Now may the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
When I got out of bed this morning it was 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Anyone who knows me understands that I hate
winter. Having confessed that fact, God
is also working to remove my complaining spirit with respect to cold weather as
He has convicted me that the weather is ordained by Him and is one of those
things that requires that I trust His wisdom.
That said, this time of year I still long for warmer weather and look
for indications that it’s coming. The
first sign that gives me hope of more agreeable temperatures is the appearance
of snowdrops (shown above). They are the
very first flowers to blossom and snow does not bother them. My Aunt Margaret was the first to introduce
me to them and they have been a staple in my garden since then as they provide
the hope of spring and a reminder of the loving relationship that I had with
her. The next hopeful sign is the sound of birds
chirping in the early morning and the appearance of Robins. Finally, the crocuses and daffodils not only
allude to warmer weather but provide color that lifts the spirit. As much happiness as the expectation of
spring brings with it, there is no lasting joy or peace as I know that winter
will in fact come again. In contrast, my
spiritual hope is a different matter altogether as my hope in God brings with
it joy and peace.
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If we do anything to further the kingdom of God, we may expect to find what Christ found on that road – abuse, indifference, injustice, misunderstanding, trouble of some kind. Take it. Why not? To that you were called. In Latin America someone who feels sorry for himself is said to look like a donkey in a downpour. If we think of the glorious fact that we are on the same path with Jesus, we might see a rainbow.
How blessed is he who
considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble. The Lord will protect him and keep him alive,
and he shall be called blessed upon the earth; and do not give him over to the
desire of his enemies. The Lord will
sustain him upon his sickbed; in his illness, You restore him to health. Psalm 41:1-3
Last week I stayed at the Holiday Inn at Cleveland Clinic while
I was seeing doctors and having tests done. (You
can read more about that in last week’s post here.) While I have stayed in
many hotels with varying levels of service, I’ve not been in one like this
before and I really didn’t notice how different it was for at least a day. As I was sitting at dinner in the café on the
second evening, I noticed that the din which typically surrounds the restaurant
and bar areas was missing. In fact, it
was rather quiet. I also noticed that
there were more families taking the time to thank God for their food. It then occurred to me that the vast
majority, if not all, of the patrons were either ill, caregivers or some
combination of the two. As I sat there
taking this in, I further realized that the staff was different as well as they
were more engaged that I’m used to. With
this realization came an awareness, an opportunity and a blessing.
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The thankful heart sees the best part of every situation. It sees problems and weaknesses as opportunities, struggles as refining tools, and sinners as saints in progress.
“Blessed be the Lord,
for He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city.” Psalm 31:21
For those of you that follow my blog closely, you may have noticed that my Monday quotes and the verse of the day have dropped off. Life has been a bit challenging and I’ve had to surrender a bit to maintain my sanity. Life with chronic illness is a battle against both known and unknown factors. It is a battle of the mind and soul as well as the body which often leaves one feeling besieged.
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Cease striving and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10a
Despite my chronic illness, I would be considered by many to
still be high functioning and unless one knows me, they would be unlikely to
recognize my limitations. I have learned
over time that when I yield to the needs of my body for rest and watch what I
eat, I can function somewhat normally; that said I still struggle. It’s a
challenge not to worry about the cost of my illness both financially and as a source
of stress to myself, my family and close friends. I also struggle to maintain some sense of
control; if I can’t fix my illness than I try to fix other things that don’t
matter in the larger scale as they provide some sense of reassurance that
things are ok. I also struggle with my
self-image. Physically I want to appear
normal yet not so normal that people think I’m a hypochondriac. It’s a common struggle for those of us with
invisible illnesses. Further, I want to
be relevant and useful, but feel that is regularly not the case. The verse above is displayed in our den right
beside our TV. I’ve put it there for two
reasons. First it is the primary focal
point of the room and my focal point needs to be God’s sovereignty over all
things. Second, it sits next to the TV
as a reminder that God is the final authority on whatever the world offers as
truth. Part of that truth is that I need
to let go and trust God.
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“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
Whether alone or in a crowd, have you ever wondered where God is? Despite God reminding us throughout scripture that He is in fact with us and will never leave us, we still have our doubts. I’m not sure how it came about, but during a recent worship service I started thinking about the presence of God. If I had to guess, I would assume that Matthew 28:20 was one of the texts used in the sermon. In any event, I’ve been pondering our failure to recognize the presence of God in our lives. I don’t know about you but, I certainly have a tendency to take it for granted and, therefore, fail to recognize it or rely on it when I should. As I’ve considered this problem, there seem to be four primary reasons that we fail to recognize God’s presence in our lives: ignorance, immaturity, impediments and refusal.
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The greater your knowledge of the goodness and grace of God on your life, the more likely you are to praise Him in the storm.
“They sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, ‘For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.’ And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.” Ezra 3:11-13
New Year’s Eve is the time when we tend to evaluate the past
year and look to the new one with a hope of great things to come. Our best New Year’s Eve was December 31,
1981. That night our younger daughter was
born and there was literally a party atmosphere in the delivery room. In addition to my wife and me, there were two
doctors, three interns, a couple of nurses and an anesthesiologist. Rather than waiting for a ball to drop in New
York City, we were awaiting the arrival of a child. While it was mostly a joyful event, there was
also pain as my wife would have to recover from the surgery. While we like to label each year as good or
bad, the reality of this life is that most years are a mixture of joy and sorrow. That was the mood as the exiles from Babylon
viewed the foundation of the new temple.
Those that remembered the former glory of Jerusalem wept at over the
loss of what once was. However, there
was also the joy of Jerusalem being rebuilt.
It’s a good lesson in life…how to gracefully accept the joys and sorrows
of life understanding that God has orchestrated our lives with purpose so that in
the end we may be blessed with a joyful eternity.
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God’s grace is not given to make us feel better, but to glorify Him… Good feelings may come, or they may not, but that is not the issue. The issue is whether or not we honor God by the way we respond to our circumstances.
