Saint & Sinner: Pure Irony!
How can I describe this week? I was caught in a holding pattern or so I thought. The emotions of grief overwhelmed me, every step forward seemed to come with two steps backward, and each attempt to take control of the situation around me seemed to demonstrate my lack of control. I lost my temper, cried, was frustrated, discouraged, and could not see progress toward what I believed to be the work God has created for me. The more I saw how I was failing to live up to the righteous standard God sets the more depressed I became. So why write about it?
This morning in my reading of scripture God helped me see the irony between what I was looking at and the reality of what has occurred this week.
Here’s a definition of irony from Webster’s dictionary:
3 a (1): incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result
My expectations were out of sync about what work God has created for me today and I was tempted into emphasis on the future along with it’s worries. I thought I was waiting and all along God had me working.
I just didn’t see it until I searched the scriptures this morning looking for a way to understand the race I am to run. Consider, as I did this morning, God’s description in His word about the race we are running:
2 Timothy 4:6-8
6For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Galations 5:6-8
6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
7You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? 8That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.
Hebrews 12:1-3
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart
Acts 20:23-24
23I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
Ecclesiastes 9:10-12
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
11 I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
12 Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so men are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.
Psalm 33:16-22
16 No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
19 to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
20 We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.
I’ve longed for the Lord to bless me in two ways and grown dissatisfied because His timing is different than mine. My expectations of what the role to encourage and comfort those who are suffering in a similar way would play out. Lord, forgive me is my prayer this morning and I am forgiven for Jesus has already paid the debt.
Then, God opened my eyes to see how He had encouraged and comforted others through my hands this week:
- looked after a young man who was quite ill
- encouraged a woman who was discouraged about adoption proceedings
- lifted up a small group through hymns of praise and thanksgiving
- encouraged two woman grieving the loss of their fathers and a man who had lost his mother
- encouraged a woman caring more than six months for a husband recovering from a stroke
- encouraged three woman by honoring them as my mothers
- encouraged a young woman facing the uncertainty of finding a job in a new place
- fed numerous youngsters a good meal
- completed most of my work tasks encouraging my manager things would get done without intervention
- encouraged a woman who has recently been beaten by her husband still struggling to recover from an addiction
Do you see the pure irony here? All the while, I was struggling with my own sinfulness, emotions, weakness of faith…there was God strengthening my faith, encouraging others, helping me to do the work he had prepared for me.
Saint & Sinner: Pure Irony
Praise God from who all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
Lord, we praise you and thank you for your saving grace which provides the confident assurance we will receive the crown of victory from you – because you promise us this as a gift and we cannot earn it on our own. We thank you for this gift of faith, which comes from hearing the message through your word. Help us to express our faith in love to those around us…even virtually. Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and our hope firmly in you. We praise you for each and every blessing. Help us to trust you, your perfect plan and its timing for each blessing. Amen
