Opening Prayer: “Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth.” Thank you, O Lord, that you even use desolations to make us more into the people you desire us to be.
Scripture: Psalm 46:8
Journal: How has God used desolation in your life to grow you into the person he desires you to be? How is he doing that now? What is the fruit?
Reflection: “Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth.” (Psalm 46:8) God not only works through consolation, but also through desolation. At times, he brings us down into the dust so that he can build us up. He tears us apart so that he can put us back together. Sometimes desolation accomplishes things in us that consolation cannot. For instance, as a wise saint once said, “It takes a ton of humiliation to get one ounce of humility.” But who wants to be humiliated? Only someone who really wants to be humble. The desolation of humiliation leads to the acquisition of true humility.
The fact is that it might be easier to “Come
and see the works of the Lord” through desolation than it is through
consolation. Maybe we really are refined
by fire. Maybe trial and error, pain and
suffering, sorrow and sadness, flaws and frailties, brokenness and neediness,
form us into the image of Christ much more than comfort and ease. The hard things in life are the ones that either
make us or break us, or maybe even break us to make us. To make us real, to make us vulnerable, to
make us open, to make us true.
Maybe the thing God really cares about is making
us humble and meek. Maybe he is helping
us become poor in spirit. Maybe he takes
us to the bottom in order to help us let go of our constant need to get to the
top. After all, the least are the
greatest in the kingdom. Maybe he’s
trying to take us so low that we become unoffendable, holy fools, a non-anxious
presence in this world. Maybe he just
wants us to trust him fully, to see that even in the times of desolation he is
at work. Maybe he just wants us to
recognize that he both meets us and makes us through the
desolations of our lives.
Pray
Closing Prayer: O Lord, thank you for both meeting us and making us through our times of desolation.
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