2013-09-13
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I shared a portion of my experience going through being diagnosed with an illness that would render me partially disabled. This included the feelings that I had about how it might not only impact my life, but also my husband, Peter’s. When one is in a covenant relationship with God, He is always allowing bad things to happen in a carefully limited way [1 COR 10: 13] and in a way which teaches us most efficiently the lessons He wants us to learn, the discoveries He wants us to make. 1 COR 1: 30 reminds us that it is because of God that we are in Christ Jesus and that Christ has become our wisdom, righteousness, and holiness. As COL 3: 3-4 tells us, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your real life is Christ and when he appears, then you will appear with Him and share His glory.”
Those who believe in Christ accept the teaching of 1 COR 3: 9, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” When I was diagnosed, initially, I found myself in a quandary. How could I continue to serve Him, something which I prided myself in doing, and be partially disabled? I’m sure many others before me have found themselves in that uncomfortable place. It would have been easy to fall into self-pity or take on the part of the victim. But, God was humbling me where He knew I needed it. He was teaching me to depend on Him. First, I must say God deserves my eternal thanks not only for His intervention in my life and His patience, but for giving me the love of His word I have. 1 PET 5: 6-7, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” I had no right to take pride in my service to Him! To Him belongs all the glory for anything good that I do [PS 115:1]. We can only boast about God, not about ourselves or what we do [1 COR 1: 31].
Secondly, the big elephant on the table is the issue of trust! PS 138: 8 and 62: 7-8, “You will do everything You have promised; Lord, Your love is eternal. Complete the work You have begun…My salvation and my honor depend on God. He is my mighty Rock, my Refuge. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our Refuge.” It’s easy to say, “we should trust the Lord,” but actually doing that within the context of our own lives is another matter. It’s necessary to give up old, worn-out ideas and attitudes first. We must die to thinking that we can live independently. Then, we must fall back on what the Lord has already told us—often in His word, but sometimes in prayer. And yes, one’s faith is being tested here. Our willingness to listen for His direction and then obey it is crucial to any success. That’s because we can’t work through our trials without the covenant strength He offers us and we must learn to accept, applying it in our lives. Do we have any excuse for not trusting God? Tough question! The answer is “never!” Having said that, let me share a little more of my experience.
God gave my husband, Peter, a caring nature and a kindly heart. He willingly and without complaint accepted the changes that would impact him. He would have to help me move everything we use daily to lower cabinets in the kitchen (we have very few of those). This was so that I could reach them without a step ladder. He would now have to go to the grocery store with me and help muscle the bags into the house. In the beginning when we had to walk very far, he would push me in a wheelchair. Our generous God led us to where I could take money I had saved up and buy an electric cart at a reasonable price for those necessary longer walks. God made it possible for me to continue driving our car, and I thank and praise Him for that. We already had several bar stools, which I use for sitting while I do dishes, and God led me to discover other ways I could serve him while I sit. Perhaps the kindest thing God did was to inspire some medical researchers to develop two medications--originally designed for treatment of epilepsy and found to have a secondary effect of dulling nerve pain. These made it possible to dull my constant pain enough, so that I can keep my mind on Him instead of that work of the devil. PS 139: 5, “You are all around me on every side. You protect me with Your power.” PS 9: 1-2, “I will give thanks to You, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing the praises of Your name, O Most High.”
With strength from covenant faith, we will discover that our disabilities are made into abilities. That is a part of the blessings God gives us, when we listen for His direction and obey it. To appropriate that strength, we must believe with all our heart that God loves us, listen for Him, and following His directions. His agenda must always be ours, for He is our Covenant Partner. Laying aside our independence from God is a blessing to which I can witness first-hand. It takes patience to wait for His perfect time, but He equips us to learn patience. We must recognize that God knows best. Praise and thanks be to Him!
PRAYER: O Lord, we acknowledge Your superior strength, wisdom, compassion, patience, and power. The apostle Paul understood a principle that we too should know. 1 COR 2: 5, “Your faith, then, does not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” Without You, we are driven by the desires of the flesh. We don’t think through our challenges, but react to them with emotion. When we obey You, we spend daily time in Your word, and we have an active prayer life. We are Your covenant partners, and as such, we recognize our need to depend on You. You are always consistent, fair, just, and wise in the decisions You make and advice You give. We can always count on You; and it’s our goal to think and act in a way that You can always count on us. PS 95: 6-7, “Come, Let us bow down before the Lord, our Maker; for He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.” It isn’t always easy for us to be obedient, alert, and willing to seek You out first with total trust. However, we are aware that this should be a prominent goal in our lives. We ask for Your patience with us, as we try to improve in the areas where we are weak. Our weaknesses reveal Your covenant strength. We are deeply grateful that You reach out to us with Your covenant strength and share it with us, as we wade through the morass of our challenges. PS 40: 1-2, “I waited patiently for the Lord’s help; then He listened to me and heard my cry. He pulled me out of a dangerous pit; out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a Rock and made me feel secure.” That Rock is Your Son and our Lord, Jesus Christ. We offer up praise and thanks to You forever, in His holy/mighty name. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: The Holy Spirit leads me to begin a new segment of this “Our Covenant” series called “He Strengthened Us.” I will write about some of the ways and areas in which our Covenant Partner gives us strength to help us overcome our weaknesses. God’s heart of love, kindness, patience, and wisdom is revealed in the course of such a discussion. We are urged to often rehearse our past experiences to see how God has interacted with us to give us strength and to grow our spiritual maturity in the process of sanctification. While we are “in the belly of the beast” –the acute phase of our challenges-it’s very hard to see all the places where God is at work to better our lives. That’s why this frequent look back at our past can be done with greatly constructive results, ones which allow us to know God better than before. God loves it when, in our prayers, we rehearse His past interactions with us. The great kings and prophets of the past did this often, people like Moses, David, and Paul. That lets God know that we are seeking Him in a special way. There is great comfort in JER 29: 11-13, “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to bring disaster, plans to give you the future for which you hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Our God loves us more than we know. PS 146: 5, “But happy are those who have the God of Israel as their Helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.” He wants us to know all He has for us and to use the strength He gives us for His purposes, which are always good ones. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2013. All Rights Reserved.
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