Bits for Sunday, June 21, 2009

It’s kind of refreshing to be sitting here writing instead of getting ready to cook – which was the plan at this time last night. I hosted the family Father’s Day extravaganza (which was really on the small side, so I’m not sure extravaganza is the right word to use) and after cleaning up the kitchen, I promptly took a three hour nap.

Though it was an eventful week in Bekahland, tonight I’m going to share with you just a peek inside a Bible study I’m doing with my friend, Kari. Last year, she and I studied Psalm 119 (via email) together. And by studied, I mean we dissected it, looked up root words, checked into various versions, chatted, discussed, and learned. This year we’ve been doing the same thing with the book of James. Clearly we go at our own pace, since the whole book is only five chapters long and at the end of June, we’re just starting the fourth chapter. I know I can’t speak for Kari, but I’ve been learning so much from the study and the discussion we share. And if you were to glance over my shoulder at the book of James in my Bible, you’d see one very highlighted, underlined, margin-scribbled, starred set of pages.

The verse I want to share with you tonight is James 4:9. I’ve read this verse before, but I never stopped to really absorb it.

The verse says “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.” I would imagine this is why it’s not a popular verse for sermon texts and memorization cards. I realize it doesn’t sound very uplifting. But this verse follows words about submitting to God, resisting the devil, and purifying the heart. A key part of doing those things involves heart-searching and confession.

It’s not a cozy sort of feeling to grieve. In fact, when I did a word study, it said “to feel miserable.” I don’t think we set out to purposely feel miserable. But sometimes we need to. Sometimes we need to realize just where we’ve landed, and we need to feel miserable about it. We need to grieve poor choices. We need to take time to actually mourn those things. And if you’re like me, wailing will be involved – followed by a Rudolph nose for the greater part of a day.

Sometimes we need to stop laughing and start crying, because that’s part of the process of allowing God to work in our hearts and change them to follow His leading.

When Kari and I started studying James, I told her one thing I was going to keep in mind as I studied was James’ relationship to Jesus. (He was Jesus’ half-brother.) When I read this verse tonight, I wondered if this was something James learned from watching Jesus in action. He probably saw people who came to Jesus wanting a quick fix for their problems, but they didn’t want to grieve, mourn, and wail about the mess their lives had become. And likewise, he probably saw those who did come to Jesus, who genuinely mourned their ways, and who then began a new (and joy-filled) way of life.

Don’t forget the joy! Even though this verse seems to be a downer, the great news is that the very next verse says “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” The grieving, the mourning, the wailing…they aren’t supposed to be a daily way of life. But they’re a part of the process we’re not supposed to skip. God promises to lift us back up – but He can’t do that until we do our part!