8-9-21<\/p>\n
God can do many things \u2013 in fact He can do ALL things \u2013 but sometimes He chooses not to. Certainly not according to our schedules. We have desires, but God knows our needs.<\/p>\n
When our prayers become demands, our hopeful perception of God might become that of an all-powerful wielder of a magic wand. The Holy Spirit is there to nudge us back to spiritual humility \u2013 the realization that God answers prayer on His time\u2026 or in ways we didn\u2019t prescribe\u2026 or sometimes with a \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simply, God is sovereign. The fervent prayers of righteous people avail much, yes. Yet our priorities must be to bow to His will, not persuade Him of our views.<\/p>\n
God forbid. And He does.<\/p>\n
Yet many prayers are answered. Yet we pray in the Spirit. Yet we are told to pray without ceasing. Welcome to the wonderful waters of God\u2019s love \u2013 water as a Type of His Holy Spirit; waters where we may bathe and be cleansed; living waters we can drink, never to thirst again. But\u2026 mysterious waters they are.<\/p>\n
Very recently some of my dear friends have encountered challenges and crises of the sort that sometime cause skeptics to scoff at believers.<\/p>\n
We regard God as a good-luck charm, scoffers say. We mostly pray when things go bad, they say. Our \u201ctrust\u201d gets shaky when things we desire do not materialize, they say. We rely on feelings, not faith, they say.<\/p>\n
What \u201cthey say\u201d is too often true of Christians! Can we blame them if they see too many instances of inconsistent faith? Some of the rotten timbers of modern life are \u201coutcome-based\u201d assessments, performance, marketing, ethics, and education. No right, no wrong, only judge by results\u2026 which means, of course, pre-determined goals. Outcome-based.<\/p>\n
God doesn\u2019t work that way (and neither should we).<\/p>\n
But as pilgrims and strangers going through life, we see the rain fall on the just and the unjust. We see sinners prosper. Yes, we seek to please God and not humankind; yes, we know our rewards are in Heaven. But, back to my anguished point, do the righteous have to suffer so much? Is God letting His children (or us, as observers \u2013 let\u2019s be honest about our reactions) down?<\/p>\n
Not that it would be gossip, but I will refer obliquely to some friends\u2019 recent situations; their identities do not matter. God knows them.<\/p>\n
A dear friend who has written a book and built a ministry around coping with a spouse\u2019s fatal disease\u2026 has now contracted that disease too. Three different friends who seemed to have \u201c1950s-TV perfect families\u201d are dealing with ugly ruptures. A new friend shared the horror of her parents being murdered, and a few years later her daughter shot to death. A friend, the picture of health and activity, pillar of his church and a great husband and father, underwent emergency heart surgery\u2026<\/p>\n
I know that this could evolve into a contest of tales of people we all know, or of ourselves. My point is not how unfair these events are, or how rare. My point is that they are indeed common.<\/p>\n
My point is also that such \u201crain\u201d that falls into our lives should not make us shrink, or fade, or wilt. It is not WHAT happens to us in life, but HOW we deal with things, that matters.<\/p>\n
I have shared, here, that my late wife endured trials in her life that would have tested Job, as the saying goes. Job, that is, if he were very sick. Nancy had diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, cancer, celiac disease, went virtually blind (before miraculous healing), broken bones, amputations, heart transplant, and kidney transplant. By God\u2019s grace her faith was strong, and she could say through it all, \u201cI would not choose to go through it again\u2026 but I would not trade the experiences for anything.\u201d Why? How?<\/p>\n
Her faith grew; her witness \u2013 an example to others \u2013 was strong; and she learned to lean on God.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes Jesus care?\u201d is a question that to those crazy skeptics is at once pertinent, and irrelevant. In a world where we might be surrounded by a cloud of close friends, family, prayer warriors, medical experts, therapists \u2013 you name it \u2013 I\u2019m afraid we can also feel VERY alone in times of crisis.<\/p>\n
No offense to all those people, but humanity has limits. I believe God has programmed Life so that, at the most difficult moments, where can we turn but to the Lord?
\n\u201cCaring\u201d is a buzzword that can be as counterfeit as it is facile. A substitute for action, assistance, succor, substantial resources\u2026 and even then, with human limits. When Jesus cares \u2013 I mean, when we KNOW He cares, because He always does \u2013 we have peace that passes understanding; health to our spirits maybe more than our bodies; an ever-present help in times of trouble.<\/p>\n
Knowing that the Creator of the Universe cares, really cares, about you, puts everything else in proper perspective.<\/p>\n