WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2008
I’ve been reading a book lately by Frank Peretti. It’s called the Prophet. I’ve actually read this one before, but I have a tendency to go back and reread books that I love. And this was one of the ones that I loved!!!As you will see as I write more, I do not believe for a second that the timing of my re-reading this book is a coincidence!
The main character, John Barrett, is a news anchor, and he lives a life that is socially acceptable. His father, John Sr., is a Christian, and he speaks out against things that he knows are wrong in God’s eyes. So needless to say, they don’t agree on many things, and don’t spend much time together. Jr. is often embarassed by the actions and words of his father, until one day his father dies and he starts digging into the details of his father’s life. In his quest to find out who his father really was, he begins to see things from his Dad’s point of view. Especially because somewhere along his journey to find things he didn’t know, he starts to hear voices. What he hears are things that no one else can hear. There are cries of anguish and sorrow and loneliness that come from the very depths of the human heart. He hears things that in reality only God knows.
I myself know those cries, the ones that if one could actually hear them, would pierce even the hardest of hearts. Because I have felt the loneliness, the hopelessness, the agony of loss, the horrors caused by greed and selfishness. And in such a big world, who am I but a speck, a nobody. I’ve seen the eyes of others, and I know that I am not the only one to ever feel this way. Eyes are the windows to the soul. And even if a person’s face holds a smile, underneath, every single one of us holds pain that is unspeakable to bear by ourselves alone.
You see, the truth is, that I am not nobody because I belong to Somebody. And He sees all the hurt that I try to hide from everyone else. He sees when I am crying on the inside, but have to smile because it is not the time or the place to allow for weakness to show. He knows when I am at the end of myself, when I am so weak from grief that I can go no further, and gives me strength to go on when I can’t do it alone. Psalm 142: 1-3 says, “I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out my complaint before Him; before Him I tell my trouble. When my spirit grows faint within me, it is You who knows my way.” Isaiah 40:28-31 says, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
I may feel alone, but I’m not. And sometimes I feel like I don’t matter, but I do. To God. And so does everyone else that ever was, is now, or ever will be. Song of Songs 8:6 & & 7 says, “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” He knows everything about us, our hopes, cares, worries, pain, and all of our mistakes. And He still loves us. We have the priveledge of being offered the gift of becoming a child of God. Nobody can love us better than He can!
POSTED BY KRISTIN AT 3:48 PM