The Lord Hears Our Cries in Devastation and Desperation
The Lord Hears Our Cries in Devastation and Desperation – May 28th, 2023
I got my first speeding ticket over 35 years after I got my driver’s license. Notice I didn’t say that I got my first speeding ticket the first time I exceeded the speed limit. I couldn’t possibly even begin to estimate how many times I have broken driving laws. Every time I drive? Even if it’s usually unintentional or I’m trying to avoid being rear-ended by everyone else who is speeding, I have exceeded the speed limit many, many times. We have all kinds of ways to avoid getting a speeding ticket, don’t we? We have driving apps that announce, “speed trap ahead”; some of us have radar detectors; we might notice a police car parked somewhere that’s not really a parking spot and tap our brakes; sometimes oncoming cars will flash their lights at us and we’ll give them a grateful wave. The day I got my first and only speeding ticket, I was driving at the same speed as all the cars around me, and I had apparently missed a reduced speed limit sign. But these are just excuses – I did the wrong thing – I drove faster than the speed limit. My carelessness and inattention resulted in my speeding, and I deserved the ticket I received that day.
Today is Pentecost Sunday, a Christian holiday that commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon followers of Jesus as recorded in Acts 2. The word “Pentecost” literally means “fiftieth,” deriving from the Greek word for the Festival of Weeks in Leviticus 23:16. Do you remember what Jesus and the disciples were celebrating in the Upper Room when they ate what we call “The Last Supper” together? Passover. Fifty days after Passover, the day of Pentecost, is when God poured out the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, in fulfillment of Joel 2:28-29 – “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days I will pour out my spirit.” Don’t let the word “slaves” trip you up here. The point of this is that God promised to pour out his Spirit on ALL people.
The word here translated “all” happens to be one of the 50 Hebrew words I had to memorize in my most recent seminary course – “kol.” Our professor encouraged us to use whatever memory tricks worked for us. For this word, what helped me is, “All get, everyone gets something from Santa in their stocking, even if it’s just a lump of coal.” (lol) God pours out his spirit on all people. Strong’s concordance enriches our understanding by telling us this includes all people, in any and every manner, altogether, enough, howsoever, as many as. There is no limit at all when it comes to God’s Spirit. No matter how many people he pours his spirit out on, there’s no less of him to pour out on the next person who comes along. God is limitless, eternal, infinite, beyond measure.
I’ve called today’s message, “The Lord Hears Our Cries in Devastation and Desperation.” Last Sunday, our Vineyard Area Leader, Angela Otero, encouraged us with a word from the Lord for Liberty Vineyard that God wants to revive and renew us. Let me say that again – receive the word of the Lord – God wants to revive and renew us! Thank you, Lord! Come, Holy Spirit! Many years ago, I attended a prayer conference in which an African pastor challenged us to consider how we wanted to be revived – through devastation or through desperation. Sometimes it seems that both may be present. We’re going to look at two Bible stories today in which people experienced both devastation and desperation.
1 Kings 17:8-13 – “Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there, for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’ So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.’ As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, ‘Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.’ But she said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.’ Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son . . .’”
Did you catch that? Basically this single mom, i.e. someone with no status in society, no ethical way to provide for her own needs or those of her son, is in a place of absolute desperation. God sends a prophet to her. She’s probably thinking, “Oh, good, what a relief – I’m dying here. God must have sent the prophet to come and save my life and bless me.” But what does this prophet of God say to her? “Make me some cake.” Ummm, what?
Thankfully, that wasn’t the end of this precious family’s story.
Elijah goes on to say in 1 Kings 17:14-16 – “‘. . . For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.”
This precious family in Zarephath was in a place of devastation and desperation. This single mother chose to trust the Lord, and, in her time of greatest distress, she didn’t give up. Rather, she took the little that she had and gave it in great love. The Lord heard her cries and met her right where she was. She listened and was attentive to the Lord. The Lord revived and renewed her and her household. God’s divine grace increased in their lives. The Lord was glorified.
Our second story comes from Acts 3:1-10. Notice that this is just one chapter after the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early church. Scholars believe that what happened at the beginning of Acts 3 happened very soon, likely just a few weeks, after Acts chapter 2. “One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, ‘I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.’ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and astonishment at what had happened to him.”
This precious man, Temple Guy, was in a place of devastation and desperation. This time, someone else, Peter, chose to trust the Lord on his behalf, and, seeing that Temple Guy was in great distress, he didn’t give up. Rather, he took the little that he had and gave it in great love. This is the same Peter who, just weeks earlier, had denied three times that he even knew the Lord. This same Peter was restored by Jesus and now is willing to do what he had seen Jesus do – proclaim and demonstrate the Kingdom of God. The Lord heard Temple Guy and Peter’s cries and met them both right where they were. They both listened and were attentive to the Lord. The Lord revived and renewed them both. God’s divine grace increased in their lives. The Lord was glorified.
I told you about my speeding ticket story. Now for a different story. Many of you know about my YouTube ministry. Last year a brother in Christ in Eastern Europe who has been blessed through my channel wrote this note to me:
Greetings sister Karen, I hope you are doing well. I am wishing you all the blessing of Christ. May God through His saints purify your heart from all the passions. I am sending you 2 writings of Saint Maximos the confessor. In my opinion his theology is the greatest of all time. Please enjoy and if you like make them into an audio recording.
I wrote a prayer and I like to share it with you my sister. It was inspired by Saint Maximos the confessor. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, I pray that all the people of the earth may have a unmediating union with God through their attention in life without doubting. Amen.”
Your eternal brother in Christ, Milad
Isn’t that beautiful? My Balkan friend Milad’s request was so pure and simple, I agreed to his request immediately. But in my haste to encourage a brother in Christ, I made a mistake. Saint Maximos the Confessor lived in the late 6th / early 7th century. In my mind, that meant there would be no copyright for his writings because in our country, copyright for written materials expires 70 years after the death of the author. But I forgot that translations into another language come with copyrights of their own. I recorded Milad’s requested materials and uploaded the tracks. They were viewed less than a dozen times and I continued along my merry way with my many and varied YouTube projects.
We were visiting family and friends in Australia a couple of weeks ago. One of the highlights was doing a piano recital for the Aged Care community where Paul’s Mum lives. I enjoy playing there every time we visit, and Mum had requested this concert months ago, coordinating with office staff to get the word out. It was a delight to plan and play for the precious family, residents, and staff. Paul kindly recorded the recital and Mum eagerly shared the track with many others.
Two days later as we were getting ready to celebrate an early Mother’s Day meal with extended family, I saw to my horror that YouTube had informed me that I had broken copyright. I’ve had copyright warnings before – they are fairly commonplace these days with AI bots analyzing every written or recorded thing and comparing it to the entire internet. Normally you get a warning, the consequences are outlined, you get a chance to do something about it, and you deal with it accordingly. But this time, my infraction was deemed more serious because I had separated out small portions into separate tracks, for the benefit of the listeners, so the AI bot counted this as multiple violations and grouped them in the category of content automatically removed that is deemed the worst of the worst – abusive, hateful, predatory, or pornographic in nature. My channel was immediately deleted with no warnings, no opportunity to respond, no grace.
I was shell-shocked. Pain and confusion swirled in and around me. Fourteen years of work, over 4000 tracks, dedicated to the glory of God – all of that was gone. Yet, amid the shock and pain and confusion, I repented of my sin, and God breathed supernatural peace on me. He gave me the grace to set all of that to the side so I could be present in the present and fully enter into the celebration of the day. It was a beautiful celebration. Later that day, as I continued to lay my pain and confusion before God, I sensed him giving me direction in two specific ways.
The first directive I sensed from God was limited sharing. I decided to only share this YouTube trauma with Paul, my sister-in-law with whom we were staying, and Pastor John, in the context of ongoing conversations we’d been having about various hard things we were each dealing with. Here’s what I texted Pastor John that day: “I half-jokingly said to Paul, wow, it feels like God is allowing all these idols in my life to be removed – not at all blaming God here but so aware of his love and care and lordship – we’ve had some pretty big hits in family / church / ministry lately, but also a whole bunch of pretty awesome encounters with God where his love and light have broken through in incredible ways! Anyway, I’m trying to just breathe in, breathe out, and practice gratitude in all things.”
The second directive I sensed from God was total surrender. My prayer of surrender went something like this: “Lord, I believe that what I’ve been doing on YouTube has been unto you. If it has become an idol in my life, then please remove it. But if you want me to continue this ministry, I ask you to restore it in such a way that you receive all the glory. I throw myself on your mercy, in Jesus’ name.” After praying and pondering with Paul that day, I also wrote a short note of sincere apology to the tiny Christian publishing house against whom I had sinned and begged them for mercy, taking full responsibility for my carelessness and inattention.
Now it was time to wait. I became more attentive to my heart and mind and tried to intentionally set aside any anxious or fearful thoughts, laying them down at the feet of Jesus, whenever they crept in. Four days passed by. In the middle of those four days, our time in Australia ended and we began our long journey home by spending a couple of days in beautiful Christchurch, NZ, the place where our honeymoon had begun 37 years ago.
On our second morning there, I awoke to the absolute miracle that God had shown me mercy, my three Christian brothers at the publishing house had shown me mercy, and my YouTube ministry had been restored. Please notice that God did not restore these things because of anything good I had done. I was clearly in the wrong, just as I had been when I got that speeding ticket. Just as I had been wrong countless other times when I exceeded the speed limit but hadn’t been caught! God restores, not because of anything good in us, but because of who God is – God is a restorer of broken things and broken people (that’s me and you)! It is so important to lean on God’s goodness and not on ourselves or anyone or anything else. God alone is the one who can restore all things.
After this blessed restoration, Paul and I rejoiced in God’s goodness and sovereignty. We made our way downstairs to enjoy the hotel breakfast and plan our day. The previous day’s rain had cleared and on that beautiful day we decided we would spend the day at the Botanical Gardens across the street. We went up to our room to gather our things when I noticed a new message on my phone from precious Charity. Pastor John had passed away. The shock and pain and confusion I’d felt four days earlier concerning YouTube paled in comparison with the pain and confusion I felt when I read that shocking news. I couldn’t comprehend it. I’m sure all of us can relate to that and can remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news. There are no words.
There is no doubt that Amos and Charity have experienced devastation. Our church has also experienced devastation. Let’s be completely honest before God and as honest as we can be with one another – this is really hard. Grief is hard. Loss is hard. Let’s also remember that God is with us, no matter what. God is good, no matter what. We will get through this together, dear brothers and sisters. We are family in Christ – I am here for you, and I thank God that you are here for me, too. We will get through this together.
God is inviting us today to turn to him in our devastation, to turn to him in desperation. He wants to revive and renew us. We may be down to our last resources, whether emotional, relational, mental, or financial. We may be aware that we have no margin left in some areas of our life. We may feel like we’re at the limit and can’t take any more.
I also need to tell you that I am so proud of each and every one of you, Liberty Vineyard church family. You love so well, giving freely and expecting nothing in return. You weep with those who weep, you rejoice with those who rejoice. You are generous of heart, generous in giving of your time, your encouragements, and yourselves. The Lord is well pleased with you, good and faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
Whether you relate to this on a personal level or as our church family or whether it’s more that you are carrying someone else in your heart, this is a very real place of devastation and desperation. When we know that we or someone else is in great distress, we don’t need to give up. We can choose to trust the Lord. We can take the little that we have and give it in great love. The Lord is so very faithful, always faithful, to hear our cries. The Lord meets us right where we are. We can listen and be attentive to his voice and his presence. He is here with us right now. The Lord will revive and renew us. We are not alone – we belong to one another. Although you and I may not know what to do, we can keep our eyes on the Lord, remembering that we are part of God’s story, and we are a part of one another’s stories. The Lord will help us!
Today we commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon followers of Jesus. Will you stand with me as we cry out to the Lord together?
Come, Holy Spirit!
Lord, we take the little that we have, and we lay it all down at your feet in total surrender – out of love for you, and for the good of others. We trust you, Lord. Please give us the grace to hear your voice today. Speak to us, heal us, revive us, renew us today. May your divine grace increase in our lives. Be glorified, oh Lord!
