His Spirit rises in us, those hurts seem to melt away and we can deal with them in a way we can’t in our own strength.

God wants to replace sorrow and despair with His fresh oil. Jesus wants to do this for us:

Isaiah 61:1-3 (NIV)

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour.

We can't be oaks of righteousness without exchanging all of our griefs for His oil. God doesn’t want us to live with pain.

Stripping can be extremely painful, but necessary, like the stripping of paint and sanding down that needs to be done before new coats of paint are applied.

God doesn’t want us to spread pain, and that will happen unless we deal with it. He wants to bind up our wounds and heal us. He wants us to carry His grace, truth and beauty within our hearts. His oil is healing oil.

John 14:27 (NIV)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.