
My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?”...For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored? O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!
--Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
Only 16 months ago we were grieving the deaths of 49 beautiful children of God in a shooting at an Orlando night club, and now we grieve for 58 more beautiful children of God taken from their families by more violence in Las Vegas. I say with Jeremiah, "My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick." And we grieve--we must grieve--but I will not give up hope. I will never give up hope. Even Jeremiah gets there eventually when he preaches, "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)
Today I grieve, but I continually pray for the day when we will all find the courage to embrace God's plans for us, plans for a future with hope.
--Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
Only 16 months ago we were grieving the deaths of 49 beautiful children of God in a shooting at an Orlando night club, and now we grieve for 58 more beautiful children of God taken from their families by more violence in Las Vegas. I say with Jeremiah, "My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick." And we grieve--we must grieve--but I will not give up hope. I will never give up hope. Even Jeremiah gets there eventually when he preaches, "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)
Today I grieve, but I continually pray for the day when we will all find the courage to embrace God's plans for us, plans for a future with hope.