Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve heard about the tragedy in Boston and Texas last week. It was a trying time for both areas, not to mention the whole country. Our prayers are still needed for all those involved.
At the time of a tragedy, we might have an event that makes us proud or happy. Then we feel guilty for wanting to celebrate. For instance, on Monday, the night of the bombing in Boston, I spoke at our Women’s Spring Dinner for my church. It went well. I sold out of all my books. That had never happened before. However, guilt slid in when I wanted to be happy about it. After all, three people died and over a hundred were injured in Boston. After praying about it, I realized it really wasn’t guilt, but the devil trying to steal my joy.
The devil would like nothing more than to keep you in a state of sadness and despair. The more down you are, the easier it is for him to penetrate your mind and get into your soul.
Ecclesiastes 2:24 reads, A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God. God wants you to be happy when you’ve done a good job. Nothing in this verse says to celebrate only when things are going well for everyone else. If you waited until the world was happy, you’d never have any joy.
How many times has there been an earthquake that’s killed hundreds only to have the rescuers find a young child buried in the rubble alive and well two days later? That’s God bringing joy to a bad situation. He knows people, especially the rescuers, need to have that brief reprieve from the bad in order to maintain.
We should pray for all the people involved in the tragedy in Boston. Pray especially for those who worked so hard to bring the terrorists to justice. Also, pray for the families of all those firemen and the others hurt or killed in the explosion in Texas.
Everyone in both areas worked hard, I’m sure they are all in much need of rest. Pray they get it.
And if you had something special that happened but were afraid to share it because of what was going on around the country, I want you to announce it here. God gave you that reward. He must feel you earned it. And I think you deserve the accolades for it, so please let us all know what it was.
I was with you until the last paragraph “God gave you that reward. He must feel you earned it.” We do earn things, temporal things. And God wants us to find satisfaction and happiness in them, but I don’t think that happiness is a reward from God. One doesn’t have to earn God’s love. He loves us even when we do not deserve it.
I agree, He does love us unconditionally. But I think He gives us rewards so we are more aware of that love. It’s just one of the ways He blesses us is by filling us with joy.