November 13, 2004

Ain't It Awful!

Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord. —Lamentations 3:40

Bible In One Year: Lamentations 1-2; Hebrews 10:1-18

A friend told me about a man who shouted the same three words each day from his street-corner newsstand. "Ain't it awful!" he would say to passersby while extending a newspaper. People bought a paper because they just had to know what terrible thing had occurred.

Tragedy and dire predictions always make the front page, but if we become preoccupied with bad news, we will succumb to what my friend calls "awfulizing"—a pervasive pessimism that clouds every situation with gloom.

If anyone had a good reason for being despondent, it was the prophet Jeremiah. For 40 years, he declared God's judgment on the rebellious and unrepentant nation of Judah. Jeremiah suffered because of their disobedience, but he clung to his faith in God's goodness. Even after witnessing the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of his people, Jeremiah wrote: "The Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord" (Lamentations 3:31-32,40).

Disobedience to God can cause great pain, but the doorway out of discouragement leads to the Lord, who "is good to those who wait for Him" (v.25). —David McCasland

Turn not aside, discouraged one,
Stir up your gift, pursue your goal;
In God's own time you'll see Him work,
He'll give you hope and lift your soul. —D. De Haan

Awful circumstances cannot alter the goodness of God.