After starting out the day full of courage and telling all of you to have “good reports,” by evening, I was starting to fizzle. For a day of good reports, we got an awful lot of bad news yesterday.
I won’t list it all, but a big one came around 5pm, when we found out our Foundations Press website was the victim of a DDoS attack, to the tune of costing us over $4000 (which will be returned eventually, by the way, so I’m thankful for that). I asked my geeky sons why these cyber-attacks happen, and they are usually because someone out there truly doesn’t like us.
Of course, we all heard about the OSHA ruling that came out yesterday, which gives workers until January 4 to comply with President Biden’s Covid mandate. Ugh. My daughter was sent to work by herself yesterday because another worker complained she could not be near someone who hadn’t been vaccinated. (This also worked out well, because she ended up in a greenhouse building that is warmer and more cheerful — and a couple other workers joined her. Thank you, Father!)
Right before bed, one of you texted me to say that you’d had a sweet day, with worship music, time to listen to your Bible, special time with family, and the ability to make a yummy dinner. I tried to think of a good report to share back — and I couldn’t think of one.
That bothered me. Maybe I should just quit talking to other women when I can’t lead by example for even one day.
I woke up this morning, and another friend sent me a Bible verse. This person didn’t know anything about what I was feeling. Don’t you love when the Ruach does that?
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NKJV).
The Complete Jewish Bible words it like this:
“I have said these things to you so that, united with me, you may have shalom. In the world, you have tsuris. But be brave! I have conquered the world!”
Tsuris is a Yiddish word that Jewish moms might use when sitting around. It can be defined as troubles, worries, aggravation, woes, suffering, grief or heartache. Here’s how https://momentmag.com/jewish-word-tsuris describes it:
The word is used liberally in connection with illness, money woes, relationships and especially children. The expression, “Don’t give me any tsuris!” is timeless, as is the story of the proverbial four women sitting on a porch in a Catskill hotel: “Oy,” says the first woman. “Oy vey,” says the second. “Oy vez iz mir,” sighs the third. “I thought we weren’t going to talk about our children today,” snaps the fourth woman. That’s tsuris—a feeling so pervasive it need not be named.
Yeshua is telling me, “Yes, Anne, you will have tsuris.”
He had it, too.
“If the world hates you, understand that it hated me first” (John 15:18, CJB).
There’s no escaping it. And as we race toward the end of this age and His return as King… well, we’ll have more tsuris than we used to.
How does Yeshua tell us to respond?
“Be of good cheer!”
“Be brave!”
“Have courage!”
“Take confidence!”
“Take heart!”
… and if I look back into how this word is used in the Septuagint and in the Hebrew Tanakh, it says, “Fear not!”
If I go back one verse to John 16:32, Yeshua describes His time of tsuris.
“But a time is coming — indeed it has come already — when you will be scattered, each one looking out for himself; and you will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone; because the Father is with me.”
He was going to be left completely alone, deserted by ALL His friends. But He wasn’t alone!!!! “The Father is with me,” He said.
We aren’t alone either.
So next time I’m surrounded by enemies, even literally, I hope I will remember this “good report.” The Father is with me!
“Fear not, for they that are with us are more than they that are with them” (2 Kings 6:16, NKJV).
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture in this blog post taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
image courtesy of alittleperspective.com
Leave a Reply