He is my Delight

Tragedy has a way of bringing hidden things to light.  I am thinking primarily of inner things, like attitudes and motives.  It would surely be an exaggeration to categorize hurricane Gustav as a tragedy for me personally, but it was most certainly a terrible inconvenience.   Over the course of the days that followed there was a wide range of emotions that I have dealt with:  sorrow over all the damage that had been done to our city; irritation with all the inconvenience associated with daily life; and sadness because I felt that little concern was shown by people I know in other parts of the country for how I might have been affected by the storm.   This last one has been most troubling to me.

As I have pondered this issue (for it has affected me deeply), I have taken it to the Lord in prayer.  Although it may be a factual issue, I was concerned that my heart was not right in this matter and that offense was beginning to creep in.  So I cried my sorrow out to the Lord and asked Him to adjust my perspective and to help me see this situation as He did.

That night as I was finishing up the book of Colossians, I read these words written by the apostle Paul in the final verse – Remember my chains.  I felt the Lord drawing my attention to that verse, so I stopped and read it again.  Yes, this is what I want.  I want someone to remember my chains.  I have felt forgotten.  Neglected.  Somebody should remember me.

Feeling quite self satisfied, as though this Scripture justified the ugliness that was growing in my heart, I breathed a sigh of relief, certain that God was on my side and that my hurt feelings were warranted.  But so softly and more gently than I deserved at that moment, He spoke to me through that verse – “Whose chains have you remembered?”

I had no defense.  I had no excuse.  Utterly ashamed, I could only cry out “No one’s Lord!”

So, before the world (whoever may be reading this) I confess that there was a plank in my own eye while I was angry about the speck in yours.  And I pray that the Lord will help me to remember the chains of others and forget my own.