When I was in seminary one of my professors had an incredible gift for slowing us down and getting us to meditate on God’s word. Often as a means to center us for the day and prepare us for our time with him in class, he would have us read silently from a selected psalm. After a few minutes of contemplation, he would ask us to share just one word that speaks to us from that passage. One word that for us personally summarizes the spirit and essence of the psalmist’s message.
He has written me twice since I have had my accident and I am blessed that he so kindly remembers me. In one of the cards he sent me, he cited the first 5 verses of Psalm 20. It was no doubt intended to be a prayer and a blessing that he was pronouncing over me as his thoughts and prayers were lifted to heaven on my behalf.
This evening,in honor of his influence on my life, I went back and read through the psalm again to practice this spiritual discipline. The “word” that unquestionably came to the forefront for me was “trust.”
Everything within this psalm is predicated on trust in a living God.
Trust that there is a God who hears us.
Trust that there is a God who can protect us and help us.
Trust that there is a God who knows us intimately and personally and is involved in the details of our life.
Trust that there is nothing in our world as worthy of our trust as He is.
Trust that our victories come through Him and not our own designs.
Trust that He is more than worthy of our praise and worship.
Trust that our lives and our fate are in His hands.
Trust that He is sovereign even we cannot comprehend or understand.
And I would add to all that: trust that there is meaning and purpose in everything we experience in life even when suffering is involved.
Thank You Dr Flora for always pointing the way toward The Master, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Stay close to Jesus,
Bob
Psalm 20 (New International Version)
1 May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
3 May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
4 May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
5 We will shout for joy when you are victorious
and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.
6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he answers him from his holy heaven
with the saving power of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
8 They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.
9 O LORD, save the king!
Answer [a] us when we call!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Why me?
God’s sovereignty
A couple of days ago I was on the phone talking with my uncle in North Carolina. He has been a Reformed Baptist pastor and counselor for over 35 years. We were doing some “catching up” since it had been way to long since we had last talked. Much of what we did talk about was the way God preserved me and brought me through the accident and how He has used other people to touch my life and vise versa.
We talked about Romans 8:28. We also acknowledged that suffering was part of a deeper spiritual experience to draw us close to the Lord and to also prepare us for ministry to others in unique ways. We both agreed that God allows us to experience suffering so that in the end, He is glorified though us. (Got to be a maturing follower of Christ to believe that and also live it.)
I am the midst of walking through this valley of physical suffering but after I hung up I realized that my uncle and his family have suffered emotionally and spiritually far beyond my present sufferings.
You see my uncle has already lost two sons. The first one died shortly after birth roughly 50 years ago. The second one died just a few years ago in his 20’s in an automobile accident just a few weeks before he was to be married. He was in the prime of life and he died. I’m soon to be 56 and I didn’t die.
Now my uncle never lamented with me that life is unfair. Rather he acknowledged that we are in the hands of an awesome God who loves us and is always at work in the circumstances of our lives for our good and His Glory. My uncle is not bitter but instead is surrendered to God’s will and trusts, even joyfully, that He must be in control if He really is God. He knows he will see his sons again someday. He knows, like myself, that there is meaning to what I am going through.
But still there are the unanswered questions. Why were my cousin’s epic journeys shorter than mine? What things am I left on earth to accomplish still?
In Ephesians 2 it states we are saved for the purpose of doing good works. That doesn’t mean saved from car wrecks but to be saved from judgment and to live with Christ in all eternity. And those who are saved have a purpose: doing the good works, while still here on earth. Not that those works have the power to save us (earn our salvation) but they are our mission as saved people.
So what is my unfinished business since I didn’t depart that day? I don’t exactly know but I do know that staying the course, being obedient to His ways and His statutes, being obedient to sharing my faith, and being available to be used by Him will all lead to the answers to my questions . . . someday.
Stay close to Jesus
Bob
A couple of days ago I was on the phone talking with my uncle in North Carolina. He has been a Reformed Baptist pastor and counselor for over 35 years. We were doing some “catching up” since it had been way to long since we had last talked. Much of what we did talk about was the way God preserved me and brought me through the accident and how He has used other people to touch my life and vise versa.
We talked about Romans 8:28. We also acknowledged that suffering was part of a deeper spiritual experience to draw us close to the Lord and to also prepare us for ministry to others in unique ways. We both agreed that God allows us to experience suffering so that in the end, He is glorified though us. (Got to be a maturing follower of Christ to believe that and also live it.)
I am the midst of walking through this valley of physical suffering but after I hung up I realized that my uncle and his family have suffered emotionally and spiritually far beyond my present sufferings.
You see my uncle has already lost two sons. The first one died shortly after birth roughly 50 years ago. The second one died just a few years ago in his 20’s in an automobile accident just a few weeks before he was to be married. He was in the prime of life and he died. I’m soon to be 56 and I didn’t die.
Now my uncle never lamented with me that life is unfair. Rather he acknowledged that we are in the hands of an awesome God who loves us and is always at work in the circumstances of our lives for our good and His Glory. My uncle is not bitter but instead is surrendered to God’s will and trusts, even joyfully, that He must be in control if He really is God. He knows he will see his sons again someday. He knows, like myself, that there is meaning to what I am going through.
But still there are the unanswered questions. Why were my cousin’s epic journeys shorter than mine? What things am I left on earth to accomplish still?
In Ephesians 2 it states we are saved for the purpose of doing good works. That doesn’t mean saved from car wrecks but to be saved from judgment and to live with Christ in all eternity. And those who are saved have a purpose: doing the good works, while still here on earth. Not that those works have the power to save us (earn our salvation) but they are our mission as saved people.
So what is my unfinished business since I didn’t depart that day? I don’t exactly know but I do know that staying the course, being obedient to His ways and His statutes, being obedient to sharing my faith, and being available to be used by Him will all lead to the answers to my questions . . . someday.
Stay close to Jesus
Bob
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