I learned a few things about myself and about our God during those nightmarish
four weeks after Nancy’s stroke. And the lessons are not yet over. In part one
I talked about God’s unfathomable mercy. Here now is the second thing I learned
in those early weeks.
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Tears dripped down my cheeks as I drove
north on the I-95 at 65 MPH toward my friend’s home. I’d just left Nancy at the
Rehabilitation hospital for the evening.
“Lord,” I sobbed. “Please help my
unbelief.” I wanted so much to trust God
to bring Nancy to complete recovery and to get us HOME where we could again be
surrounded by familiar things in our house and surrounded by friends whom we
missed so terribly.
Suddenly God broke into my
thoughts. I will never forget the two questions He asked me. The first was
this: “Richard, what do you know about Me?”
His question was so abrupt, it
stopped my tears. I thought about the question for a few moments and then responded:
Lord, I know you cause all
things, even nightmarish things, to work together for good. Romans 8:28 came to
my mind: And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to
those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
I know You will never let me be
tested above what I am able to bear. (Many of you will recognize that truth
from 1 Corinthians 10:13).
Lord, I know Jesus is Lord of heaven and
earth. Philippians 2:10-11 came to my mind: “[At] the name of Jesus every
knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I then said to Him, “I know
you never leave me, never forsake me, that you are always with me, even in my
nightmares.” Once again scripture came to mind, such as Isaiah 43:2-3 “When you pass through the waters, I will be
with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk
through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I
am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I was about to continue my litany
of the things I know about God when He interrupted me with the follow-on
question: “Why do you know those things
are true?”
I didn’t have to think about my
response. I answered, “Because the Bible
tells me so.”
Then the Holy Spirit connected the
dots for me. All of my questions and my doubts and fears and uncertainties,
they all find their answers in what I know to be true because God said those
things are true.
Don’t misunderstand me, please. I
do not mean to suggest God always heals or reunites or fixes everything that is
broken. He clearly does not.
As the Lord Jesus reminds us (Luke
4): “There were many
widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three
years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who
was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the
time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the
Syrian.”
And oh, by the way, if you
remember this text from Luke’s gospel, Jesus spoke these words in His hometown of
Nazareth. Here is what happened next:
“And all the people
in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got
up and drove Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of the hill on which
their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.
Oh, God help us to not
get so angry or disappointed with Jesus that we throw our faith over a cliff. I
confess, that thought crossed my mind – if only for a moment. But it DID cross
my mind.
And even now as I write this
I remember thinking in response to that temptation: “But Lord, where would I
go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Why God heals some and not others,
why He fixes some things and not others – no one knows. But healed or not,
fixed or not, reunited or not – God’s word is truth, whether or not we believe
it to be truth and whether or not is seems
to be truth.
God’s word remains and always will
be truth.
So, what can all this that I
learned mean for you reading this?
Right now, whatever your circumstances,
what do YOU know to be true? And just as
important, Why do you know it to be
true?
If what you know is not based on
God’s eternal truth, if what you know is not rooted and nurtured in God’s
eternal truth, then your life is in grave danger of collapsing around you when
the life’s storms ravage through your life like a never-ending tornado.
I made two points in my message to
the men and women at the independent living facility. It’s the same points I
hope to be making in this two-part essay.
God unveiled to me once again – and
this time more deeply than I’d ever known it – He is so much more merciful to
us than we can ever hope to comprehend this side of eternity. When we are faithless, He remains faithful to
His covenantal promise to us, He remains faithful to His unconditional promise
to us. When we deserve nothing less than judgment. He instead wraps His arms
around us and draws us close to His chest.
And God reminded me His Word is as true
and faithful today as it was when writers of Scripture first penned His words
on parchment. May He therefore help us all to make it an ever increasingly sturdy
foundation for life.
And so thanks be to God alone for
His mercy and for His unfailing promises of love, hope, encouragement,
chastisement – all of which have their yes and amen in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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