Bring Your Tragedy to Ramah to receive a Future of Comfort & Joy
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We have no problem hearing the angel’s song at Christmas and even singing it. Ere Zij God. I hope you were awed in hearing Zechariah’s prophesy and how in the Christ-child, light was dawning, a visitation of God , a redemption. We have no problem celebrating all this good news. And there is warmth with family and friends as we do so. We’ve heard our highest praise offered to God for so great a salvation. But I wonder if you have heard the cries of this Christmas season? It is so easy for us to block out sin and tragedies of this world in all our merry making. Easy that is if it is not your loved one in the hospital or hospice, or in the grave, or as was the case this Christmas - 300 washed out to sea in tsunami of destruction. Easy only if its not your marriage or family falling apart. Easy if its not your dear friend wandering down paths away from the LORD. Easy if its not you that has lost the job. And we know that so many of these trials are extenuated in the holidays. But whether you are feeling dashing of your dreams and the pain of this world or not this morning, I want to ask you whether the loud cries of Christmas are registering with you today or not? “Rachel weeping for her children” is as much part of the Christmas story as the baby in the manger. Yet, most of us don’t read this story at Christmas, some even forgotten about. In the same way, we block out the sin and the tragedies in this world in the midst of merry making. It is like these parts of the Bible are cut out, and without realizing it we are cutting God out of the hard parts of our lives!
Key Truth: Don’t ignore the pain & the darkness of this world, find the true hope God offers in the midst of it.
Key Truth: “Don’t ignore the pain and the darkness of this world, we should see the true hope God offers us in the midst of it.”
As as recent song by Mercy Me puts it. Written by one who ran from the pain of mother leaving him father abusive - started to face it with Christ "Bring your tired and bring your shame. Bring your guilt and bring your pain. Don't you know that's not your name You will always be much more to me.”
Bring your tired and bring your shame
Bring your guilt and bring your pain
Don't you know that's not your name
You will always be much more to m
Bring your tired and bring your shame
Bring your guilt and bring your pain
Don't you know that's not your name
You will always be much more to m
That’s the challenge of our text this morning, to hear Rachel weeping for her children, and to trust the LORD who sent His Son Jesus into the middle of that pain to minister true comfort. To believe that this Christ, who grew into the Man of Sorrow’s who was so acquainted with our every grief, that through His incarnation, suffering, death on the Cross, through His resurrection and and ascension - that He can indeed not only comfort us, but can reverse and redeem our every suffering! So come to Bethlehem and to Ramah with me. But before we get there, we must make a stop in the busy capital city, Jerusalem. And there we must get some perspective.
Bring your tired and bring your shame
Bring your guilt and bring your pain
Don't you know that's not your name
You will always be much more to m
tHAT’S THE CHALLENGE OF OUR TEXT THIS MORNING TO SEE THAT cHR
Bring your tired and bring your shame
Bring your guilt and bring your pain
Don't you know that's not your name
You will always be much more to m
A) Understand the Rage of the Beast in a World of Suffering
Unlike many of our Christmas cards and the folklore there were no wisemen at the manger, beside the shepherds, in that cave stable the night that Jesus was born. NO, these wisemen from the East, and we don’t know how many, they show up much later, out of the crisis Joseph and Mary have now found a house to stay in (v.11). And from Herod’s questioning about when the star appeared, and form his decree, we know that it could be upwards to two years that the Christ was born. Now it is natural that they would come first to Jerusalem the capital to look for a king. Seat of this world’s power. But no one is on the look out for the Messiah, there. Instead who do we find? - Herod, Idumean - one from wealthiest tribe of traders Saudi Arabia to Mesopotamia to Egypt to Rome. Descendants of Esau, but forced lately to Jewish faith Herod never embraced by Hasmonean freedom fighters. But last Hasomnean gone, probably by Herod’s henchmen. Wealthiest in the region, but not big no army - cooperate with Rome - made King of the Jews in small region. First in line of three Herod’s. He was Herod the great master builder used that wealth to win Rome and the Jews. Pretty good racket for him and his family, but brutal - paranoid… Now in his 70s killed sons, Hasmonean wife.
And now these Magi show up talking of another king born king of the Jews. And if you just think of these guys as magicians, prophets, philosophers. you miss the point. When the Magi announce that they had come to worship this one born king of the Jews, why this crazed response?
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;
These men as John MacArthur points out not just three men on camels, they were KINGMAKERS. They were Persian high priests, powerful figures in their society responsible for picking their king. They would have been traveling in full force with all their oriental pomp, perhaps looking more like Gandalf with conical hats with points on the top and long beards than how they are often portrayed. They would have been riding Persian steeds, not camels. As MacArthur states, “And when they came in they didn't come alone, the estimates of history are they came with Persian cavalry. When they came charging into the city of Jerusalem and Herod peeked out his little palace window, he flipped.” Especially when Herod heard their announced purpose was to honor the new king of the Jews.
And now you must understand the rage of not just Herod but Satan who operates behind him. Look at the angel’s description of Herod’s plan:
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
Search and destroy mission. Word like The thief comes only to steal kill and destroy. Satan’s plan from the beginning, deceive God’s people bring sin and destruction and death down on them. From the garden to the time of exile. Had gotten Israel to rebel against the living God, the LORD, and God had foretold how foreign king would rule over them and wrench them out of the land. Satan knows if He destroys this child, there is no future, no kingdom of god established on earth, no heaven for us. Think of Hitler’s desire to wipe out every last Jew. Here Satan operating through Herod, wants to put God and his desire to save His people into checkmate.
Just listen to this description of Satan’s program int he world since Christ’s birth in
His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
And even though he doesn’t succeed, we can see this slaughter of the babies as the culmination of the OT exile of God’speople in sin and suffering! It wasn’t the biggest holocaust orthe worst. Historians estimate about 30 kids that age in Bethlehem, but it was the culmination of God’s OT pepole’s suffering and exile.
And even though he doesn’t succeed, we can see this slaughter of the babies as the culmination of the OT exile of God’s people in sin and suffering! It wasn’t the biggest holocaust or the worst. Historians estimate about 30 kids that age in Bethlehem, but it was the culmination of God’s OT people's suffering and exile. And yet it Satan’s desperate attempt for the last 2000 years as well! So Herod’s decree goes out and we must move with it to the places of suffering:
So Herod’s decree goes out and we must move with it to the places of suffering:
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
Matthew carefully records not just Bethlehem, which lay 5 miles south of the capital, but also its surrounding districts, “all in the region”. Wwe could draw a 5 mile radius arround the capital - where the killing occucred. And curiously, Matthew centres out a town five miles North. Rama, an imoprtant and symoblic city of the OT. And Matthew quoting froma propehsyin , says if you want to udnerstand Christms and the Christ of Christmas, you need to understand all the cries and usfferings of Christams in light of Rama.
B. Understand the Cries in Rama from Rachel’s Perspective
In the OT Rama was the birthplace of the prophet Samuel, and so it was also the place that all the people of Israel gathered like a mob on Parliament Hill, and together and asked for King and where they chose Saul. Imagine all their cheering. It is where the kings of Israel built a strong hold. And so when the new s of the Christ born is given, Ramah should have been a place with loud shouts of joy. But why wasn’t it?
Jeremiah and Matthew call this a city of tears though. In Biblical history Rama was the place where Rachel that favoured but barren wife of Jacob gave birth. First she had Ephraim which became Israel’s largest tribe and is called the firstborn. But as Rachel comes into he promise land, she has another child as she’s crossing the border. But she dies in childbirth - Ben omi - child of my suffering, son of weeping! Later Jacob changes the name to Benjamin, child of my right hand. Some say her tomb is there to this day. Tragic and sad.
But the prophesy doesn’t say anything about Rachel’s crying. It is about Rachel crying for her children. Every mother knows more painful to watch their own children suffer then to go through the suffering themselves. The Jewish Rabbis called Rachel the mother of God’s people forever, and some 1200 years after Rachel’s tears and death at Rama.Her children, the children of Israel died there. They were massacred there, they were carried off from exile there. When the Babylonians raised up to punish God’s rebelling people, they came from the North , and after taking Jerusalem and the surroundings, they made Rama a slave depot. Before they would march them on the long journey to their pit of despair in exile. Think of how many mothers saw their sons slain or ripped away at this point. Why this place was a symbol of misplaced hope and futility. Lowest moment of OT history - God’s people had lost everything - Their King, their Temple, their Land, even it would seem God’s presence.
And now the massacre of the innocents happens again, and Matthew uses this prophesy, picturing the mother of Israel, Rachel perched up on a high hill overlooking the region, seeing these babies killed - and she weeps inconsolably
Have you ever reached a Rachel moment? A time of suffering in this broken world - and those children, that dream of yours - they are no more. Nothing can change the brokenness - nothing left to do but wail - time to do that with each other. Lament & grieve in sorrows of this world. But spiritually too, admit on our own without Christ, we are like those captive children, nothing we can do to fix the situation, and having missed the mark we are all on a march to death - and life like Ecclesiastes is frustration and vanity. And it is precisely, here that Matthew places the last reference in the OT to Ramah - when we all reach that point - this prophesying the midst of such tragedy is ultimately good news. Matthew wants us to see that though this world is full of tragedy and sorrow, in a world where Satan has deceived and is destroying, where we are in exile, Matthew wants us to see the hope in the Christ-child through the child in Bethlehem who alone can open the widow of hope. That’s the challenge of Christmas, not to merely celebrate romantic notion of God came, but God came down into the worst sin and suffering of our lives to really change us!
C. Then, Come to Bethlehem (and to Egypt, and to Nazareth) and Embrace Your Future of ‘Comfort and Joy’!
Herod goes bezerk, when he knows the King the Messiah is so near but he can’t find him. But as he puts his plan into action, look what is happening in Bethlehem. An angel of the Lord is dispatched to tell Joseph, take the child and his mother, to Egypt. Why? Look at the prophesy:
and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
That city Ramah is in the tribe of Ephraim, and as Ephraim’s children slaughtered by Herod, and Matthew records their godly cry of lament -which should also be ours. We read of the greatest escape ever. Like in , God will not allow this dragon to swallow the christ-child up. he is the hope of the world, your life and my life, and the tragic lives of every child of God ever born, our future depends on this one who was born in our place to be God’s perfect first born, whom he would call out of Egypt.
I don’t know why these babies had to die and be called out this tragic world, nor do I know the why’s of my own sufferings or yours. But i do know that God said - No this Christ child - won’t suffer tragedy because He who meets them in their tragedies is going to ultimately lead them out of them! My Son your Saviour, sent to sinners and sufferers to bring the greatest reversal in your life and mine. He is going to bring Rachel’s children back to life. Christ escapes the clutches of the Evil one, and is raised up to go back to bring salvation to his people. He will grow up to offer His life on the cross., so that even His death will mean life, eternal life of his children.
But to understand this you must understand the prophesy Matthew quotes from Jeremiah. Yes there is your weeping and mine over tragedy at Christmas. But look what else there is when we are in those tragedies:
There is hope for your future, declares the Lord, and your children shall come back to their own country. I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God.
I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God.
This season hear the cries of this world, your own, your neighbours, co-worker back to work - But big challenge is to hear God’s voice in the midst of it. He says I’ve heard your cry. ever tell anyone that? And more God promise to bring those children back that we might be restored! Have you cried out in your confusion, pain, sorrow, even your rebellion? Look at how God responds:
God promise to bring those children back that we might be restored! Have you cried out in your confusion, pain, sorrow, even your rebellion? Look at how God responds:
Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord.
Come to this Christ who lives today to bring this salvation to you in the midst of your tragedy. Look at his promise:
the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
I have drawn you with loving kindness.. why? And here you need to understand two key words in Jeremiah are tear down / build up; Uproot / Plant. Jeremiah's whole ministry to tear down, uproot God’s people in their exile, but for the remnant that turn to Lord and come in their tragedies … build them up, plant them in a new life! Survive and make it through the exile.
What about you today? You feeling an uprooting time of life? Do you sense your need to be replanted in Christ in new life,eternal life? You have tragedies to go through to return to , brokenness, ultimately death - will you make it through? Will you be built up and planted in a new life with the Saviour. Jesus really was miraculously saved through that massacre, but on the Cross, His saving and rebuilding would be through dying for you. Look at the rest of the prophesy, if you will come to this Christ-child, if you are one with him; God says he will bring you out of whatever Tragedy you are in… Look how you will come up out of Egypt with this Jesus!: Two powerful images of coming up with a shepherd in a new flock, and coming up as a dancer!
“Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
They will return. So there is hope for your future declares the LORD!
This morning can you say Jer’s prophesy has been fulfilled in you, too? In the midst of the hubub, tears and the sorrow that show up at Christmas time, do you have this future and this hope? Look at the second image:
“At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.” Thus says the Lord: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit. For there shall be a day when watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim: ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.’ ” For thus says the Lord: “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’ For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord.” Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” Thus says the Lord: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, declares the Lord, and your children shall come back to their own country. I have heard Ephraim grieving, ‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God. For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord. “Set up road markers for yourself; make yourself guideposts; consider well the highway, the road by which you went. Return, O virgin Israel, return to these your cities. How long will you waver, O faithless daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing on the earth: a woman encircles a man.” Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I restore their fortunes: “ ‘The Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy hill!’ And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say: “ ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of hosts is his name: “If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a nation before me forever.” Thus says the Lord: “If the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord.” “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
Now remember this is the chapter of the OT that says god will make a new covenant - these are the promises for NT Christians when they receive salvation in Jesus! let me ask you: When is the last time you danced? Ever dance by yourself? Dancing in ancient times ...
Now don’t get me wrong I still mourn for those kids, and for those in Indonesia, and for those in our family, church family. Lost my uncle over this busy season. Suffering will remain until Christ return. Not a time yet for life without suffering. Even Christ who was saved - would suffer. But for believers who a real with their suffering, who bring it to Jesus, this means that the time of suffering without hope, suffering without Immanuel, suffering without purpose - that kind of suffering is done.
It reminds me of a poem a friend of mine saw when visiting a sister dying of cancer: “What Cancer Can’t Do: It cannot shatter hope, corrode faith, eat-away peace, destroy confidence, kill friendship, shut out memories, invade the soul, reduce eternal life, quench the Spirit, lessen the power of the Resurrection.” Sietse Wiebenga
Do you get it? In the midst of this world’s cruelty and suffering, in the midst of our misplaced hopes, God offers a true hope that will end all tears. We know some of the suffering in each others lives right now - think of those in emotional mental anguish, think of those in valley’s of sickness and grieving and death. Think of those . Urgent message of this oft’ forgotten Christmas-time text, is that even in the worst trials God hears our cries, and now is the time of deliverance as we embrace His Son as Saviour. When we do that - expect this power and presence of jesus to work a great transformation in us!
But we must conclude with the application part of this prophesy. You have the theory of how God uses and super-intends over the tragedies and suffering. You have the theory of how He will raise us u, but how in practice do you take hold of Christ in the middle of daily life?
D. Apply this Gospel Hope with Honest in Suffering Together & True Prayer
Jeremiah describes this by telling us who returns to God? Who here even this week, this New Year, will find Christ in their suffering?
Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.
Now there’s a description of people in their need - spiritual description of us. We put up a good front to others - not spiritually blind or lame, not in need of having others assist us . So we cover up our sin, keep our suffering to urselves. But here a ggreat throng is on the road together. Strangest parade of people after a war of suffering coming back. That’s us! Not pretending they don’t have need. Sharing it freely, walking to Christ in this great return . imagine now not a grieving widows used to be a young Mom - But now a community carrying each other’ need along this Road to Zion. Along the road all sorts of other people - dark faces, unbelief - burned out homes, but don’t want to come - Call out comes as you are - sinners sufferers poor and needy.
But Jeremiah also describes what people on the road back to Zion are doing: Praying
But Jeremiah also describes what people onthe road back to Zion are doing: Praying
With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
As the NIV puts it more directly: They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. There is the question that determines whether you only have the theory, or whether you have the practice. No atheists in fox holes, may be true, in the trails of daily life and the sufferings, and teh wanderings of sin; do you despair, do you stoicly just bear them what will be will be; or do you call out to God. And not just because there is No one else to turn to, but because in Christ, you rweocngnize God is your Father, you are his child - and pray often and specialilly Father help. You O God deal with this. i trust you, I look for your power, provision, delviereance and your Will > i look to Christ. Picture you and I walkig this road to Zion and as we go not only voice our tragedies, but our confidence prayers witha nd for each other! Hope you come Sunday evenings - catechism most imporatnt part of being teh Church - how live thankful life - how we pray together!
Then indeed we will be Rachel’s children the Israel of God - who yes have tragedy in our lives, but in Christ we are comforted by God Himself and have joy instead of sorrow! Can you say that you’ve enter into a new relationship with God through your suffering in Christ?
As God restores there will be turning of soul to the Messiah and His ways. Listen to how God’s poeple describe it:
“I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the Lord my God. After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
Jesus is God, come to visit us in the midst of our suffering, and His great work is this restoration, this New Covenant, new Arrangement he draws us into - forgives our sin, pours His Spirit ti in us, gives us new and resurrection life, Writes His law on our hearts. If you will simply do this - call out in your suffering and rely in prayer on his deliverance - then it will be true that your life will be moved from despair and sorrow to true comfort and and joy! This is the path that God has made from our suffering and sin and despair, throug this wilderness to His promisd land. He meets us on th ath and he tells us to walk it together: Good Christian Men Rejoice
They shall come with weeping, And with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters In a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: For I am a father to Israel, And Ephraim is my firstborn.