Jeremiah 10-13

The best weapon we could ever have is counter-intuitive: praise.  When bad things start to happen, we have a tendency to start whining.  At least I do.  I remember being in trouble as a child because I was whining too much, and in my anguish I wrote a letter to my grandmother (that my mother saved), telling her that I just couldn’t help it.  God must have made me a whiner.  (I think I spelled it winer, which made it even funnier!)

I’ve been whining a lot this afternoon because I threw my back out today.  I’ve been laid up on the couch and now in bed.  It hurts when I don’t move.  It hurts when I move.  It hurts when I laugh.  I have so many things on my to-do list…and nearly every one of them involves some sort of movement.  So what’s a girl to do?

My soul soared as I came across these words in Jeremiah 10 , and I decided to turn my whining into praise:

^“6 Lord, there is no one like you!
For you are great, and your name is full of power.
⁷ Who would not fear you, O King of nations?
That title belongs to you alone!
Among all the wise people of the earth
and in all the kingdoms of the world,
there is no one like you.”

And so I praise the Lord for this hiccup in my week.  I praise Him for this opportunity to wallow in bed and not feel guilty about it.  I praise Him for the rest that I will be getting and for this chance to literally BE STILL…and know that He is God.  Jeremiah suffered death threats and deep depression, yet he never gave up:

“¹⁹ My wound is severe,
and my grief is great.
My sickness is incurable,
but I must bear it.”

”

¹⁸ Then the Lord told me about the plots my enemies were making against me.¹⁹ I was like a lamb being led to the slaughter. I had no idea that they were planning to kill me! “Let’s destroy this man and all his words,” they said. “Let’s cut him down, so his name will be forgotten forever.”²⁰ O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
you make righteous judgments,
and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets.
Let me see your vengeance against them,
for I have committed my cause to you.

Jeremiah didn’t give up in the face of adversity, and neither will I.  The Lord will pick me up and set me back on my feet, for I have committed my cause — my family, my homeschooling, and my CC family — to Him.  All Glory belongs to Him, and Him alone, and any good thing that emanates from me is a direct result of the Holy Spirit acting in me.  So I give Him praise as I stay here in bed, forced to be still.