The God of Brokenness: Etherlyn Q. Naiah - Asking for "A New Day of Worship" (a Liberian Gospel Song)

In the face of trial and suffering we ask God for a new day

A New Day of Worship, by Etherlyn Q. Naiah

Liberian Gospel Viveo

Published on Jan 10, 2013

Dear Lord, please give to me a new day. I don't want yesterday again. Yesterday brought to me sorrow and tears, bitterness and hatred, anger and hopelessness. May your grace and mercy cover my brokenness and spirit of lament. Thank you O God my Saviour.

This song is based on a true story and reminds me of a woman's daughter who was killed by a drunk driver and she could not find her way out of her spiritual agony. The only thing she could do is ask God for a new day. She then sang this song for herself and for the man that killed her daughter. This is just another way that GOD can help anyone in an kind of situation.

Thank you Father for giving this great testimony to this dear lady. You said in the Book of Isaiah that old things have passed away and all thing will be made new. So help me today dear Father this day to know the truth of your Word. May you give to me your promises of life. Of renewal and hope. And may it be so for my Christian brothers and sisters around the world who suffer in your name. Who need your love and assurance. Your power and strength for a new day. Thank you Father. Thank you for your comfort and peace. In Jesus' precious name. Amen.

This is a very, very powerful message. Papa God I asked that you give me a new day. Take away every pain, sickness, every thing that will make my life miserable, "O, my God!" And just give to me a new day." May God continue to be with you Minister Naiah and bless your ministry. O Lord put my enemies to shame and may Jesus be raised up in my life. Amen.

Hallelujah! We cannot change yesterday but hope for a new brighter day. Only God can do this. And by faith and with hope we pray for this new day in our souls. With God nothing is impossible. When our heavenly Father says "Yes," no one can say "No." What our great God has put asunder no man can raise up. Hallelujah. Amen.

Isaiah 65

English Standard Version (ESV)

Judgment and Salvation

65 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me;

    I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
    to a nation that was not called by^[a] my name.
² I spread out my hands all the day
    to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
    following their own devices;
³ a people who provoke me
    to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
    and making offerings on bricks;
⁴ who sit in tombs,
    and spend the night in secret places;
who eat pig's flesh,
    and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
⁵ who say, “Keep to yourself,
    do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
These are a smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that burns all the day.
⁶ Behold, it is written before me:
    “I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will indeed repay into their lap
⁷     both your iniquities and your fathers' iniquities together,
says the Lord;
because they made offerings on the mountains
    and insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their lap
    payment for their former deeds.”<sup>[b]

8</sup> Thus says the Lord:

“As the new wine is found in the cluster,
    and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,
    for there is a blessing in it,’
so I will do for my servants' sake,
    and not destroy them all.
⁹ I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
    and from Judah possessors of my mountains;
my chosen shall possess it,
    and my servants shall dwell there.
¹⁰ Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
    and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
    for my people who have sought me.
¹¹ But you who forsake the Lord,
    who forget my holy mountain,
who set a table for Fortune
    and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,
¹² I will destine you to the sword,
    and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
because, when I called, you did not answer;
    when I spoke, you did not listen,
but you did what was evil in my eyes
    and chose what I did not delight in.”

¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, my servants shall eat,
    but you shall be hungry;
behold, my servants shall drink,
    but you shall be thirsty;
behold, my servants shall rejoice,
    but you shall be put to shame;
¹⁴ behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
    but you shall cry out for pain of heart
    and shall wail for breaking of spirit.
¹⁵ You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse,
    and the Lord God will put you to death,
    but his servants he will call by another name.
¹⁶ So that he who blesses himself in the land
    shall bless himself by the God of truth,
and he who takes an oath in the land
    shall swear by the God of truth;
because the former troubles are forgotten
    and are hidden from my eyes.

New Heavens and a New Earth

¹⁷ “For behold, I create new heavens

    and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
    or come into mind.
¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever
    in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
    and her people to be a gladness.
¹⁹ I will rejoice in Jerusalem
    and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
    and the cry of distress.
²⁰ No more shall there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the young man shall die a hundred years old,
    and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
²¹ They shall build houses and inhabit them;
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
    and my chosen shall long enjoy^[c] the work of their hands.
²³ They shall not labor in vain
    or bear children for calamity,^[d]
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
    and their descendants with them.
²⁴ Before they call I will answer;
    while they are yet speaking I will hear.
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
    the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
    and dust shall be the serpent's food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.

Footnotes: 

1. Isaiah 65:1 Or that did not call upon
2. Isaiah 65:7 Or I will first measure their payment into their lap
3. Isaiah 65:22 Hebrew shall wear out
4. Isaiah 65:23 Or for sudden terror 

2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

Revelation 21:4

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.'

Isaiah 25:8

"He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken."

Lent: A Season of Deprivation or a Period of Readiness?

 

 

Dreading Lent: An Alternative Proposal

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-emily-c-heath/dreading-lent-an-alternat_b_4903667.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000051

Rev. Emily C. Heath,

Clergy, United Church of Christ

 

Posted: 03/05/2014 12:01 pm EST Updated: 03/05/2014 12:59 pm EST

 

A few weeks ago I was standing in the check-out line of our village market. The selection of cards by the cash register had just made their changeover from Valentine's Day to Easter, despite the fact Lent had not yet even begun. That's not a huge surprise, of course. The Easter candy has been out for weeks now.

 

But on this day, one of the cards struck my eye. The front read "The best part about Easter is that Lent is over." They lost the theologian in me right there because, oddly enough, I've always thought that the best part of Easter was the whole Resurrection thing. But I opened the card anyway and found this in the center: "I really hate giving up stuff I love."

 

My first thought was, "then you're really going to hate Christianity." I say that because, as Bonhoeffer and others have reminded us, discipleship is costly. Jesus wasn't kidding around when he told his disciples to sell all they owned and follow him. Sacrifice is woven into the very fabric of Christian faith.

 

But my second thought was about how so many people believe that "Giving something up" is what Lent is all about. If you are around church folks at all the week before Lent you'll hear the question "What are you giving up for Lent?" more than a few times. And you're likely to also hear a list of everyday items: meat, sugar, soda, tobacco, alcohol, chocolate, or even Facebook.

 

And, if that works for you, go for it. If giving up some sort of indulgence deepens your spiritual walk during these 40 days, then no one should tell you not to do it. But, if you're like most people I know, giving something up for forty days feels more like running a marathon. For that reason too often people of faith approach Lent with the dread with which most people approach the dentist. By the time they get to Easter Sunday they can't wait to tear into a Snickers bar or sign back on to Facebook again. And sometimes they have a sense that they've run a long race, but nothing has really changed.

 

Again, maybe it's different for you, and that separation from potato chips or red meat has deepened your spiritual life in a meaningful way. But, if it hasn't, I want to suggest that maybe "giving up" is not the only way to observe a holy Lent.

 

What if instead of giving up you took something on? What if you added dedicated prayer time each morning? Or, what if you committed to reading a couple of chapters of Scripture each day? What if you took on the challenge of going to worship every week during Lent, with no excuses?

 

And, what if you took something on that could, in some small way, change the world? What if you gave an hour each week to volunteering at the food bank? Or what if you gave up using plastic bottles in order to help the environment? What if you drove less and walked more?

 

Of course all of these things still require some degree of "giving up". If you pray or read Scripture, you may have to "give up" some time you'd normally spend online or watching television. If you volunteer some extra hours you may have to give up a few hours of downtime. If you make an environmentally conscious choice you may have to give up the convenience of driving somewhere quickly or grabbing a bottled water.

 

All of those can be pretty incredible things to give up for Lent. But you may find you're giving up other things too. You may find you're giving up your feelings of hopelessness. You may find you're giving up your feelings of helplessness. Your feelings of isolation. Your feelings of disconnection. Your feelings of insignificance.

 

In the end, Lent is not about a 40-day marathon of deprivation. It's about looking inside, finding the places where we feel disconnected to God, and taking up the challenge of going deeper. It's about walking with Jesus for forty days because we are so overwhelmed by his love for us. And, it's about preparing for what is next. Because the empty tomb is not the finish line. It's just the start of a long and wonderful journey. And Lent is a time to get ready.