The week is not yet halfway through and I’ve been welcomed into the lives of a handful of friends who are groaning with burdens: two of my sisters in Christ are caring for their fathers who are gravely ill, one near death and perhaps already gone as I write these words. There is also a married couple who are battling the discouraging wear and tear on their marriage after years of strained communication. I looked into the watery eyes of a brother who has a close friend married to a woman who has lost several of her limbs through an infectuous disease. Amy tells me of a young boy, the son of a missionary in Europe, who has been in the hospital for months fighting for his little life. When I am allowed entrance into stories like theirs and as I remain connected to my own challenges…I have a growing sense of our desperate need for God’s mercy and grace. On good days I am fully aware that I have what I need.
“God supplies perfectly measured grace to meet the needs of the godly. For daily needs there is daily grace; for sudden needs, sudden grace; for overwhelming need, overwhelming grace. God’s grace is given wonderfully, but not wastefully; freely but not foolishly; bountifully but not blindly.” – John Blanchard
My thoughts are purposefully limited today as I really don’t wish to lend too many of my own words. You and I need to hear God’s voice today and every day. We spend so much time seeking to make sense of things and struggle to give in to the admission that our limited understanding is not sufficient to unscrew the inscrutable. Many days are indeed found to be like disjointed pieces of a massive puzzle. We wish for everything to fit together nicely so we can fold it in squares and neatly tuck it into our pocket. We crave manageability in life. Yet your life is thorny and tangled at times – the bad hitchhikes onto the good and we have to take them as a package deal. For your overwhelmed moments there is a Savior who is moved with the feeling of your weakness (Hebrews 4:15). When emotional pains and burdening sorrow feels like it may crush you, we have a Lord who once declared His own soul to be exceedingly sorrowful (Mark 14:34). When we are forced by circumstances to deal with that which looms much larger than us, when we feel that all our choices have been removed, when the valley can no longer be avoided or denied…our Redeemer knows this experience because He made Himself obedient unto death which had no legitimate authority over Him (Philippians 2:8). He is not merely aware of what you are facing in those dreadful seasons of life, He has experienced the same to a much more intense degree. This is why the Scripture says that He is able to help those who are in the temptation of their own trying hours (Hebrews 2:18).
You have what you need to press on, weary saint. There really is grace for you today. He is actually available, involved, invested, and in motion on your behalf this very moment. Close your eyes, breath deeply in the quiet for a few moments. Exhale. Receive His mercy and grace, His comfort and compassion. Release. Now thank Him by faith that He is well able to help you. Able. Willing. Present.
You have what you need today.
My dear Pastor,
Even though it took me till late in the day to read this blog, its what I need at this time. When I hear of all of the distress that others are in, I realize that mine is not nearly as devistating as I thought they were. I am committed to prayer when I hear of those in such sad situations. I don’t really know why I thought I was discouraged when all it takes is to ask my Heavenly Father to remove my dark devistating feelings.. As always, even though I don’t often tell you so, your blogs are so important to me.