Prayerful Pondering

by Pat Luffman Rowland

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I don’t remember a time I didn’t believe in God or know that Jesus was His Son and our Savior, but I made my profession of faith and was baptized at age 12. I’ll never forget the experience of understanding I was the Lord’s! The sun became ten times brighter and it was as if I could hear angels singing. It was a supremely joyful moment. And I can still “see” my immersion baptism in the small Baptist church as if I were looking on. With certainty and gratitude, I can declare that God has never failed me, even though I have failed Him many times over. God has blessed me with family and friends, opportunities and health, freedom and education. He has been ever faithful and I look forward to the day when I can bow at the feet of Jesus and thank Him for His unconditional love that has made all the difference. I have an undergraduate degree in Healthcare Consumer Relations and a master’s in Religious Studies. In 1990, I received the designation of Fellow with the National Society of Patient Representation and Consumer Affairs of the American Hospital Association. I worked for 27 years in healthcare, retiring as Corporate Director of Patient Affairs with Methodist Healthcare in Memphis, TN in 1998. A major part of my career was teaching about patient concerns and needs, their rights, and ethical matters of healthcare. I taught through writing, as well as speaking from coast to coast. For several years, I authored a byline, Patient Perspective, for a healthcare journal. Other publications include Tennessee Hospital Association newsletter, Marketing Perspective, nursing and pharmacy newsletters. I received a writing award from the American Hospital Association in 1990. There are three things in my life that I count the most rewarding: my work with the mentally challenged from 1978-1983, my healthcare days establishing and directing patient advocacy for a large healthcare system, and my present work as a reading tutor. Most of my writings at present are devotional in nature. Devotional publications include Upper Room, Presbyterian Daily, and on my church website, www.famemphis.net. I am retired and live in a suburb of Memphis with my cat Chloe. My daughter and son-in-law, Kristi and Mark Hearn, live in Georgia and are the delights of my heart. Additionally, I am blessed with a spiritual family, Son (Tim) and Hien-Anh (Hannah) Le, their children, Rachel, Rebecca, and Esther, and Hannah’s mother, Phuong Hong. I am active in my church, First Assembly Memphis, and tutor second graders at First Assembly Christian School (FACS).

  • Deaf and Mute Man

    Mark 7:32-37

    “Again He went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. They brought to Him one who was deaf and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him” (Mark 7:31-32 NAS).

    Jesus_the_Healer005When this story takes place, Jesus has already healed many and word has quickly spread. People who had seen or heard of His miracles must have talked about them constantly. Surely there was not a day that went by that they were not discussed and marveled over. Can you imagine what it would mean to be in need of healing and hear that there was one who was able to heal every need, no matter how long-standing or serious? That there was nothing impossible with this man named Jesus? He could touch a person or simply speak a word, and people were made whole.

    I like the way the New Living Translation (NLT) words Mark 7:33: “Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers, he touched the man’s tongue.” I like the NLT version because it makes it very clear that Jesus wanted to be alone with the man, to get him away from all distractions so he could focus on the One who would heal him. Think about the noise of the crowd and their shuffling for space to get a clear view of what was sure to be another miracle.  Since the man could not hear, he would have to be very centered on Jesus to understand what was happening. And Jesus had more for him than bodily healing and He didn’t want the deaf and dumb man to miss it. He had the greatest gift of all–healing for his soul.

    This healing involved more outward actions than usual.  He may have put his fingers in the man’s ears to let him know what was about to happen—that He was going to open them. He may have touched the man’s tongue with His sacred saliva to indicate power would leave His body and flow into the man’s body. Whatever His reasons, we can agree with The Pulpit Commentary: “We may be assured that, in the case before us, these signs used by our Lord were intended to awaken the afflicted man’s faith, and to stir up in him the lively expectation of a blessing.”

    There was one other case of healing where the healing was of one both deaf and dumb (or mute). It was of a demon-possessed boy, told in Mark 9:14-29. In verse 25, it says this: “When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, He rebuked the evil spirit. ‘Listen, you spirit that makes this boy unable to hear and speak,’ He said. ‘I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again’” (NLT)!  This was one of the many healings of demon possession and that topic will have separate coverage.

    Were both situations caused by evil spirits? I don’t think so. Scripture says Jesus spoke to a spirit in the child–a demonic possession. There was nothing in the first  healing that indicates it was anything but a physical abnormality. He simply touched the man’s ears and tongue and he was healed.

    Writing about the man deaf and dumb reminds me of a personal experience. Quite a few years ago, I served as the church director for the Exceptional Department, a ministry for mentally challenged adults. Most of the men and women lived in group homes with house parents and the house-mother from a home called one day saying one of the women there, Margie, wanted to talk with me about Jesus. The Holy Spirit was moving through the Exceptional Department, as one and then another wanted to profess faith in Jesus and be baptized. Now Margie was asking for that same thing. I knew Margie’s father was still alive so I asked the house-mother what he thought about this. She said she had talked with him and he very much wanted Margie to have this chance to talk to me about her understanding of Jesus. Margie wasn’t deaf, but she did suffer from a speech impairment so severe I could hardly understand a word she said. This caused me great concern on how we would communicate. Certainly, I prayed about our coming time together, but when I got to the house, I asked Margie if Sandy could meet with us and help me if there was anything I couldn’t understand. Sandy had just a mild disability and she was a favorite friend of Margie’s. Margie quickly nodded her head that it would be fine for her to join us.  However, on that day, Jesus opened my ears just like He did the man of Mark 7:32. For I understood perfectly every word Margie said, and there in her room, she gave her heart to the Lord. That was a day I stood on holy ground.

  • Woman with High Fever

    Here we have the report of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law being very ill with a fever. If her fever had been a simple one, I don’t think Luke, a physician, would have bothered to record it as one of Jesus’ healings. Luke defined the fever as a high one (v38). That this woman’s fever was also reported by Matthew and Mark, supports that her fever was serious and not responding to other attempts of intervention. The New Living Translation of Luke 4:38 says “After leaving the synagogue that day, Jesus went to Simon’s home, where he found Simon’s mother-in-law very sick with a high fever. ‘Please heal her,’ everyone begged.” Note again that this was a Sabbath healing, which the Pharisees taught was forbidden because it was work. But Jesus came to fulfill the law and the law was to do good when and where good was needed.

    When my daughter was four or five, she had hallucinations from a high fever. I remember Kristi giggling, saying she saw pigs on my nose. High fevers can be common in small children and they should not go untreated, but high fever in an adult is far more serious. High fever in an adult is over 104 F or a fever of 102 F for more than two days. Left untreated for an extended time, brain damage can occur. So here we have a woman in dire need of healing and Jesus provided that. “Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them” (v39 NLT).

    I love that extra punch the Lord gives His healings. This woman could have been deemed healed by an immediate cooling of body temperature. Perhaps she was thrashing about in misery or unable to think and speak clearly, and that went away. But verse 38 says Simon’s mother-in-law “got up at once and prepared a meal for them.”  She was infused with immediate strength and clarity of mind. That is the excitement of the Lord’s healing!

    There is also a lesson for us in how the healed woman responded. She served. When we receive a great blessing from the Lord, our first thought should be of service, too.

    Clark’s Commentary on the Bible (see note on Matthew 8:14-17) says “as soon as Peter began to follow Christ, his family began to benefit by it” (see note on Matthew 8:14-17). Clark says “One person full of faith and prayer may be the means of drawing down innumerable blessings on his family and acquaintance.”

    Jes_heals_Peter's_Mth-in-law_C-427Courtesy of Ultimate Bible Picture Collection

  • Man with Withered Hand

    I once heard a missionary tell of watching an arm grow back due to a new believer’s faith. It happened in a country where faith was new and pure. When they came to believe in God, they believed every word of the Bible along with it. Faith like this provides a means for miracles that few of us know anything about.

    I try to imagine what it would be like to see such a miracle; the one sure thing I know is I believe it happened just as the missionary said. I believe not just based on her reputation, but that Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. We have the promise of nothing changing with Him. He is as able and willing today as in Bible times. How I would love to have the uncomplicated faith of those natives that believe without a single doubt!

    F. F. Bosworth in his book, Christ the Healer, quoted John Wesley (page 178) as saying “The prayer of faith and process of healing in the Church was lost through unbelief. Prayers now are more often for the stricken individual to bear the illness with patience and fortitude.”

    Every time we doubt, we move a step away from receiving the very thing we ask of Him.

    Man with withered hand (Matthew 12:9-14)
    “A man was there who had a withered hand. And they (Pharisees) asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” so that they could accuse him” (v10).

    This man was in the temple to hear Jesus teach. His hand was deformed and Jesus took notice. The man probably had no use of it at all. When the Pharisees saw that Jesus noticed him, knowing He could heal the man, they immediately questioned Jesus about the law, hoping to find a reason to accuse Him of doing wrong. Jesus responded: “Would not any one of you, if he had one sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and it was restored, as healthy as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, as to how they could assassinate him.” (vv11-14). It is difficult to understand how anyone could be angry about a miraculous healing, but the Pharisees knew they were being challenged.

    Jesus performed seven healings on the Sabbath: This man with the withered hand, the lame man by the Pool of Bethesda, Peter’s mother-in-law with a fever, a man born blind, the woman bent over, a man with dropsy, and a man who was demon possessed. Each time, the Pharisees angrily accused Him of wrong doing because it didn’t conform with the law as they understood and taught it. Repeatedly, Jesus tried to show them that good was to be done on the Sabbath or any other day when someone was in need. They tested Him on the letter of the law, but He tested them on the heart of the law. And they failed the test.

    The Pharisees were letting pride get in their way. They were pompous and unyielding. To go against their teaching was to attack their self-importance. Here was the Living Word of God right in their midst and they were so filled with arrogance and superiority, they couldn’t see Him.

    Does it not give us pause to ask what blinders we may have on when we fail to act in the mercy of the Lord?

    Scripture references used are from the New English Translation.

  • Healing of Chronic Afflictions

    Some of those healed by Jesus had afflictions of long duration: a woman with a 12 year hemorrhage, another bent over for 18 years, and a man who had been an invalid for 38 years.

    Healed from 12-year hemorrhage
    (Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, and Luke 8:43-48)
    Mark 5:26 says “She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.”  Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible says her suffering would have been from the various medicines tried on her, causing her nausea and perhaps, pain. Some of the medicinal plants rabbis recorded were gum of Alexandria, alum, saffron, Persian onions, and cumin; they were put into wine and drank.

    A continuing loss of blood surely caused the woman to be tired and weak, and with certainty, she would have been ostracized by the Jewish community—seen as one unclean. Because she had spent all she had trying to get well, she now lived in poverty; she had no more money for seeking help.

    Then she hears about a man named Jesus who heals. She determines to get close enough to touch Him, believing that alone will heal her.  She believes in His healing power because she first believes that this is the one who Isaiah said would come and heal—it is Christ!

    woman healedSomehow she manages to push through the throngs of people surrounding Jesus. She gets close enough to reach just the edge of His clothing, but with that single touch she is healed (see Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:29, or Luke 8:44). To know immediately that she was healed, she must have felt a surge of strength, the release of nausea and pain, something different from what she had felt in all these years. Jesus knows that power has gone out of Him and asks who touched Him; the woman falls at His feet and confesses. And Jesus says to her as He did to the others, it is because of her faith that she is healed (see Mark 5:34).  We need to bury that deep inside of us: God’s healing always requires faith.

    Healed from being bent over 18 years (Luke 13:10-17)
    Anything Luke writes about the healings of Jesus is of particular interest because he was a physician. He would have asked for details, questioned extensively, and been satisfied in his mind of what was being reported. Luke reports his findings to Theophilus, his friend, and a man of high rank in the Roman world, perhaps a governor over provinces. In his gospel letter, Luke says in verse 3 that he has “carefully investigated everything from the beginning.” A physician doesn’t deal with anything but fact.

    Luke is the only one who tells about the woman who was “bent double,” as some translations say. He says she has been disabled for 18 years. When her healing came, she woman was in the synagogue hearing Jesus teach. So here we know of her faith. She had come to hear the Master teach, not to seek healing. But when Jesus notices her, He felt compassion for her, and he set her free from the horrible bent over condition, and immediately, she stands upright. Jesus said Satan had kept her bound like this; why, it is not said.

    A healing such as this should be reason for excitement, and those around her were. All but the temple ruler, that is. He was outraged because healing took place on the Sabbath. He should have been bowing before the long-awaited Messiah, thanking God that He had finally come, and delighted to see firsthand His miracles, but he was blinded by his pride. His ego stood in the way of truth.  It reminds me of what a friend used to say about his opinionated mother: “Don’t confuse her with facts, her mind is made up.”

    Healed after being an invalid for 38 years (John 5:5-9)
    We don’t know what made this man an invalid. Verse 3 of the NIV translation said those gathered at the pool by the Sheep Gate were the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. Other translations mention withered limbs. Whatever the man’s illness, he needed help to get into the pool that was believed to bring healing when the waters were stirred.

    Jesus approaches this man of long-standing disability and asks if he wants to be made well. That may seem a strange question to ask of him, but I believe the Lord wants to get the man to focus on Him. His healing will not come from the pool of water, but from the Son of God.  When the man explains that he is never able to get to the waters when they are stirred, Jesus ignores the statement and tells him to get up, take his mat, and walk.

    Again, we see immediate healing, and again, we see the ire of the Jewish leaders when they see the man carrying his mat (working), because this healing also took place on the Sabbath. The Jewish leaders had decided for themselves how the Sabbath was to be lived, and they observed it in a superstitious way. Jesus took every opportunity to convince them that they were wrong in their interpretation, but they simply could not get past their prideful law-keeping to God’s grace of healing.

    Stories of chronic illnesses being healed give hope to those with them.  For 10 years, I suffered with severe fibromyalgia. Pain and fatigue were debilitating. Social life was non-existent. I read every resource I could find on the illness and none gave hope that it could be cured. I saw different physicians and tried different medications, none of which helped. But about five years ago, my healing came and I now have no symptoms at all of fibromyalgia. It was the Lord in His mercy that healed me; there is no question in my mind.

    All scripture references are from NIV translation.

  • Healing of the Blind

    healing blind

    (Matthew 9:27-31; Mark 8:22-25; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43; John 9)

    We depend on our senses to help us through life. Only through loss can we understand the extent of their importance. The blind depend greatly on touch as a means of getting around and understanding what something is or looks like.  Because they are void of sight, their sense of hearing becomes heightened as they depend on it more than the sighted do to navigate through life.

    The two blind men of Matthew 9 couldn’t see the one who healed, but they realized who He was by listening to what others were saying—their sense of hearing was determinedly engaged. They had heard how Isaiah had said the Messiah would open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf (see Isaiah 35:5). These men, though unable to see, knew who the one standing among them was. They called Him by the messianic title, Son of David, and Jesus said to them, “According to your faith will it be done to you” (v 29).

    Bartemaeus , the blind beggar of Mark 10, also called out to the Son of David, asking for His mercy. And Jesus said “your faith has made you well” (v52). What Jesus has for us to see doesn’t require physical sight; it requires seeing Him with our heart—our faith. Just as Bartemaeus received what he needed through his faith, we receive what we need through ours. Whatever our darkness, faith in Jesus can dispel it.

    In Mark 8’s account of a blind man being healed, the healing was not instantaneous, but gradual. After the first touch, the man could see something, but he couldn’t see clearly. So Jesus touched his eyes a second time to bring about complete restoration. Ours is not a God of partial blessing, but complete. We may, at first, get only a glimpse of what the Lord has for us; through continued faith, we will eventually receive what we believe He has promised. What Jesus begins, He will always finish.

    The healing of blindness in John 9 takes on the question of who had sinned to cause the man’s blindness, the man or his parents. The Jewish people made connections between suffering and sin, so the question was typical of current opinion. But Jesus’ response gets to a higher level; He didn’t deal with what caused the blindness, whether it was by sin or not; rather, He healed the man to illuminate the power of Christ and to bring glory to God. Here is a lesson about salvation: Jesus is interested in making us whole, not focusing on our sin. He is always concerned about the greater good than pointing out someone’s faults to the satisfaction of man.

    Each of these blind men received physical and spiritual healing. It is the latter that truly sets us free.

  • Healing of Paralysis

    The gospels tell of two accounts where Jesus healed men who were paralyzed. In both stories, it is the faith of others, those aiding the ones needing to be healed, that is seen.

    Centurion’s Servant (Matthew 8:5-13, Luke 7:1-10)
    A centurion was a Roman officer who commanded one hundred men; he was in a position to recognize authority. He has obviously heard about Jesus and probably the healing of the leper. He comes seeking healing for his paralyzed servant. (King James Version calls the servant palsied, rather than paralyzed.)

    In Luke, we are told that the centurion first sent Jewish elders to Jesus to make the case for his servant. They told Jesus how this man had built a synagogue for them and he was therefore worthy to be healed. They were presenting the man worthy of being healed based on his good works. They were caught up in the law and didn’t know about a God who healed out of compassion alone. Jesus had no requirement of good works, just faith that He was who He said He was–God.

    Jesus agrees to go to the servant but before he can get there, the centurion comes to meet Him and says this, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it. (Luke 7:8-9).” Jesus’ reaction is sheer amazement and he tells those around them that in all of Israel, He has never seen so much faith. Then He says to the centurion, “’Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.’ And his servant was healed at that very hour.” (v 13)

    Let this serve to remind us of the importance of surrounding ourselves with fellow believers who have strong faith.

    Paralytic brought to Jesus on a mat (Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:17-26)
    When I heard this story growing up, I was caught by how they got the man to Jesus. He was brought on a mat (or bed) by others and when they could not get in the house where Jesus was, they went to the rooftop and lowered the crippled man on the mat down through the roof. This required taking apart a piece of the roof to make an opening (Mark 2:4, Luke 5:19). That took a fair amount of courage, I would think, to take apart someone’s roof. And it certainly took strength to take the man on his bed up to the roof and then lower him down into the house without dropping him. However, it is not about how they got the man in front of Jesus, but that they had so much faith in Jesus’ power to heal that they would not give up. Whatever it took, these men knew if they could just get the Lord to see the paralytic, he would be healed.

    Jesus responds by first recognizing the four men’s faith and then immediately follows that by telling the paralytic man his sins are forgiven. And that stirs up the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They don’t speak aloud, scripture says, but began thinking that here was a man speaking blasphemy, for as experts on the law, they knew only God could forgive sins. Jesus knew what they were thinking and turned to them and asked “Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say ‘Get up and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ‘“(Luke 5:23-24) He then told the man to get up, take his mat, and go home.

    It seems Jesus always adds a little extra when He blesses us. In this case, He didn’t give the man the ability to stand and walk in some stumbling way. He gave him immediate strength and balance, enough to walk and carry his mat. Such is the richness of God’s blessings.

    In this healing story, Jesus teaches us determination in seeking His face, and He reveals Himself to the experts of the law as God who has come in the form of man.  And one other thing not to miss: When the people saw what Jesus had done for the paralytic, they praised God!  May we, too, remember always to give God glory for what he does in our lives and the lives of others.

    All scripture references are from New International Version (NIV)       

  • Healing of Leprosy

    The healings of Jesus are told in the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the synoptic gospels because they each tell the stories of Jesus’ life and ministry with a similar view and structure. The gospel of John focuses on proving that Jesus was truly the Son of God and that through Him, all may have eternal life.

    Matthew and John were two of the Lord’s 12 disciples, so they were witnesses of Jesus’ healing miracles. They told what they personally saw and heard.

    Mark was not a disciple but his source is considered by many to have been Simon Peter, who was a disciple. In 1 Peter 5:13, Peter refers to Mark as his son (spiritual son).

    Luke, a physician and Gentile, writes his gospel from Mary’s viewpoint and confirms the tradition that Luke’s source of information was from the mother of Jesus.

    Those healed either came in faith or were presented by others who had faith that Jesus could heal. As you read in scripture the stories of healing, look for the word “faith” or its indication.

    ____________

    The first healing recorded is of a leper and that story is told in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew 8:1-4, Mark 1:40-45, Luke 5:12-16). The healing of a leper was an especially important report. A leper was an outcast of society. There was no known cure and some forms were highly contagious. A leper was removed from his family and society and was required to warn people not to touch him by crying out “Unclean, unclean.”

    In Luke 5:12, it says “a man came along who was covered with leprosy” (NIV). To be covered, would mean his disease was advanced and he likely had lost fingers, toes, or bodily tissue of some kind. His need was great, but so was his faith.

    The first thing Jesus did when the leper cried out for healing was to touch him. (Can you hear the gasp of the crowd?) “Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man” (Matthew, Mark, and Luke record this with the same words). It was an important point to make. Since his leprosy was advanced, it would have been years since this man had been touched or even acknowledged as a person. The healing Jesus provided was restorative physically and psychologically. When Jesus healed the man’s leprosy, he gave him far more than a clean and recovered body.

    Take a minute to put yourself there on that day when this man was healed and look at it from different perspectives: as an onlooker, as a disciple, as a teacher of the law caught in legalism. Finally be the leprous man and take in the wonder of your healing miracle.

    (Along with this particular man’s story, there is one other healing of leprosy told in Luke 17:12-10 and it was the healing of ten leprous men.)

  • The People Jesus Healed–Intro

    jesus111If we do not take time to dig deep into scripture, we will miss the wisdom and direction for our personal journeys.  We read the experiences of others, but there, in the midst, we find truths for ourselves.

    If we search scriptures for hidden truths, we will see how there is something there just for us, to guide us through a situation in our own life, to bring order to some confusion, to replace despair with hope and joy. Sometimes it can be found in the oddest places –because it is the work of the Holy Spirit and designed with love for that particular time in your life. We can often test that by marking a scripture with a date of revelation, then returning to that some years later and not remembering what it was that made it so meaningful to us. It is because the Lord spoke to us at a personal time of need in a very personal way.

    When we become too familiar with Bible stories, and such could be the case with the healing stories, we risk losing what may be “quieter” messages for personal revelations. We can lose intimacy with the accounts and lose personal truths just for us. What we’ve been taught by someone else is their truth passed on to us, and grateful and indebted we are for that. It is wealth untold. But never deny the Holy Spirit the opportunity to speak truth to you personally, to work in your mind and heart. Fan the flame.

    The teachings of Jesus were recorded and preserved to make His power active in our lives today. Read my notes, study scripture prayerfully, and see what the Holy Spirit speaks into your life.

    Scriptures to ground you in our study:
    The Holy Spirit reveals the truth of God. (See John 14:16-17)
    The Holy Spirit speaks about what He hears. (See John16:13-14)
    Read those scriptures as if for the first time in your life and trust them.

  • Our Creator Sets Limits

    Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, “This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt”? 

    Job 38:8-11(NIV)

    The ocean is my favorite part of nature.  I love to watch the rhythmic movement of the waves, hear the sound of them rolling into shore or crashing on rocks.  The waters have a vastness that seems wild and free, yet it is restrained by God’s command, the boundaries He set.

    How can I trust that God’s boundaries for the ocean will hold?  How can I walk by the edge of the water, and not be afraid that a boundary will give way and I will be swallowed up?   It is by faith in the One who created the seas and determined how deep and wide they would be, by faith in the One who spoke that they might come so far and no farther.

    Such is how we must trust God with the problems and perils of our lives.  Sometimes it seems trials go on forever, pile one upon another.  We begin to ask if God has forgotten us when relief is slow to come.

    It helps to think of the ocean and how God has it in control.  Just as He limits the oceans’ reach, He limits how much His children go through.  We don’t always understand our tribulations, but God has said He uses all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).  We must place our trust in that word from God.  We must trust that the same One who created the boundaries for the seas, created limits for how much happens to us.  We must trust that all will have its place in forming us for eternal life.

    The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this?  Even the winds and the waves obey him!” Matthew 8:27 (NIV)

  • Approval of God or Man?

    There is an important and revealing lesson on Christ-like behavior in Luke 7:36-50.  The caption over this section in my Bible reads “Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman.”  Before reading further, would you say the word that grabs your attention most is sinful or anointed?  I suspect it is the first, that which describes the woman.  It was so for the Pharisees, and we have enough Pharisee in all of us to do the same.

    With puffed up pride, the Pharisees stumbled that day over their own self-importance.  Smugly, they asked how Jesus could allow such a person to touch Him.  Why, here He was in this fine home, being provided what was sure to have been a sumptuous feast, and this sinful woman was spoiling it all.  And how was she spoiling it?  With her acts of humble love for the Lord!

    We have it wrong when we use man’s approval standards.  Why would we want to assess ourselves by the standards of those who are as imperfect as we are?  The only true standard we have is this:  Does my life reveal the love and humility of Jesus?

    Scriptures are to guide us.  They give examples of those who did wrong, but were forgiven and rescued by the God of Love.  We need these stories to learn of our own access to God’s forgiveness through His redeeming power.  He is the God of a second chance, a third, and a fourth.  We cannot out sin his grace.

    Scriptures are also to teach us that God desires our focus to be on the good we do and the manner in which we do it.  He doesn’t want us to over-focus on the offenses of others – or even our own.  In every temptation to criticize another, or our self, we might reflect on this:  Am I getting too caught up in anger and resentment over someone’s behavior?  Am I becoming immobilized to do good because I can’t let go of guilt over my own wrongs?  Am I thinking more like a Pharisee or Jesus?

    Thank You, Father, for the many teaching examples You have provided through your Word, that we may abide in wisdom and truth.