It is no secret the church is under siege. The world and its prince are hard at work in persecuting the saints. The time to dig in and stand firm is now, but what do you do when in the trenches you feel the Lord has abandoned you, is delaying your healing or even help. What are we to make of these moments that make us furious, wanting to shout, “Lord! Don’t you see I am already suffering for your name?! Why is your presence so far from me? Why are others being healed but I am still waiting?! Why won’t you help me? Your servant.” I know how to frame those sentences because I’ve been there too, even recently. Why does it seem God is so far away in these troubles? What happened to “my power is manifest in weakness,”? I am weak, please, show yourself!
The answer I have found is we arn’t looking carefully enough. We only want to see the answer we want to see. If God chooses another way to help, it often is ignored or decried. I’ll give a recent experience someone I know had. They had just gotten cleaned up after having had urine stinking clothes for weeks, and then the same thing happened, they were unable to get to the bathroom in time and soiled their new clothes. Now the first reaction was atypical for the caretaker of this person, “Why God? Where is your favor. Why did this happen.” Well upon closer inspection, a maid at the hotel gave this caretaker a roll of clean trash bags, which now can be used for the soiled clothes, a pay check came and made buying new clothes an option, and the caretaker had gotten the notion to by a special scented cleaning wipe before the accident happened. All of these things were God intervening, giving the maid the unction to give trash bags to the caretaker, the money for new clothes coming in, and the caretaker buying the right wipes for the clean up.
That’s the problem, we want tp see God step in and sweep away the mess like when we were kids and our parents cleaned up our meal messes. But when you mature, things become communal and greater responsibility resides on us. Its not that God is afar, we have failed to look how he’s stepping in. If we would take off our tunnel vision and cease the tantrums, we can see The Holy Trinity at work.
You may say that’s great and all, but why is he delaying my healing or help? This isn’t an issue of tunnel vision. To that I say God has a reason. There was a story on the 700 Club of a man who had a horrible stroke. He was admitted to a hospital, and his family prayed in the waiting room, suddenly people all over the hospital got healed. The man also got healed, but if he had ‘t had the trouble, the stroke, all those other people wouldn’t have had their miracles. Its hard to step out of our own problems, and see that the Lord may have you in a season of waiting not because He doesn’t care, but because He cares about others your life is going to touch; for we are living gospels. I am not saying God made you sick or hurt yoy, but the circumstance can be used to heal more than just you.
Perhaps you still decry, “I’m terminal! I am dying! How is that for my good or other’s good!” To that I say death was not sown by God, but by our ancestors Adam and Eve who chose death in the Garden of Eden and placed this planet in a state of entropy and decay, “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.” (Romans 8:18-23). If your faith is in Christ you shall not die, but go to be with the Author of life, “So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:20-26). Death loses its sting if you trust Christ, because He came to break the power of eternal death, and death, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.” (Hebrews 2:14-25). In the end only Jesus can call you home, only He holds the keys, “But Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (Revelation 1:17-18). If you are healed then glory be! But if you leave this world, you shall be in presence of God Almighty were there will be no more pain or tears, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4), and you shall know total acceptance, unconditional love, and joy and happiness without end; this world will seem as a dark curtain to you then. Amen.
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