Is It Okay?

"My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me....My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow....My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart."  (Job 17)

Some may not agree, but I have often wondered: If Jesus, Word of the Father, said that Job spoke what was right, could broken spirits find a sort of consolation in knowing that it might be okay to feel some of the things Job felt?

But of course, it is not "right" to wallow in a brokenness which defeats, leads to, "....denying the Lord Who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction."  Now may our Lord Jesus Christ, and you, forgive me if I ever seem to minimize any, "My spirit is broken...," but I'm sure you know as well as I that it is not the intent of Jesus for us to have a, "....spirit is broken," which leads to perpetual, "....my days are extinguished....My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow....My...purposes are broken off...."

There is a "brokenness" of which David speaks in Psalm 51, "A broken and a contrite heart...."  This is "right" brokeness; this is necessary for repentance; this is necessary for walking in Jesus Christ, akin to, "Blessed are the poor in spirit."  But a brokenness which leads to, "I quit," is from the pit of Hell.  You know that I know about this.  In June of 1970, I felt as Jonah, "The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.  To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever." 

As Job, I also was in, "My spirit is broken," and those "Jonah scenes" still pop up at times.  But I cannot thank our Lord Jesus Christ enough for His constant, continual, "ever-present ('muchness, abundance, well proved') help in trouble."  And, my friend, for me this is not a "yesterday experience."  It is day to day, moment by moment.  Today, anew, I celebrate the Healer of broken spirits, "He will not allow your foot to slip; He Who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, He...shall neither slumber nor sleep", even when you and I do.

Father, in Jesus' Name, O Thou Healer of, "My spirit is broken," be the Healer to any who read this.  Amen. 

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Read: "South Florida Dining With Hamas And The Taliban" at:   jhs58.blogspot.com  

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"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.  Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?...For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."  (Jesus)

This is classic "lost and found."  But notice:  The shepherd went looking for the lost sheep, and in the case of the son, "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him...."  You don't see someone, "a long way off," unless you are looking for him.

The first can be classic evangelism, looking for those who have never surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ.  The second is "one of our own," a fellow Follower of Jesus who went astray.  The question which looms large in me today is, What am I doing about both?  The danger in us is to accept what is, not what should be.

Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to be a, "fisher of men," and a, "while he was afar off," actively-looking-for brother.  Amen.

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Article on Germany and illegal immigrants at:  jhs58.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2