The Great Exchange
What make decisions based on our feelings—whatever feels good is what we want to do. We are driven by our feelings. We need our feelings, because we are nurturers. When something is wrong with somebody—a friend, or a person in our family—we are able to adjust to what they are feeling. If they’re not feeling good, we’re not feeling good.
But what we often fail to do is apply truth to those feelings, and some of us are just addicted to feeling good. When we walk through grief and when it’s hard, all we want the Lord to do is give us a good feeling. In this place in your life, in this grief you are experiencing, applying truth may not feel good, but it is good.
We often find in grief that these are the times where you actually searched and were thirsty and hungry for Him. What other time have you done that? I know for me it is during times of tragedy when I realize how much I need Him, where I hunger after His righteousness, and I’m looking for Him. I search for Him at other times too, but its not the same burning deep inside where I’ve got to know Him.
In our western culture, we just want to seek pleasure and abort pain. But, that is not the walk we’ve been called to. I wish I could say that once you know Jesus all your problems go away, but I can’t. With Him comes His suffering. The Bible says that the world that hates you, hates Him.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” -John 15:18
In this world, people hate us because we love Jesus. So while I wish I could say that there’s no problems when you trust Jesus, I just cant. It doesn’t all feel good. But what is good are His promises. That’s what we must lean on.
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” -2 Corinthians 1:20
His promises are “Yes!” They are done! God’s perspective of time is different than ours, because His perspective is eternal. You can believe that when you trust Him you will receive what He has promised. Does that mean that your feelings will always agree? No. But the promises of God are always “Yes” and “Amen” in Christ. So you must tell yourself the truth of what the Bible says, because your feelings are going to lie to you every single day. That’s why Scripture memory is so important. If you don’t know the Word of God, then you don’t know of His promises. And you won’t know what to tell yourself when your feelings lie to you.
God does not lie. You have got to know God’s Word. Make time to know His Word. Do you say that you trust God? It is impossible to trust something that you don’t know anything about. So I want to challenge you to make time to know Him!
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” -Isaiah 61:1-3
That’s His promise. He will give us beauty for ashes. During this time, it was a custom that when you were in mourning you would cover yourself with ash. What’s happening in these verses is what I call “the great exchange.” He’s exchanging something. He’s taking something from us. He says, “I am going to give you a crown of beauty for your ashes.” Everything that God gives us is so much greater than what we have given Him. There is nothing that we can give to God that is greater than what He can give back to us.
And I say, “Lord, I don’t know. I lost two in a row. I just don’t know.
He says to me, “I will give you beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for your mourning. You don’t even have to do anything! That’s the promise I have for you.”
What kind of God would do that? How can I not trust a God that promises to give me beauty and joy in the midst of my grief? So think about this God that we know. We have a tendency to mix world and God together. We live in a society that is based on feeling good. We don’t want to be judged, we just want to do what feels good. But, we serve a God who is just and who gives us consequences for sin. He is loving, but we have to know what His Word says about who He is. We have to know His promises.
So I challenge you to make a list of the problems you are facing and attach a promise to each of them.
- Shundria
Hope Grace, Caleb, and Angel
I am a wife to my best friend, Chris and the mother of 6 wonderful children. Three are here in my arms, and three have the privilege of living in the presence of Jesus. Both my husband and I are licensed professional counselors and live outside of Dallas, Texas. I enjoy walking with other moms who are grieving the loss of their precious babies. My counseling practice is focused on guiding others with the truth of God’s Word into the hope and freedom that is promised through Christ. Most of my days are spent cooking, cleaning, and chauffeuring kids around.
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