He Takes No Pleasure

Seal

When life is heavy and hard to take,
    go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
    Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
    The “worst” is never the worst.

31-33 Why? Because the Master won’t ever
    walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
    His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
    in throwing roadblocks in the way:

34-36 Stomping down hard
    on luckless prisoners,
Refusing justice to victims
    in the court of High God,
Tampering with evidence—
    the Master does not approve of such things.

  • Lamentations 3:28-36 MSG

Often there is a gap between what I say I believe and what I in fact actually believe.  There are moments when this gap is illuminated.  Highlighted.  A glaring neon sign makes it undeniably obvious.  As you may have guessed, I once again noticed this gap in my life.  I came across a passage in Lamentations, which had a unique translation courtesy of The Message (the very passage you see above).  There was one line in particular that unlocked my heart:

If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
    His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
    in throwing roadblocks in the way:

My response: teary relief.  Of course, when you experience an emotional response you have to (or at least it is helpful to) ask the question: why am I almost in tears?  For me, I realized that I had at some deep place believed that God was taking pleasure in my pain. I assumed he was so intent on my character formation that he was apathetic towards my pain.

Life has felt frustrating lately.  I feel knocked down by health issues, vocational questions, and deaths in the family.  So, being reminded of God’s tender care hit a deeply felt need.  I don’t need my problems to be fixed (although I wouldn’t pass up some resolution) as much as I need to know that I’m not alone in the midst of this season. Once again I was reminded of God’s goodness and love.  And that he takes no pleasure in my pain.

 


 

Slowly read through the passage above a few times.  What comes up in you as you read it?  Take some time to connect with God about what thoughts and feelings arise as you read through the Lamentations passage.


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