“For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Zephaniah 3:17
I was talking with someone a few days ago (whining….maybe even venting might be a speck more accurate) about the frustration I was feeling after pouring myself into particular people day after day and year after year without seeing the progress in them I’d hoped for. I said to him, “I just feel like that Tenth Avenue North song, ‘Worn.’ I want to see redemption win and I’m not seeing it.” Okay, so I realize that in the first place, it’s presumptuous of me to judge what is going on in someone else’s heart; but even more damning, it is prideful to expect change in them because of my input. As much as I believe I want to leave things with the Lord, I find myself continually picking them up and carrying the burden myself. Isaiah 5 describes the Israelites carrying their sins behind them in a cart. Oh, how I long to drop that cart off and never pick it up again, yet I seem to consistently find myself dragging those ungodly thoughts, actions, attitudes behind me. I get tired. Weary. I see people’s lives crumble in front of me, and it is hard, but more than that, it is personal. I invest time. I invest resources. I invest feelings and concern and prayer. What happened to those promises of God that He rewards those who seek Him? And worse yet, what will keep my own life from falling apart? Nothing. Nothing. Falling apart may be what He has for me. Oh how I pray this is not true, but if I believe Scripture, and I do, He is clear that He will use even ugly, painful circumstances to draw me to Himself. So I trust that if He allows my life to fall apart at the seams, then He also has in His plan to pick up the pieces. How do I know? His Truth promises, “I will never leave or forsake you; I will give beauty for ashes; I create life from death, the old will become new.” So, whether I am in my happy place singing songs with my precious grandchildren or struggling with feelings of failure or frustration in ministry, He is there. My Father lives in me. This is where we at In the Midst Ministries find ourselves trusting that He is always in our midst, no matter our circumstances. We invite you to search the Scriptures with us, to be deliberate about living the life, to invite Him to take residence in your life. “He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”