Stay In The Light
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (May 16, 2016)
“...They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay...” (Psalm 18: 1-50, King James Version [God's manifold blessings: To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,...).
Greetings In The Name Of Jesus,
My sisters and brothers, I come before you to stay the course of those who seek to have their way in spite of the sufferings of the people of the land, greatly endowed in God's manifold blessings yet self-oriented to death for their many sins---not believing that God will do just what he said he would do, deliver them up out of death, for it is by faith that we carry on walking in the light of Christ Jesus. There are so many good people, soldiers for Christ Jesus, who carried the blood-stained banner on the world's battle fields and even more so in the battles that they fought to win in their own hearts and in their own minds when the pressures and influences of the day weighed them down in the darkness of their afflictions, issues and turmoils so much God heard their cries. I remember the days, when my own grief, the darkness of, which plagued my heart and menaced my mind tried to weigh me down to, give up on the hope that the fathers of old spoke of in Hebrews, to let go of faith and diminish into death the enemy of man. When I reflected on the story of Job and how he did not let go---suffered through the struggles of losing each one of his family members, all of his wealth, to dwell in sickness of his body until Satan took his hands off of him, for he did not give up for within him there was a faith untold and unspoken that held him up, lifted him above the words of his friends---so-called friends that advised him to let go for they could not take it anymore watching him suffer so. Job believed more in his faith than he believed in the faith of his own children and he waited on the LORD for he knew how they would speak over his dead body:
“Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as
a shadow, and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes
upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Seeing
his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee,
thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; Turn from
him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling,
his day.
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will
sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock
thereof die in the ground; Yet through the scent of water it
will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth,
and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where
is he? As the waters fail from the the sea, and the flood
decayeth and drieth up: So man lieth down, and riseth not:
till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, not be
raised out of their sleep. O that thou wouldest hide me in
the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy
2
wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and
remember me!
If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my
appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt
call and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to work
of thine hands. For now thou numberest my steps: dost
thou not watch over my sin? My transgression is sealed
up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity. And surely
the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is
removed out of his place.
The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the
things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou
destroyest the hope of man. Thou prevailest for ever
against him, and he passeth: thou changest his
countenance, and sendest him away. His sons come to
honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low,
but he perceiveth it not of them. But his flesh upon him
shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn”
(Job 14th chapter [Job 14:1-22, KJV).
For it is when your beloved is lowered down to the coldness of the grave that the harshness of the finality is certain---decayed in your heart and in your mind that the spring of life that is within you wells up for all to see that you cry out and mourn your beloved, not for the death---temporal disposition but for the hope that you hold, amazingly in grace. As you cry out, “LORD lift me up out of this darkness of grief!” You hear the words that speak as the body is lowered down into the grave that, Death will deliver up the dead bodies and hell will deliver up the dead bodies out of the grave, and somehow you know that you are hope, the faith that makes death and hell temporal---you are the faith of Christ Jesus, for Jesus resurrected and others who lied cold and dead in their graves which is hell also resurrected and walked the earth as Jesus did, carrying the blood-stained banner of faith, of salvation, of grace of rebirth---to be born again to be lifted up on high, the rejoicing hope that fills you up so full of the waters of faith that you see yourself out of the weight of the earth out the gravity that pulls you back down to earth but flying free of the body of sins, free in the body of Christ Jesus, the one body of righteousness that opens the door to salvation, in grace and now the grave the darkness and coldness of death and the fire of hell is not your everlasting place but a temporary disposition for you shall overcome the grave and conquer the grave, as Jesus did. If it were not so, Jesus would not have told us that there is life after death---everlasting life for he went to heaven to prepare a place for us---not without faith. And when your beloved lowered down to the coldness of the grave hit rock bottom---final resting place---did you hear, Dust to dust, did you escape in your heart and in your mind because you could not take it or did you bend down and collect a handful of dirt in your hand and toss it on the casket and it laid in the grave or did you toss a single rose or any one of the flowers given to present the body to the well wishers at the service, in the darkness of the grave landing it on top of the casket? For God told Adam and Eve, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19 Moreover, Job said, “They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them” (21:26, KJV). King Solomon, in Ecclesiastes, Or The Preacher, tells us about the life King Solomon lived and how he experienced and observed the vanity of life and found spiritual wisdom that uplifted him out of 3 the spiritual things and up out of the material things, for death is certain: “For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike unto all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, to the grave, whither thou goest. I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: There was a city, and a few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.” (9:1-18, KJV [one sinner destroyeth much good]). 4 Most importantly, I remembered the words of my mother, “Feed my sheep,” and those were the same words of Christ Jesus. I remembered how I remained at her graveside just like I was attentive at her bedside as she laid before death took her away and the harsh finality of her death was now certain. My children stood next to me and somehow I felt they wondered in their hearts and in their minds, “What do we do next?” It made me reflect on what my mother said when I called her to tell her the good news of winning an honor at the university. She asked, “What can you do with that?” Now, like a river running through my mind, I know I hold hope for as long as I live. In closing, May the spirit of Christ Jesus be with you always, for ever and a day. In the Name of Jesus, we pray, : LORD, have mercy on my soul?” My soul love you, LORD. Help us stay in the light. Amen.
