March 2024 – Online Church Community

March 27, 2024

Lamenting is Biblical

Pastor Paul Karanick speaks of the importance of understanding lamenting. Most people experience hard times. As Christians, we sometimes get so angry with God that we feel as though He is against us, rather than on our side. The Scripture tells us of many people in the Bible who felt the same way and they were devoted followers of God.
Lamentations 3
”I am the man who has seen misery Because of the rod of His wrath. He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. Indeed, He has turned His hand against me Repeatedly all the day. He has consumed my flesh and my skin, He has broken my bones. He has besieged and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. He has made me live in dark places, Like those who have long been dead. He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy. Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer. He has blocked my ways with cut stone; He has twisted my paths. He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places. He has made my ways deviate, and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate. He bent His bow And took aim at me as a target for the arrow. He made the arrows of His quiver Enter my inward parts. I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their song of ridicule all the day. He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drink plenty of wormwood. He has also made my teeth grind with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust. My soul has been excluded from peace; I have forgotten happiness. So I say, “My strength has failed, And so has my hope from the Lord.” ¶Remember my misery and my homelessness, the wormwood and bitterness. My soul certainly remembers, And is bent over within me. I recall this to my mind, Therefore I wait. The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, For His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I wait for Him.” The Lord is good to those who await Him, To the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and keep quiet, Since He has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust; Perhaps there is hope. Let him give his cheek to the one who is going to strike him; Let him be filled with shame. For the Lord will not reject forever, For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion In proportion to His abundant mercy. For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of mankind. To crush under one’s feet All the prisoners of the land, To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High, To defraud someone in his lawsuit— Of these things the Lord does not approve. Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both adversity and good proceed? ¶Of what can any living mortal, or any man, Complain in view of his sins? Let’s examine and search out our ways, And let’s return to the Lord. We raise our heart and hands Toward God in heaven; We have done wrong and rebelled; You have not pardoned. You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and have not spared. You have veiled Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through. You have made us mere refuse and rubbish In the midst of the peoples. All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. Panic and pitfall have come upon us, Devastation and destruction; My eyes run down with streams of water Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eyes flow unceasingly, Without stopping, Until the Lord looks down And sees from heaven. My eyes bring pain to my soul Because of all the daughters of my city. My enemies without reason Hunted me down like a bird; They have silenced me in the pit And have thrown stones on me. Waters flowed over my head; I said, “I am cut off!” I called on Your name, Lord, Out of the lowest pit. You have heard my voice, “Do not cover Your ear from my plea for relief, From my cry for help.” You came near on the day I called to You; You said, “Do not fear!” Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s cause; You have redeemed my life. Lord, You have seen my oppression; Judge my case. You have seen all their vengeance, All their schemes against me. You have heard their reproach, Lord, All their schemes against me. The lips of my assailants and their talk Are against me all day long. Look at their sitting and they’re rising; I am their mocking song. You will repay them, Lord, In accordance with the work of their hands. You will give them shamelessness of heart, Your curse will be on them. You will pursue them in anger and eliminate them From under the heavens of the Lord!”
Lamentations 3:1-66 NASB2020

Also Read:
Psalms 109:1-31 NASB2020
https://bible.com/bible/2692/psa.109.1-31.NASB2020

Psalms 118:1-29 NASB2020
https://bible.com/bible/2692/psa.118.1-29.NASB2020

March 27, 2024

It Is Well Story

Pastor Paul Karanick summarizes the story of the tragedy that inspired the song “It Is Well” by Horatio Spafford.

From the Bible:
Job 1
‘There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. His possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send word and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send word to them and consecrate them, getting up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Job did so continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the L ord , and Satan also came among them. The L said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the L and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Then Satan answered the L , “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But reach out with Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will certainly curse You to Your face.” Then the L said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not reach out and put your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the L . Now on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three units and made a raid on the camels and took them, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” Then Job got up, tore his robe, and shaved his head; then he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. gave and the L has taken away. Blessed be the name of the L .” Despite all this, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God.’

Job 1:1-22
https://www.bible.com/bible/2692/JOB.1.1-22