God has promised to supply every need we have. Phil 4:19.
God has promised that His grace is sufficient for every situation. 2 Cor 12:9
God has promised to make a way of escape in temptation. 2 Cor 10:13; Jude 24.
God has promised us victory over death. 1 Cor 15
God has promised that all things work together for the good of His people. Rom 8:28.
God has promised His people eternal life. John 10:27,28
Rose Kennedy buried four of her own children–all of whom met tragic ends. Her oldest son Joe was killed in action in World War 2. Her daughter Kathleen died in a plane crash in Europe. Her sons John and Bobby died by the assassin’s bullet.
At the end of her life she wrote this:
It has been said that time heals all wounds. I don’t agree. The wounds remain. Time—the mind, protecting its sanity—covers them with some scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone.
I have never known that kind of grief. It is hard to imagine. And I would not dare gainsay her experience. Nevertheless, I am thankful today that there is more to the human story than this.
I have been listening this week to Steven Curtis Chapman’s testimony that this is indeed not the end of the story. His new album “Beauty Will Rise” is a meditation on his family’s experience since the tragic death of his little girl Maria last year. His words are anguished, yet filled with gospel-soaked hope in Christ.
In the song “Beauty Will Rise,” he testifies that one day the pain will be gone.
Out of these ashes beauty will rise
And we will dance among the ruins
We will see it with our own eyes
Out of these ashes beauty will rise
For we know joy is coming in the morning
In the morning
I can hear it in the distance
And it’s not too far away
It’s the music and the laughter
Of a wedding and a feast
I can almost feel the hand of God
Reaching for my face to wipe the tears away
You say it’s time to make everything new
Make it all new
There is coming a day when God will make all things new. He will wipe every tear away and grief will be banished forever (Revelation 21:4-5).
From Denny Burk
There is a sermon illustration here somewhere.
I read Malcolm Muggeridge when I was in college. He was a humorist, satirist, intellectual, agnostic (if not atheist). Then he came to Christ – and became an ardent defender of the faith. He wrote this about 30 years ago – and it is still a relevant word:
We look back upon history, and what do we see? Empires rising and falling, revolutions and counterrevolutions, wealth accumulated and wealth disbursed. Shakespeare has written of the rise and fall of great ones, that ebb and flow with the moon.
I look back upon my own fellow countrymen (Great Britain), once upon a time dominating a quarter of the world, most of them convinced, in the words of what is still a popular song, that ‘the God who made them mighty, shall make them mightier yet.’
I’ve heard a crazed, cracked Austrian (Hitler) announce to the world the establishment of a Reich that would last a thousand years. I have seen an Italian clown (Mussolini) say he was going to stop and restart the calendar with his own ascension to power. I’ve heard a murderous Georgian brigand in the Kremlin (Stalin), acclaimed by the intellectual elite of the world as being wiser than Solomon, more humane than Marcus Aurelius, more enlightened than Ashoka.
I have seen America wealthier and, in terms of military weaponry, more powerful than the rest of the world put together–so that had the American people so desired, they could have outdone a Caesar, or an Alexander in the range and scale of their conquests.
All in one lifetime, all in one lifetime, all gone. Gone with the wind.
England, now part of a tiny island off the coast of Europe, threatened with dismemberment and even bankruptcy. Hitler and Mussolini dead, remembered only in infamy. Stalin a forbidden name in the regime he helped found and dominate for some three decades. America haunted by fears of running out of those precious fluids that keeps their motorways roaring, and the smog settling, with troubled memories of a disastrous campaign in Vietnam, and the victories of the Don Quixotes of the media as they charged the windmills of Watergate.
All in one lifetime, all in one lifetime, all gone. Gone with the wind.
Behind the debris of these solemn supermen, and self-styled imperial diplomatists, there stands the gigantic figure of one, because of whom, by whom, in whom and through whom alone, mankind may still have peace: the person of Jesus Christ.
I present him as the way, the truth, and the life.
Joey writes
On November 8, 2009 in South Asia, I and two other pastors from The Austin Stone, were robbed and attacked by a small gang of South Asian youth. Unexpectedly, one of these youth sliced my left cheek with a straight razor. The wound was 5 inches long and an inch deep. It spanned from about my left sideburn to the left corner of my mouth. Fortunately, the two other men with me were physically unharmed. We ran for safety in the middle of the city, pleaded with locals for help, and finally ended up in the emergency room at a local hospital where a doctor stitched up my face with three layers of stitches.
After arriving back home, I realized that this attack was a catalyst to great spiritual and emotional growth. After a week long of reflection, I have outlined below the lessons that I have learned. I hope my story and these lessons will encourage others to radical obedience to Jesus and mobilize them to the mission of God.
1. The straight razor that scarred my face has become an altar of intercession for those South Asian youth who attacked us. My face is the sacrifice that was put on this alter. I doubt if any prayers have ever been lifted to the Father for those youth, that is, until they attacked us. Almost immediately, we began praying for them. Since then, thousands of people have interceded for them, for their joy. In this way, therefore, God turned their sin of unjustly attackingus into a great blessing for them.
The Lord brought me to Psalm 97:11 a few days after the attack: “Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.” I realized that the straight razor was not only an altar of intercession for those youth, but it was also a plow, tilling the soil of my body and prepping it for sowing. The straight razor plow opened the way for … (read the rest of the lessons here
)
There are many other voices speaking — loudly:
“Prove you’re worth something.”
“Prove you have any contribution to make.”
“Do something relevant.”
These are the voices Jesus heard right after he heard, “You are my beloved.”
Another voice said, “Prove you are the beloved.
Do something.
Change these stones into bread.
Be sure you’re famous.
Jump from the temple, and you will be known.
Grab some power so you have real influence.”
Jesus said, “No, I don’t have to prove anything. I am already the beloved.”
(Quoted from Henri Nouwen, Leadership Magazine, Spring 1995.)
The gospel tells us that we have been credited with Jesus’ obedience and righteousness. We, too, can answer the voices in the same way…
“I have nothing to prove. I am already significant. I”m already famous in heaven. I am known. I am already the beloved.”
On Sunday, November 8, 2009, my son Joey was attacked by a group of young men in a large city in India. Joey, in the country for a Christian conference, was slashed in the face by a straight-razor. After fighting off his attacker and running away (along with two of his fellow pastors), he was taken to a hospital, where his cheek was sewn together. Thanks to his church , he was able to return to his home in Austin on Tuesday.
We are very grateful to our Lord that he did not lose an eye or have his throat cut.
We are grateful for the fine stitching job done by a doctor in India.
We are grateful that he is recovering emotionally, and has learned so many lessons from this incident.
In a few days, I’ll post his reflections from the last few days.
Yesterday the owner of the Titans, Bud Adams, turned around and gave the finger to a stadium full of people – and was fined $250,000!
What can you learn from Mr. Adams?
1. You are never too old (86 years old) to do something stupid.
2. Power and riches can rob you of common sense.
3. Just because you own something does not mean you have the right to do anything you want, whenever you want.
4. Wisdom is learning from your mistakes (this is not the first time Adams has disrespected both his fans and other teams)
5. Someday soon, we’ll face our Creator – and all of us need our sins covered by another. Rejection of a Substitute is tantamount to using Adam’s gesture toward the Creator – a chilling thought.
6. You should always have your lawyer at your side if you feel like doing something stupid. (Contributed by Lewis Trippett, Attorney at Law and friend)
7. Even the deaf, who communicate with their fingers, know better than to use certain fingers in certain positions. (Contributed by Bill Berry)
This is a really interesting riff by William Lane Craig from a 1998 debate. It gets really good 1 minute and 20 seconds in.
The point: Science is critically important. But it is a fallacy to think that the only beliefs that are rational are those that can be demonstrated scientifically. For many beliefs that we all accept as rational are not demonstrable on scientific grounds. Therefore science cannot be the sole criteria for determining truth.
You know you’re in trouble in a debate when your opponent answers you with “I’ve got five reasons why you are wrong.”
From What’s Best Next
It happens regularly.
God speaks through the daily reading of Scripture to the situation I face, and about which I cry out to him.
It happened this morning.
I couldn’t sleep last night. Worries, anxieties, cares.
This morning, my Bible reading plan included Psalm 94. I was simply reading along half asleep until I came to verse 19
“When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.”
Sitting up straight, I realized I was being addressed by the Spirit.
“You have cares, and I know that. Many cares – some of which have no apparent answer. Read on in the psalm. See things from a different perspective. Let the promises bring ballast to your soul. You have cares – I bring consolation.”
The NIV reads, “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.”
The New Living reads, “When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.”
The Message says…
If God hadn’t been there for me,
I never would have made it.
The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,”
your love, God, took hold and held me fast.
When I was upset and beside myself,
you calmed me down and cheered me up.
I’m cheered among cares.
Joey Shaw is back in Austin. He has seen a plastic surgeon and been told:
1. No facial nerves were cut or damaged (Praise God!)
2. The 50+ stitches were done very well(Praise God)
3. It may be a year before healing is complete and we know what kind of scar may be left (Trusting God)
He slept 17 hours the first night he was home.
He is ready to get back to normal living.
He did share some personal reflections that left Ruthe and me humbled, joyful, grateful and anxious to see him.
Will communicate more info next week. For now – Thanks be to God. And – thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers and concern!
Kevin DeYoung is a young pastor in Michigan. His blog alerted me to a letter written by Guido de Bres, the author of the Belgic Confession and pastor in Belgium and France. He wrote to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Black Hole of Brunain for his Protestant faith.
My dear and well-beloved wife in our Lord Jesus, Your grief and anguish are the cause of my writing you this letter. I most earnestly pray you not to be grieved beyond measure…We knew when we married that we might not have many years together, and the Lord has graciously given us seven. If the Lord had wished us to live together longer, he could easily have cause it to be so. But such was not his pleasure. Let his good will be done….Moreover, consider that I have not fallen into the hands of my enemies by chance, but by the providence of God….All these considerations have made my heart glad and peaceful, and I pray you, my dear and faithful companion, to be glad with me, and to thank the good God for what he is going, for he does nothing but what is altogether good and right…I pray you then to be comforted in the Lord, to commit yourself and your affairs to him, he is the husband of the widow and the father of the fatherless, and he will never leave you nor forsake you.
On May 31, 1567, Guido de Bres, 47 years old, was publicly hanged in the market square of Valenciennes. He was pushed off the scaffold as he exhorted the crowd to be faithful to Scripture and respectful to the magistrates. His body was buried in a shallow grave where it was later dug up and torn apart by wild animals.
This is a man “of whom the world was not worthy” (Heb. 11:38).
This is also the spirit of a faithful husband whose faith gives his wife the will to trust and obey the Lord.
“Everything is necessary that God sends;
Nothing can be necessary that he withholds.”
John Newton (author of Amazing Grace, and pastor to William Wilberforce)
The late Ray Stedman once said that every morning when he awakened, he reminded himself of this thought:
I am part of the plan of God. God is working all things to a great and final purpose on earth, and I am part of it. What I do today has purpose and significance and meaning This is not a meaningless day I am going through. Even the smallest incident, the most apparently insignificant word or relationship, is involved in His great plan. Therefore, all of his has meaning and purpose. (source lost)
This article deeply moved me. I encourage you to read it all.
As a father of multiply-disabled child, I have read dozens of books, articles and web sites on disability, suffering and the Bible. What you will see below may be the finest piece on disability and the sovereignty of God I have ever read.
It was written by Joe Eaton and is particularly powerful because Joe lives with the permanently disabling condition of spina bifida. Please join me in praising God for the insight and wisdom God has granted Joe, who is just completing his first semester of college.
The Sovereignty of God in Suffering, by Joe Eaton (first posted on Facebook and used with his permission here)
A friend and I were talking a while ago about the sovereignty of God. She asked me how I thought the sovereignty of God related to disability. More specifically, how does believing the doctrine of the sovereignty of God affect my own experience with disability? At the time, my thoughts on the subject I weren’t very well-prepared or well-organized. But I have also been meaning to write some thoughts about this since I started this blog! So, finally, I’ve written some of my thoughts on this subject. I pray that these musings are Bible-saturated and helpful…
For the rest of the article, read here
samshawonline 