A Call To The Remnant

Mat 25:21 His lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.

The seasons of God are good. One of those seasons is a time for weeping and mourning. Yet, if that is all that we have, if we live forever in a perpetual winter of weeping and mourning then nothing will ever grow. We will not grow and neither will our effectiveness for His kingdom. Neither will we grow in the knowledge of God. There is a time to rent our clothes and throw dust on our heads, yet if this one season becomes the whole then we render ourselves weak and ineffectual. Our real strength comes in the Joy of the Lord. If we cannot put on a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness then we will not be able stand in the evil day. We will be overcome by trial and tribulation and persecution.

When the Israelites were captured and taken from Jerusalem, their captors sat them down by the river of Babylon and taunted them. They said to them, “let’s hear your songs of Zion, let us hear your songs of victory now.” And the Israelites who were famous for their songs of praise to God, hung their harps on the willow tree, unable to sing, overcome in spirit in their defeat. The enemy had not only robbed them of their earthly freedom, they had robbed them of their joy, their essential core. They no longer had a song in their heart or on their lips. The willow tree upon which they hung their harps represented weeping. Their praise was silenced and only their weeping could now be heard.

Can I ask you something? Have you hung your harp on the willow tree? Have you suffered a loss or a defeat that has robbed you of your song? Do you find it impossible to praise the Living God? Has your mourning went on too long? When our mourning and weeping goes beyond what is natural we will find ourselves in trouble. Now, our hearts will be filled with something. If we have lost out song or our joy then our heart will be filled with some level of anger or bitterness or cynicism, perhaps all three.

The Apostle Paul and Silas shows us the way when we see them praising God in the midnight hour. They had been whipped and scourged and found themselves in stocks in the lower reaches of the dungeon. When they seemingly have nothing to praise God for they begins to sing His praises. And we see something very spectacular happen. The whole building shakes as the power of God falls upon that prison. The doors are supernaturally opened. What God done for Paul and Silas he can do for you. Will you praise Him today? Despite your circumstances will you praise Him today? If you do, you will see the doors of darkness open before you and you will be able to step out into His marvelous light.

You see brothers and sisters, we have been called not only to be a witness to the world but we also testify against principalities and powers. In the opening chapter of Job we see God boasting about His faithful servant, and right away the accuser of the brethren fires back that Job is only faithful because God has blessed him and protects him. The accuser tells God that if the circumstances were different Job would curse Him to His face. Right there brothers and sisters, can you see it? Can you see why it is so important to praise the Lord our God even in the depths of out trials and difficulties?

When we do that we shake the universe for we not only prove by our actions that no matter what, our God is worthy to be praised and we will praise Him. We also prove, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, that the enemy of our soul is a liar and that our love for God is unconditional. There is something really big playing out in your lives brothers and sisters even if you cannot see it or you think your life is insignificant, it is not. Join the hosts of heaven as a witness against the enemy this day and praise the Lord your God.