Recall:
James 4:7-10
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Reflect:
I was going to just put vs. 7-8 and 10. But that's not really honest to the text. I'm all for turning toward God and humbling myself. But verse 9 is a downer. "Lament and mourn and weep." My culture doesn't need to be told to do that. I wonder if Jerusalem in James' time had to be.
Or maybe, my culture does need to mourn and weep. Come to think of it, we don't actually do that. We have a low-grade depression, we bitch and moan, we have a bad attitude, but I don't think we actually lament. Maybe if we were to really cry about what hurts, to lament over the wrongs, it would free us from the general feeling of malaise that seems to haunt so many so much of the time.
Respond:
I'm turning, God. Not as fast as I would like, maybe not even as fast as I could, but I am turning toward you. Thanks for turning towards me. Continue to purify my heart until you and your kingdom are preeminent. As trite as it sounds, let what breaks your heart break my heart.
I don't ever mourn. I deal. Should I stop and lament the pain present in this world? Should I weep over the shortcomings in my own life?
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