Ecclesiastes 12:10

  The prophet Elijah is at the low point. His victory at Mt Carmel turned into his being on the run for his life. He is despondent depressed and ready to give up. When God asks him what he is doing his response is telling. “I tried,” He exclaims, “but no one is listening they all are after me, I Am Alone.”  There is nothing worse than being alone and sad.   Yet Elijah wasn’t. God would proclaim to him, " Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him ." He points him to Elisha, the man that would walk beside him for the rest of his journey. He tells him how he has other in place that will right the wrongs that have been done. As dire as his situation seems, God assures him he is not alone.  If a great man like Elijah can struggle when he feels alone and abandoned, do we not think it can happen to us and those around us as well? There will be sad times in our lives but that does not mean w...

  There are those times when it all seems too much.   Paul wrote about a time he was in that place in 2 nd Corinthians 7:5. Worn out physically, surrounded by problems, “ conflicts without, fear within ”.    You probably know that feeling. When it seems the whole world is against you and that includes you. Depressed. Downcast. Low.  In those moments, often is when we feel like God is farthest from us. That he must not care. But nothing could be further from the truth. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus; 2 nd Corinthians 7:6     It is in those moments that God will bring us something good if we open up our eyes and see it. For Paul, it was Titus. Titus comes with news that it wasn’t as bad as Paul had feared. Worry then shifts to comfort, sorry to joy. Even in our darkest moments, God can shine a light into our lives that will bring hope.   Even when the world has you down, God can lift you ...

  It’s a popular new credo in the world today, ‘ I’m spiritual but not religious’ . Whereas religion is seen as old fashion and conformist, spirituality is seen as individualistic and hip. A person defines their beliefs by themselves and not by what some group lays down. The motto comes from the idea that people don’t want to view themselves as vapid in terms of moral thinking and merely physically minded yet don’t want to be hindered by adopting a preset set of convictions.     Yet it doesn't seem to be working out well for people. A study in The Journal of Nervous Disease by Jeffrey Vittengl found that those that define themselves this way may not be happy about it. The risk of depression was over a third greater than for those saw themselves as spiritual but not religious [i] . While religion has been shown over the years to have significant positive effects on people’s mental well-being, this study showed that just being spiritual didn’t have the same results. ...

   It is one of the most depressing books in the Bible. It's very name, Lamentations, means the passionate expression of grief or sorrow.  It is a book about when the worst happens, when the unthinkable happens. It tells of a time when everything lies in ruins, families are split apart; all the things that matter most are totally destroyed. When the carnage and grief are so great there seems nothing left to do but weep. It is a time when it seems all hope is lost.   So it is ironic that in its pages we have one of the most positive, uplifting expressions of hope in the Bible. In Lamentations 3:21-23 we read,  “ This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness .”       Even in the worst of time, when it feels and looks like God has left his people, and it seems He has had enough of them and...