Aug 16 2008
Sobering Words of an Honest Heart
This was sent to me and I wanted to share it with you all.
Have you ever felt disconnected from God? I have not had the time (or made the time) to study and meditate on God’s word for the last week. And the last couple of days, I have really felt distance between myself and our Lord and Savior. Not that I haven’t prayed, but I just feel empty. I was speaking to a close friend of mine and he had mentioned that; we (as humans) have the tendency to get relaxed, in our relationship with God, when trials and tribulations are no longer upon us. And unfortunately this is true.
Today I sat, studied and meditated. And to tell you the truth I feel rejuvenated. But not quite there.
In my other book I’m reading, by John Piper, it also helped with the way I’m feeling (leave it to God to find a way to tell you what you need to hear). And this is what it said:
“There are times in the lives of the most godly people when spiritual hunger becomes weak, and darkness threatens to consume the light, and everything but the vaguely remembered taste of joy evaporated….Martin Luther wrote to Melanchton from the Wartburg Castle on July 13, 1521, while he was supposedly working feverishly on the translation of the New Testament:
‘I sit here at ease, hardened and unfeeling-alas! Praying little, grieving little for the Church of God, burning rather in the fierce fires of my untamed flesh. It comes to this: I should be afire in the spirit; in reality I am afire in the flesh, with lust, laziness, idleness, sleepiness. It is perhaps because you have all ceased praying for me that God has turned away from me…. For the last eight days I have written nothing, nor prayed nor studied, partly from self-indulgence, partly from another vexatious handicap…. I really cannot stand it any longer….Pray for me, I beg you, for in my seclusion here I am submerged in sin.’ ”Now, I’m not as far as Luther ( I hope), but I have felt that my spiritual hunger may have weakened. I only write because I hope that you will continue to pray for me, and those around you, that we may always have that strong spiritual hunger for the Lord, His word and His desires. I thank you for all the times you have prayed and thought of me, and the Lord has blessed me from it, but I ask that you continue to pray for my spiritual walk (and for other’s), as we know that we are never out of troubled waters until that great day when we see our Savior’s face.
Thank you,
God bless
Signed a Friend
As he stated “leave it to God to find a way to tell you what you need to hear”, the timing was perfect for me to receive this letter. For I too feel the darkness of the flesh (world) tugging anxiously on me.
Thank you God for giving me this dear friend and may he be encouraged to know that YOU have chosen him to minister to the likes of me.
peace_Out
