Tomorrow's Weather

Thursday, December 29, 2011

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There was a time in my life when I had once a month responsibilities in Chicago, and I was living in New Jersey. So it gave me an opportunity to see what weather was headed for my home in New Jersey. Of course, you know the weather in our country moves from West to East. So, usually, in New Jersey we got Chicago's yesterday - today.

Now, one spectacular, warm and sunny day I left Chicago. I mean, it was a "10" on the scale of beautiful days. When I got home, it was kind of a cool, rainy day, and it had been that way for about three days straight; just kind of everything just gray. I got home and the family's I guess biorhythms were all kind of acting like it had been three rainy days. "It's just been raining and cool." Well, I was a bearer of good news. I said, "Hey, don't be discouraged! I've seen tomorrow's weather."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Tomorrow's Weather."

Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Psalm 30:6. A short statement that says this: "Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." David, with a sigh here, talks about tears, and weeping, and long nights of grief. He's seen the grief of the moment, but he has also seen tomorrow's weather. And he says, "Rejoicing is coming."

For a Christian, the forecast is always joy in the morning. You see, it isn't the absence of hurt that makes life in Christ unique, because we have as much hurt as everyone else. It's the presence of hope. You may know very personally that being in Christ is no guarantee against grief and pain. You may have just experienced an awful loss. Maybe you're facing physical pain or some frightening medical prospects. Maybe your agony is over the wrong road that a loved one of yours has chosen. For some deeply personal reason right now there are tears; maybe almost unbearable struggle at times. And God cares about those tears.

In fact, Psalm 56:8 says, "He gathers up your tears in a bottle." He feels your pain, but this isn't the end. I don't know why God wants me to talk about this today, but I just feel that someone needs to hear this simple truth today, "This is not the end. There will be joy in the morning. It won't rain forever." I don't know what form that joy's going to take. God may send a person that He has prepared to fill the hole in your life that you're grieving over now. Or maybe He will use your tragedy in such a glorious way that you'll be amazed at the lives that He's going to touch. They'll listen to you because of the trail you have walked.

Or maybe He'll remind you of the heavenly reunion that's going to last so much longer than the separation. He may send you a miracle that will be a miracle that will deliver you from this. Or maybe God will open up to you a depth of knowing Him that you would have never experienced without this loss. And you will be a friend of God as few people around you are, because you have touched Him at a moment of desperation and deep need and found out that when Jesus is all you've got, Jesus is all you need.

Look, I don't know how, but I do know that joy is coming. In the moments of grief, and agony, and insecurity, and when the world collapses around you and everything you've depended on is shaking, I just wonder how people do that without Jesus? Maybe you've been trying to walk through a dark valley without Him. You know, the Bible says, "He bore our sorrows. He was a man of sorrows. He was crushed for our sins. He died so you would never have to walk through life alone again.

This could be the day when you reach out to Him and say, "Jesus, you loved me. You died for me, for my sin. I want to belong to You." The Bible says, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil because You are with me."

You can stand this stormy season if you know it won't rain forever. Oh, you have hurt, but because of Jesus you have hope. So don't be discouraged. I have seen tomorrow's weather.