NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

Having Heart In A Sometimes Heartless World Week 11 - Day 71 - Helpless Suffering Scripture focus: Jesus told this parable: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown." Luke 8:5-8 NIV In our worshiping community, I hang out with people who sometimes feel like giving up. During a four week stretch I recently had four separate conversations with folks who were contemplating the ultimate giving up experience - suicide. That's not the only way we give up. In fact, I've found that we are amazingly creative at finding ways to deprive ourselves of the abundant, fruitful life God has invited us to experience. "Help me understand; why do you think suicide is your only option?" "Well, I guess I feel like I've tried everything I know to feel better - and none of it has worked." "Tell me what you have tried and how it has failed you." And she does. She pours out a story that breaks my heart and bruises my spirit. Life has definitely trampled all over this young woman. In response, she's hardened her heart - and done some serious trampling of her own. Moved by some mysterious compulsion to give life another try - she seeks out a spiritual community for respite, acceptance, and hopefully, a couple of answers to her most pressing problems. She also wouldn't mind some help paying her electric bill and buying some groceries so that she can feed her kids. As I listen, I recognize that her cravings - (cravings/lust/desire - Greek word "epipotheo"; meaning an intense desire, a craving, a hunger, an ache, a yearning for something, a longing or pining for something. . .an intense, abnormal, excessive yearning) have contributed to her current desperate state. When she feels stressed about unpaid bills and the rumbling bellies of her three children - this stress response sets off a precarious chain of events that nothing good can come from. Drinking, drugging and sex with strangers has left her living in a pile of shame. Years of using have robbed the tonics of their taming power over stress and suffering and pain. Suicide seems to be - not exactly the next right step - but the only step available as a way of escape. I'm thrilled and thankful that God has provided a moment of clarity - and, if only for a moment - she has ignored her crushing cravings and instead, sought out a community for assistance. I know that she may still run back to her intense desires or even end the battle by taking her life. But on this day, she has asked our community to help her. She thinks help equals money for bills and food. I wonder if something more sustaining is required if she is going to experience restoration. "The power of community is that it helps us understand ourselves. In a healthy community we come to know ourselves and find strength in that knowledge. In community we learn how to live a life beyond ourselves, we begin to discover our potential and our strengths, and we are best positioned to make our greatest contribution. When community happens the way God designed us to live, it is always inclusive and never exclusive. . .healthy communities are always permeable. You are never forced in, but you're always welcome. . . we are longing to belong." Soul Cravings, by Erwin McManus, entry 18 INTIMACY To be continued. Recommended reading: Numbers 15 and 16 in the morning; Mark 15 and Psalm 54 in the evening Click "Comments" Below to Join the Discussion Scroll down to the Archive Section to View Previous Devotionals.