"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10)
Some who used to receive my devotionals no longer do. Some have asked to be taken off, others just put them on "spam" or some other elimination site. I understand. My attempt to deal with reality is just not some people's "cup of tea." But can I say that facing life as it is, not as I want it to be, has helped me to endure through some dark periods in life. When I stood at the grave of Stephen, that was not what I wanted from life. All the people we had prayed for and were healed were not there, but somehow they "stood" there that day and mocked me. We discovered his sickness less than two months after Andrew was born. When Andrew was born, I was delighted. I had two boys, playing catch, throwing the football, scouts, any dad knows what I mean. Stephen had a love for Jesus. Even when he could barely walk after the surgery, he went once with me to the hospital to visit a man in our congregation. He was not allowed to go upstairs to see the man, but said, "That's okay; I'll be alright here." When I came down, he said to me, and these were his exact words, "I was praising the Lord for that man." When I asked why, he responded, "The Lord healed him."
39 years have come and gone and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him. When I would be studying for exams or doing a term paper and he wanted me to play with him, he would just stand around waiting until I was finished. He would follow me around the church building while I would be praying. At just four years of age he once said to me, "I was praying like that the other day." If this depresses you, please forgive me. It is my testimony. It has enabled me to say with Paul, "when I am weak, then I am strong." There is a power of faith, a confidence in Jesus Christ I have now that I did not have before those "infirmities" and "distresses." The root word for, "infirmities," means, "feebleness, strengthlessness." The word for, "distresses," means, "narrowness (from obstacles standing close about)." That describes it perfectly. Yet I can say that when the walls seem to be closing in on you so that you can hardly breathe, the Breath of God breathes this word, "Then [you are] strong!!"
I heard an East Texas rancher say once that when a powerful storm is approaching, all the animals of the desert flee for cover. The eagle, however, goes to the highest point, puts his face into the approaching storm and spreads his wings When the storm hits, that eagle just rises above it. Our ability to do this is not in our strength, but in our weakness, because what the enemy and the world calls a storm is for the Believer in Jesus the Breath of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit. You and I have no strength for the battle. King Jesus does, because "surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." Now, face that storm and spread those wings.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I have no strength, no righteousness, no goodness, nothing apart from You, but I thank You so much today that You "supply all my need according to your riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Amen.
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* Be sure to read Pat Buchanan's article on "The Apologists" at:
"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
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