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Scriptural Tea

We had our evening cup of tea the other day and chose the raspberry flavoured, caffeine-free Scriptural tea.  The text that went with it was a good one:

Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.

That’s a tough one. How do you pray for someone who delights in making you feel small?

I have a few thoughts on that. I guess the first thing to think about is the expression, “Little people belittle people”. I know. Nobody has the right to belittle others, but when they’re not right with themselves, they’re not right with God and they lash out at others so that they’re not hurting alone. It’s not right, but that’s how it goes. At least that’s the way I see it.

It helps to try to understand where they are coming from and although we can’t know their hurts and sorrows, and we have no idea of the source of their anger, we can pray for them. God will give us the grace to do so.

It can be a simple start, such as asking God to show you how to pray. And then listen for the answer. He will give you the words. If they are lacking initially, that’s okay. The Bible promises us in Romans 8:26b, 27 the following:  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

You must be willing. Perhaps the need in your workplace is great.  There are many people wearing smiles who hurt inside and don’t know what to do about it. Reach out to them, cover them with your prayers and thank God for His grace.

Maybe that’s why you’re there. You are a soldier of God.

If God is for us, who can be against us

Joy comes again with the rising of the sun.

  Rest with me and have a cup of Scriptural tea

In Psalms 30:5 we read: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

How long is a night?  As I sipped my cup of tea, I pondered that thought.  I guess it’s important to define ‘night’. In some instances a night is more than a twelve hour period.  It describes a time in our lives when things appear black.

How many times has it not happened that you lay awake in the blackest time of night, in the wee hours of the morning and all your worries come swarming in on you?  Remember the dumb things you did as a teenager?  Why do you remember them at those times?  Why do you think about the things you said or did that were hurtful to someone, or that someone may have done to you? Why do your worries crash down on you?

It’s always in the night—always in the darkest hours. That is the time when we are suspended—not quite asleep and not really awake, although our thoughts are flying as if we were. It’s only when daylight approaches that the fears take wing and we fall asleep.

The twelve hours of darkness is not the ‘night’ the psalmist was thinking of. He was referring to that period of time in our lives when everything seems to go wrong, when illness steps in, or accidents happen, or something goes wrong with a family member. He equated it to the night because the emotions of fear, worry, anxiety, regret, anger and revenge hit us the strongest blow at that time and the darkness is overpowering. So too are the difficult things of our lives.

To those who love the Lord, we will endure no matter how long the ‘night’ is because He walks beside us.  No matter what life may throw our way, no matter how hard Satan tries to derail us from our love of God, our Lord walks beside us, reaching out a hand when we need it most, whispering the promise that He will show the way if we but lean on Him, and that strengthens us.

Joy cometh in the morning.

To read more go to Sanctuary/Messages/Respect