Joseph Parker, an old British Preacher once said: “Preach to hurting men, and you will never lack for a congregation.” I believe he is right. In every service, there sits before the Preacher someone who is enduring an especially “hard” time of life, a “valley,” so to speak.

This morning, with our “Encouragement” Series still in force … I found Isaiah 60:20. And it sparkled like a jewel!  It succinctly says: “The days of thy mourning shall be ended.”

Wow!

The full verse, no doubt Millennial in scope, says, really promises: “Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.”

Yes, this is specifically voiced to Israel, a (some day) converted to Jesus people!

But there is nothing wrong with me (or you) enjoying it!

It still shows the Heart of God, His Love!

And that He CAN turn my tears into something else. Or dry them up, eternally!

“Mourning,” spelled “ebel” in Hebrew, means “to lament, to be sad, to feel sorrow.”

And “shall be ended” represents “shalam,” a word that essentially means “brought to peace!” (Look: it is clearly related to “Shalom!”)

Oh yes, I know: “The Lord GOD can wipe away tears from off all faces.” Isaiah 25:8

This too: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:4

But today’s Text verse, short but so very sweet, says (to me) even more!

“The days of thy mourning shall be ended.”

This indeed might can be fulfilled when God wipes away those hurts, those tears.

Or there is another way it can come to pass.

That God might “lift” the burden that is so hurting you!

He might bring you to the place that you can “live with” the problem … and go on with your life!

What I am saying, without trying to be harsh: God can so dissolve that thing (that’s brought you so many tears) that YOU NO LONGER REALLY CARE about it!

That’s a secondary way He is able to “end thy mourning!”

Not to care?

By giving you something better!

By God’s trading that tear-maker for a joy-bringer!

Wow!

Sound too good to be true?

Then “try on” Isaiah 61:3, God’s doing: “To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”

Wow!

And good old Psalm 30:5 needs to be heard again as well. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

“Joy in the morning,” after a while.

And also … “Joy for mourning!”

Then … “Praise for heaviness!”

Yes, you’ll just not care anymore about hose old (hurtful) things … their having been substituted with much, much better things!

Yes, GOD CAN!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

“Selah,” pause and think about this!

Hallelujah!

 

It is so easy, natural even, to fail to see the Lord’s Hand in our problems!

To (maybe without even realizing it) think, “Even God cannot solve this one!”

Or to let that hardship (trial) “wear you down,” or “consume your strength,” or “dull your optimism,” or “rob you of hope!”

And it is at this very point I want to remind you, remind us … DO NOT FORGET THAT GOD IS ALMIGHTY!

In other words, DO NOT COUNT LIGHTLY THE POWER AND ABILITY AND WISDOM OF THE GREAT (AND LOVING) GOD YOU SERVE, WE SERVE!

Earlier this morning I found this little verse (a fragment really) in Psalm 78:41. A Passage written to record Israel’s failure in the wilderness. “Yea, they limited the Holy One of Israel.”

Can our doubt, our malaise, actually “limit” God?

Can our unbelief and negativity do this?

Is this not, Matthew 13:58, an example of doubt doing just that, hindering Jesus’ Miracle Working willingness? “And He (our Lord) did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

Wow!

Friend, DO NOT FAIL to trust God’s power and willingness (in His Own time) to intervene in your dark situation. Please, do not limit Him in your life!

Like Israel did.

“Yea, they limited the Holy One of Israel.”

The little verb for “limit” here is “tavah.” It is in this case a “hapax legomenon,” a technical term that means “a word found once and once only” in a specific body of literature. Thus our “tools” for defining the word, studying it in more detail, are restricted.

But, beyond doubt, the King James (Version) translators felt that God could be “limited” by sin, sin on our part! (Other Bible scholars feel that synonyms of “limited” here include “provoked, pained, vexed,” and even “frustrated.”) But I best like “limited.”

Whatever your painful situation right now, seemingly unbearable at times … DO NOT LIMIT YOUR GREAT GOD in the agony you’re suffering! He can “move in” to help you, even this very day!

He is able!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

In fact, an unlikely Book, from which to get any encouragement … Lamentations!

A Book of tears, wailing, mourning for loss, extreme loss in Judah’s case!

Yet it is Lamentations that teaches us God “mercies” are inexhaustibly fresh! And that God is ever Faithful! As in this beautiful King James wording: “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23. Not bad encouragement lines within themselves! (At first Jeremiah here is talking about God, then ends up talking directly to God!)

So now … just a little further into Lamentations chapter 3 we find the “jewel” that is today’s Lesson, today’s Text … “For he (the Lord) doth not afflict willingly ….” Lamentations 3:33

Yes, He does “come down hard” on us at times! (That’s what “anah,” here rendered as “afflict” patently implies.) But not “willingly.” (Translating “leb,” not from His very “Heart!”)

Beautiful!

Yes, God sends us “heavy times, hard experiences” … but only when necessary!

Not simply at His pleasure!

There must be some “greater good” at stake!

That’s how Paul viewed his afflictions, anyway. “For our light AFFLICTION, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of GLORY.” Wow, 2 Corinthians 4:17, another good verse for encouragement, “in the long haul,” as Dad used to say!

I sometimes say God trades our pound of affliction for a ton of glory/eternal reward!

“He doth not afflict willingly!”

So, while you are “in the fire,” my friend … no doubt God has His mighty Hand on the “thermostat!” He KNOWS what He is doing!

He reluctantly, not joyfully or willingly, “afflicts” us.

Always for our “good” and His “glory!”

Now in closing, let me give you the whole “context” in which our “nugget” for today is set: “But though He (God) cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.”

Amazing!

And I pray, helpful to someone today …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I recently heard a Sermon (in a Jubilee Meeting recently) on Jesus washing the Disciples’ feet. The Lord used that Text (John 13) to warm my heart. In fact, my printer right now is preparing a “Bible Portion Booklet” with John 13 being its main content. Yes, I plan (under the Lord’s direction and timing, I mean) to preach a whole week’s Revival (normally 5 Sermons) using that single 17 Verse Swath of Scripture!

As I perused that great Paragraph of God’s Word … this line came to the forefront. Jesus told these still wet-footed men: “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” John 13:7

This sentence exploded with sweetness in my heart!

Oh, God does so much in our lives that we do not understand!

Things “we know not,” for sure!

But (and here may be the key word) “hereafter!”

When we all get to Heaven?

Once in our glorified bodies?

During the Millennium?

Nobody is absolutely sure about the “precise” chronology of “hereafter,” but that still does not dim the brilliant hope of its promise!

“…but thou shalt know hereafter.”

Hallelujah!

Reminds me of Paul’s statement: “For NOW we see through a glass, darkly; but THEN face to face: NOW I know in part; but THEN shall I know ….” 1st Corinthians 13:12

Oh, the importance of these little adverbs!

“NOW” … I do not see clearly.

“THEN” … I will know it all, having been illuminated by our loving, omniscient God!

Friend, what is God DOING in your life right now?

Does it hurt?

Has it brought tears to you eyes?

Does it seem “not to make sense?”

Again, listen to this great God, a direct Quote: “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”

But we have this peace, this assurance … God’s great “hereafter” is coming!

Then, taught by Himself … we shall “know!”

And say … “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” Romans 11:33-36

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

And be sure and read yesterday’s Lesson (posted late last night) if you have not done so! It is encouraging! I think you will agree!

 

WRITTEN 10:15 PM, THURSDAY NIGHT, MARCH 15, 2018

All day long my heart yearned to write another Lesson on the subject of encouragement. That’s the subject of our current Series.

But our day began early, shortly before sunup in Canton, North Carolina. The sweet Revival Meeting there ended last night. So we promptly drove home and I immediately repacked and headed south to Villa Rica, Georgia. Our exit here is number 24 on Interstate 20, roughly 24 miles from the Alabama State line!

Busy, busy, busy!

Thus … no time to write that encouragement Lesson, all day long I mean!

Then this evening I preached at the Gateway Baptist Church here in town. Verse by verse exposition (or an attempt at it anyway) from our precious New Testament.

Then it happened!

As I gave the invitation a young man raised his hand as lost, needing Jesus!

I encouraged him (from the pulpit) to come to Jesus!

We sang and he walked the aisle!

And the Lord saved him!

He believed on the Lord Jesus Christ!

Then I understood … even though I did not get to write my Lesson about encouragement, the Lord had given me a firsthand view of a miracle!

Of maybe the greatest spring of encouragement ever for a Christian … a sinner being born again!

And all I can say is “Praise the Lord!”

My encouragement Lesson for today!

Pray for Chris now, please. That he will grow in the grace of God! Here he is pictured alongside the Pastor, Brother Josh Agan.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Encouraged!