From Praise To Profanity

Some days are just harder than others.

I see the sun and hear the birds singing. There is momentum in my step, hope in my heart, purpose to my life—and then something, completely out of the blue, cuts it off abruptly. The disconnect can feel fatal to our feelings, like we may be scarred for life in that one moment. But that’s usually not true. Even though there is pain in the aftermath, the pain of the moment doesn’t have the power to kill us. And it can make us stronger.

People often blame the devil for such days. Every single thing that goes wrong is Satan’s fault:

1. The grocery store stopped carrying my favorite ice-cream
2. My car’s check-engine light came on--again!
3. My teenage daughter says she hates me.
4. My washing machine is on the fritz.
5. I had another fight with my spouse.

All first-world problems as some would say. None of them comparable to the life and death struggles many face in different parts of the world. Nevertheless, they are real enough issues for us as we are living and dealing with them.

I think the enemy of our soul gets way too much credit. In our brokenness we leave so many doors and windows open to our thoughts and emotions; we practically invite him to take advantage in our moment of temptation or weakness. It isn’t so much that he is doing all the work of tearing us down. It’s more likely that we trip over something he purposely put on our path. It triggers all the stuff inside that hasn’t fully healed, and we are down for the count.

For some of us, it doesn’t take much. Yes, It could just be the sudden dearth of our favorite ice-cream. Or, closer to home, someone cuts us off as we are driving faster than we should to get somewhere we should have been five minutes ago. And oh, what a wonder it is how quickly our praise is replaced by profanity.

I’ve had those days—and weeks—and more sometimes. The world darkened to a deep shade of gray. I saw the sun and heard the birds, but my heart lay dormant under deep layers of snow and ice, unable to thaw—or so it felt at the time. My mumbled prayers seemed to reach my ears only, and I wondered if I would ever hear His whisper again—if Spring would ever come.

I am always amazed how people quote Jeremiah 29:11 but don’t seem to take note of the context.

 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

—Jeremiah 29:11-14

God speaks this precious word to the captives—the exiles—in Babylon. And most of them hearing this word will not experience the fulfillment of it. But their children will. He speaks to a broken-hearted people, through a broken-hearted prophet, words of hope, healing, and promise.

We who follow Messiah, are also in exile from our home country, a place we have yet to lay eyes on. There we are royal sons and daughters of the Most High, robed in His righteousness, every tear from our struggle on this mortal plain is wiped away. And there we will dwell with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords for all eternity.

But here and now we wrestle with our sins, sorrows, and weaknesses. On gray days especially, we fight the devil’s subtle invitations to wander, to give it all up, to walk away, to settle for the comfort and pleasure of this life, rather than press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of each of us.

But if we lift up our eyes from this tired earth for a moment, and recall to ourselves the goodness and faithfulness of God in so many moments of our lives, and begin to thank Him, our enemy loses his standing in our thoughts and feelings. We remember our true Father, who loves us and has promised never to leave or forsake us, and is well able to finish what He has started with us… and once again we take heart.

-Sally Klein O'Connor

12/4/23