Coffee With The Lord

Have you ever been overcome with deep feelings of compassion and sympathy for someone going through a trial?  You couldn’t help yourself… when you heard of their loss, saw their pain, and sensed their deep sorrow the feelings just welled up within you!  Tears came, you choked up, you could hardly talk – you just wanted to put your arm around the hurting person you cared so deeply about, do what you could to help them, and comfort them!

There’s a story like that in the Bible about Jesus!  Lazarus, his dear friend had died, Jesus had not been there when it happened. Mary and Martha, Lazarus’s sisters were grieving, hurt and suffering!  Here’s what the Bible says about the deep feelings Jesus experienced, “When Jesus saw Mary weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was DEEPLY MOVED in His spirit and GREATLY TROUBLED!  He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’  They said to Him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ [And then what follows is the shortest verse of Scripture in the Bible – but one filled with unspeakable depths of feeling and comfort] Jesus wept!” A couple of verses later this aspect of Jesus’ concern is amplified – the Bible says, “Then Jesus, DEEPLY MOVED AGAIN, came to the tomb…” (From John 11:17-44)

Jesus, however, did not just feel helpless in this sad situation.  He identified deeply with their pain and sorrow, but He knew what He was going to do!  He said, “I go to awaken him.” He was aware of who He was and what He could and would do.  He told Martha, Lazarus’s sister, “Your brother will rise again.”  And then He declared, “I am the resurrection and the life!  Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die!”  Then displaying the truth of what He had declared, He had the stone rolled away at the grave and He “Cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!”  And Lazarus did!  Their sorrow was turned to joy – their hearts were filled with hope!

Two things need to be kept in mind it seems to me in this story:  First of all, Jesus cares deeply about the sorrow, pain and suffering we experience!  Second, because of who He is, there is hope – He is the resurrection and the life!

As I read this passage today during “coffee with the Lord” I was reminded of the words of a wonderful old gospel song…

“Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth or song,
As the burdens press, and the cares distress,
And the way grows weary and long?

Refrain:
“Oh, yes, He cares! I know He cares!
His heart is touched with my grief;
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares!

“Does Jesus care when my way is dark
With a nameless dread and fear?
As the daylight fades into deep night shades,
Does He care enough to be near?

“Does Jesus care when I’ve tried and failed
To resist some temptation strong;
When for my deep grief there is no relief,
Though my tears flow all the night long?

Does Jesus care when I’ve said “goodbye”
To the dearest on earth to me,
And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks—
Is it aught to Him? Does He see?

–Frank E. Graeff, 1901

Just a word of caution… It is possible to be near the Lord, to sense His presence, to hear His voice, and to enjoy His wonderful blessing (even in unusual and special ways) and be drawn away from the Lord – even to turn away from the Lord!  I mean it isn’t as though the Bible doesn’t warn against this!  A significant passage in this regard is I Corinthians 10:12-13: “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall!  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.  God is faithful!  He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

King Solomon, blessed with incredible wisdom (and about every other imaginable blessing) is a case study in this truth and a warning for us…  I probably could paraphrase it, but I won’t.  Here it is, right out of the Bible!  Please read the whole thing…

“Solomon loved the Lord! … At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, ‘Ask what I shall give you.’  And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your sevant David, my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward You… Now, O Lord my God you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child.  I do not know how to go out or come in.  And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people… Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil for who is able to govern this your great people.

“It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this!  And God said to him, ‘because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold I now do according to your word!  Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.  I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you all your days.  And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments…I will lengthen your days” (from I Kings 3:3-14)

But here is the sad story – the tragic reality – “the rest of the story”…

“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women… from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, ‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love…  And his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God.  Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.  So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord.  Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem… And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded.  Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.’” (from I Kings 11:1-11)

How did the writer of Hebrews put it?  “Take care, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the Living God!  But exhort [encourage] one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin!”  (Hebrews 3:12–13)