FUNK

Did you miss me?  I am so sorry!  I have been in such a funk – no inspiration, no yearning to write.  Nothing.  And it’s not for any good reason, either.  Just . . . funk-ness.  I can’t explain it any other way.

Have you ever been in a funk?  I mean, it seems like there is a film across my eyes, my brain is on overload and my heart isn’t feeling – do you know what I mean?

And all around me all I see and hear is gossip, divorce, hatred, stupidity.   I just want to scream,

Is anybody out there? 

Maybe I’ll do jumping jacks – that will get me out of it. 

Nope.

Where is the hope?  Where is the truth?  I’m not seeing it.  I’m not feeling it.  Its gone.

But that’s a lie – just because I can’t see it or feel it, doesn’t mean its not there.  Hope has nothing to do with me.  (and all God’s people say, THANK GOD!)

When everything around you screams hopeLESSness – its not of God.  When you can’t see Him, or feel Him or even find Him – He’s still there.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote (and I base this blog on): 

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you

 

Why do I forget that?  How come the “hope” isn’t what I always see or know?   All I see is the crap.  It’s cause I’m looking at the circumstance – NOT the God of the universe.  I don’t even consider Him – I look through human eyes and mere intellect and think I know.

Paul continues, in Ephesians 1: 

That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the age to come.

Power – for me and for you.  Not funk-ness.  Not hopelessness.  But power.  Power to do what I could never do – know what I don’t know – see what can’t be seen and love unconditionally.   Power not to live as I have always lived.  But to live as one who has hope.  Real hope. 

That power is for you and for me.  Starting today.  We can live in that power and hope. 

In order to live everyday in God’s mighty power (and since the jumping jacks didn’t work J), I have learned one of the first things I need to do is to step back – literally.  Sit still, pray.  Confess, cry.  Just sit in wonder at the thought of the God of the universe hearing me.

I will probably always have some “funk” times.  Seems like the more I am in worship and the Word, the less frequent they are. 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ !!!!