Summer Blessings to you knowing, "This is the day that the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it."
I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus and my prayer for you is that you have done the same as well. I can honestly say that it feels so good to keep your mind on Him knowing; "God will do whatever He sees needs doing"!
I woke up one morning recently thinking, "THAT'S A CRYING SHAME." Have you ever heard or remember anyone using that expression? It was an expression often used when I was young, by people who had sympathy in their hearts for others who were facing great disappointment. We often lose the meaning of some of these colloquialisms; (it is a situation that makes one feel sad or disappointed).
In the world as we know it, there are many things that bring this thought to mind. For instance, it is a crying shame to see what is happening in our nation. As one preacher said some seventy years ago, "Things are in the saddle, and they ride mankind." A.W. Tozer
You can hardly watch the news without thinking, that's a crying shame. When I think of what is going on in the Middle East, you will surely agree with me, "THAT'S A CRYING SHAME." The demonstrations we are witnessing on the university campuses across America causes one to think, "THAT'S A CRYING SHAME." The ongoing slaughter of the innocents. Their silent cry begs for the expression, "THAT'S A CRYING SHAME." The list of things that qualify for things to cry over, things that make one sad or disappointed, is never ending.
I thought of the children of Israel in captivity in Egypt as a people group who knew what it felt like to weep. But God heard their groaning and saw their tears. It was a "CRYING SHAME" what they were going through as captives, but God helped the women even when it came to the birth of their children.
Let me take us back to ancient Jerusalem for a quick look at how bad conditions sometimes can become, or should I say, sad and disappointing. It can be seen best through the eyes of the prophet Nehemiah in the opening verses of his memoirs (Chapter1 verses 1-4):
The memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.
It was the month of Kislev in the twentieth year. At the time I was in the palace complex at Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, had just arrived from Judah with some fellow Jews. I asked them about the conditions among the Jews there who had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem. They told me, "The exile survivors who are left there in the province are in bad shape. Conditions are appalling. The wall of Jerusalem is still rubble; the city gates are still cinders." When I heard this, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God-of-Heaven.
In other words, IT WAS A CRYING SHAME WHAT THE CONDITION OF JERUSALEM HAD BECOME.
Nehemiah, (remember he was a captive himself) a humble servant and a cup-bearer for the king, came before the King and Queen with sad countenance in that his burden effected his very appearance. In other words, Nehemiah risked his life to beg leave to go to do something, for God and His people because God put it in his heart. I believe God can place burdens in our hearts, in the very center of our being, that tears are the manifestation of the inner working of God. In the eighth chapter of Romans the Bible says, "The world groans and travails, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God." I believe that time has come, and that time is now.
I write this with tears in my heart, as I remember the shortest verse in the Bible with the most profound meaning, "JESUS WEPT."
I WRITE THIS WITH GREAT CONCERN FOR A WORLD THAT HAS BECOME, IN SO MANY AREAS, "A CRYING SHAME."
I BELIEVE IN YOU,
Pastor Cleddie Keith
P.S. "God will do whatever He sees needs doing!"
I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus and my prayer for you is that you have done the same as well. I can honestly say that it feels so good to keep your mind on Him knowing; "God will do whatever He sees needs doing"!
I woke up one morning recently thinking, "THAT'S A CRYING SHAME." Have you ever heard or remember anyone using that expression? It was an expression often used when I was young, by people who had sympathy in their hearts for others who were facing great disappointment. We often lose the meaning of some of these colloquialisms; (it is a situation that makes one feel sad or disappointed).
In the world as we know it, there are many things that bring this thought to mind. For instance, it is a crying shame to see what is happening in our nation. As one preacher said some seventy years ago, "Things are in the saddle, and they ride mankind." A.W. Tozer
You can hardly watch the news without thinking, that's a crying shame. When I think of what is going on in the Middle East, you will surely agree with me, "THAT'S A CRYING SHAME." The demonstrations we are witnessing on the university campuses across America causes one to think, "THAT'S A CRYING SHAME." The ongoing slaughter of the innocents. Their silent cry begs for the expression, "THAT'S A CRYING SHAME." The list of things that qualify for things to cry over, things that make one sad or disappointed, is never ending.
I thought of the children of Israel in captivity in Egypt as a people group who knew what it felt like to weep. But God heard their groaning and saw their tears. It was a "CRYING SHAME" what they were going through as captives, but God helped the women even when it came to the birth of their children.
Let me take us back to ancient Jerusalem for a quick look at how bad conditions sometimes can become, or should I say, sad and disappointing. It can be seen best through the eyes of the prophet Nehemiah in the opening verses of his memoirs (Chapter1 verses 1-4):
The memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.
It was the month of Kislev in the twentieth year. At the time I was in the palace complex at Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, had just arrived from Judah with some fellow Jews. I asked them about the conditions among the Jews there who had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem. They told me, "The exile survivors who are left there in the province are in bad shape. Conditions are appalling. The wall of Jerusalem is still rubble; the city gates are still cinders." When I heard this, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God-of-Heaven.
In other words, IT WAS A CRYING SHAME WHAT THE CONDITION OF JERUSALEM HAD BECOME.
Nehemiah, (remember he was a captive himself) a humble servant and a cup-bearer for the king, came before the King and Queen with sad countenance in that his burden effected his very appearance. In other words, Nehemiah risked his life to beg leave to go to do something, for God and His people because God put it in his heart. I believe God can place burdens in our hearts, in the very center of our being, that tears are the manifestation of the inner working of God. In the eighth chapter of Romans the Bible says, "The world groans and travails, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God." I believe that time has come, and that time is now.
I write this with tears in my heart, as I remember the shortest verse in the Bible with the most profound meaning, "JESUS WEPT."
I WRITE THIS WITH GREAT CONCERN FOR A WORLD THAT HAS BECOME, IN SO MANY AREAS, "A CRYING SHAME."
I BELIEVE IN YOU,
Pastor Cleddie Keith
P.S. "God will do whatever He sees needs doing!"