Hear me, O LORD; for your loving kindness is good: turn to me according to the multitude of your tender mercies. (Ps 69:16)
When we are in the middle of a painful situation, we can't even comprehend it ending or being past it. The emotional suffering we endure is so great that it is the only thing we can focus on. Our hearts broken to bits, our tears flowing like water from a broken faucet, we cry out to God for mercy. "Make the pain stop, please!"
When we've come through that ordeal and look back, it is almost impossible to replicate the pain in our minds. We can see it, we can know it - but the pain itself has been replaced by the scars of grief. God's greater plan for us has more purpose than we can even begin to imagine. Our wounds are nothing compared to the wounds of the Savior. His suffering, his death, sets - not only him apart from all others - but it in turn sets each of us who accepts Him - apart from others! Out of the most horrific trauma, came the most spectacular saving grace known to man! Redemption of the entire world - past and future - was gained in one profound death!
It's hard to stay focused in our busy world. Perhaps in the days when Jesus walked upon it, it was "easier" - there weren't technological distractions to consume their prayer time. Their focus was still about "family" and their lives were simpler. Maybe we need to go back to the basics of "Sunday" being family day. Maybe we need to insist that one day a week we will not work, we will rest, we will worship. The "blue" laws weren't really that bad, if you take into consideration what they were designed to do. Our nation, which prides itself on being a "family oriented" nation, has left the family in the dust. We have become a greedy nation, consumed with that "time and a half on holidays" and the extra money to be made on Sundays.
God's mercies have always been available to us - Sunday through Saturday, 24/7 - yet we hesitate to ask for them. His kindness towards us never stops. He's always ready to bestow some grace upon us - all we need to do is ask! Find your "family day" and in doing so, spend the time honoring the Father! Give him all the praises and prayers you can and don't be surprised if your world beings to change! He wants you in his "family" - he created you in His likeness. He hears you when you cry out to him - listen for his reply.
