A Heart filled with pain!

“The Lord was grieved that He had made man on earth and his heart was filled with pain. I will wipe mankind from the face of the earth for I am grieved.” Genesis 6:6-7

Filled with pain!
Your imprint was stamped on our soul.
You made the mold and poured your soul into ours.
You gave us a portion of your mind.
How vast your emotions! You gave us as much as we can hold.
Yet our thoughts and ways grew wicked.
And your heart was filled with pain.
So you wiped out the cause of your pain!
You wiped out all memories yet saved a few souls and a small segment of your creation.
What haunted you was gone.
You arranged the land and seas. You reformed the mountains and valleys. You even destroyed the Garden of Eden where it all began. You gave the earth a chance to grow again.
You were that determined to wipe away the pain.
The bones of the wicked became lost in the sands of time.
Even the remains of men who once called on your name dissolved in the crevices of new formations.
A new earth was formed, a new beginning had hope.

So what can I learn from you, my God?
Am I to wipe out memories which fill my heart with pain?
Am I to rearrange my life, taking the good from the bad, washing the bad away?
Am I to reform what once was and make all things new?
Is there hope for the tomorrows of my life?
Forgive me for the pain I cause you, my crucified Savior.
Thank you that each new day is a new beginning!

In the Garden

“Lord, if I am following your will why am I so filled with mixed emotions?
I am angry that those I trust withdrew their support from me… those I trusted turned on me… even in my last days no words of support or affirmation.
I am crushed in spirit yet I believe this is the path you have blest.
How could all of this occur without your master planning?” - Jesus

Was not this how You felt in the Garden?
Your friend was coming in his ignorance, his pride, and his false assumptions.
He anointed himself to take care of You.
You were moving in a direction he felt was wrong or he felt You were not moving at all.
What he felt You should do you weren’t doing so he took things in his own hands.
He found allies and conspired. He approached You with a kiss.
But You called him friend.
You took the high road and did not expose him even though You knew he would betray you eventually.
You never exposed him to the other 11.
He wept but his sorrow was too late. Was he even sincere?
A friend he had been but now lost forever.
(Reflections from Psalm 55:12-14 and Psalm 41:9)

“During the days of Jesus life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” Hebrews 5:7