When Moses Died None of God Died!

Two of the most expensive and extravagant items in the Believers Clothes Closet  are the Garment of Praise and the Garment of Joy.  Why?  In order to obtain them one has to go through the valley of  sorrow, and mourning. 

In that ravine it seems like grief will never stop.  Pain is a constant companion. One of my dear friends described it as feeling as if a knife was stuck in her heart. Upon the unexpected transition of my dear husband of thirty-two years, I had to make that desolate journey across death's valley. I  found out that the pointed blade struck a deep place in my heart.  There seemed to be no solace for the emotional, physical or mental discomfort I felt.

I bless my Mother Evelyn’s  memory.  She would call me on the phone from the East Coast and encourage me by saying, “Tricia, you can make it.”  If I was going to make it across I needed a strategy. Therefore every morning before my feet hit the floor I would play two songs. One was, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”  The phrase “Morning by morning new mercies I see,” fortified my spirit and will to keep going. The other song was ,”This Is the Day the Lord Has Made.”  I started to reason that if God made this day and I was here to see it, I should get up and get going.  Along the arduous and  tedious journey to healing I made halting progress towards the daylight. 

Somewhere along the days, months and years I started to make exchanges from my widows weeds to a different set of apparel I had to be willing to change and let go of my suffering. I had to be willing to keep moving and not get stuck in that sorrowful place. With the blessing and mercy of God here are the trades* of which I took advantage that are available to all who have hope in God

Beauty                      For ashes

Joy                            For mourning

Garment of Praise    For the Spirit of heaviness

Dancing                    For wailing

Joy                            For sackcloth

Years before my husband died one of my favorite Bible teachers did a series about that great leader Moses. In his final sermon he made the statement that when Moses died  none of God died. That  statement came back to me when I needed it most. When Winston died none of God died. Today, twenty years later I can attest to the fact that I am enjoying life again. God did not die but continues to prove that  He is faithful.  The spirit of heaviness is gone. God continues to bless me. 

                                                                             

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them

                   beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, 

the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. 

Isaiah 61:3

 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed

 my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,  Psalm 30:11

My late Mother Evelyn singing, "All is Well"

https://youtu.be/RxKYVS1gFNc

My late sister Joy Simpson sining

"His Eye is on the Sparrow"

https://youtu.be/mzYL5jCEsAE

Breaking Boundaries- Another Look at the Prayer of Jabez

Just because my mother called me a pain doesn’t mean I have to be one.

There are a few stories in the Bible  that detail parents giving names to their newborns that memorialized  the parents pain at that time.  The Biblical patriarch Jacob had this dilemma. Genesis 35:16 Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. 17 And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.” 18 As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni.( Son of my trouble) But his father named him Benjamin.(son of my right hand)

Rachel, Jacob’s beloved and favored wife, dying in childbirth named their child with a negative appellation. In his grief Jacob could memorialized her last words in naming the child Ben-Oni.  Thankfully, Jacob had the wisdom to know that Rachel's agony was not to be transferred to his living  baby boy.  Wisely, Jacob decided to say no, that he was not going to call his son that painful name. Instead, Jacob named the baby Benjamin, Son of my right hand. Benjamin had an advocate for not allowing his mother’s pain to be assigned to him for the rest of his life.  Unfortunately, Jabez did not have an spokesman  to persuade his mother to give him a more positive start in life with a different name. 

Jabez's mother introduced him to the world as her pain.  She gave Jabez brothers permission to  tease him.  I can imagine them taunting him by yelling,  “Come here you little pain.” In class the teacher called on him to by saying, “Pain stand up, and answer the question.” No matter where he went, by virtue of his name, he was reminded  that he represented pain.  If you were Jabez how do you think that would shape your emotional well being, mental health, and your world view?

His coming into the world is something over which he had no control, nor does any baby. Jabez was a helpless infant. His mother’s experience is not his experience, yet she labeled him from birth as a child of her misery.  She unabashedly accused him of a fault,  as if he deliberately inflicted pain on her. Jabez could have despaired of life. Here he was a healthy, and intelligent child, but his mother couldn’t see past her short term fleeting pain. 

The fact is for most women all childbirth is painful. It’s the minority of women who don’t feel any pain in labor.  Researchers, at "Cambridge University have discovered that around one in 100 women carry a variation of a gene called KCNG4 that is thought to raise their pain threshold, and act like a ‘natural epidural."

Jabez was being called a pain every day.  Somewhere in his life he must hav been  introduced to God. He began to see God as the God of love and compassion.  Jabez realized that if he allowed his mother’s view of him to engulf his soul he  would have pain his entire lifetime.  Jabez had to do what his mother could not or would not do. He had to seek God’s assistance to see past his mother’s  negative feelings towards him. 

Jabez went to God, his Maker, who was present at his birth, and prayed a sincere simple prayer of only Twenty nine words.(NIV). Jabez  was determined he was not  going to own or embrace his mother’s words. Jabez asked God to free him of his mother’s assessment of him. Jabez asked God to break, as it were, his mother’s curse on him. 

Jabez’s mother set him in a constricted  land called pain. Jabez wanted freedom from that land. Jabez went to God with his request  to be released from his mother’s  narrow view and labeling of him. God heard his prayer and set him free from that which his mother spoke. The boundaries she set for him were lifted, broken and trampled into dust.  God answered Jabez’s short and to the point prayer. 

From Jabez’s story I see  lessons for parents and guardians. Then there are lessons for  adult or young children who have been assigned blame for something over which you have no control.

Here are some Lessons to parents/guardians and others who work with children

        

1. Don’t blame your children for your pain
2. Don’t give negative names or labels to your children.
3. Speak blessings and God’s promises over your children.
4. Do not allow others to speak negatively of your child.
5. Give your child a name that reinforces the child's worth. 

Here are  some lessons for those who have been on the receiving end of painful, negative and condescending messages about your life. 

1. Don’t allow other people  whether parents, teachers or bosses assign you blame for their feelings or their issues
2. Ask God to free you from the narrow boundaries  that others have assigned you.
3. Understand that God has a wonderful plan for your life
4. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “ Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” 

Be like Jabez. Go to God and pray that your life will be freed from pain and the narrow or low expectations for your life. God has a blessing indeed for you. Yes, pray the prayer of Jabez!

1. Oh, that you would bless me.  Acknowledge God is in charge of blessing you
2. Enlarge my territory . Ask God to release you from low expectations or restrictions over how far you will go in life. 
3. Let your hand be with me.  If God is for you who can be against you.  Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
4. Keep me from Harm. Proverbs 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

God is no respecter of persons. God granted Jabez his request. 

I believe God will grant your prayer too. 

May your life be blessed by God Almighty!