What I Have Escaped

Rough Waters

The water crashes against the rocks. Over the years, the shapes of the rocks change. The boulders in our lives can thrash us to bits, but in the midst of it, the Lord’s hand steadies us. And as time passes, the rough edges of the stones smooth.

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Isaiah 43:2

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.

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A family in my church gave birth to a little girl with Down’s syndrome. She also had cancer. The family spent months in the hospital with her. At the same time, the young dad, in his thirties if that, had two strokes a month apart. His wife thought he couldn't survive. Or, if he did, she envisioned an overwhelming future of care for her daughter and her husband.

The Lord did miracles in these lives. The young man not only survived, but he went back to work months later. The only problem I know of:  he had double-vision for a while. I listened, amazed, as he spoke to a young international couple in Spanish—not his native language. It seemed impossible that he even spoke English after his ordeal.

The little girl, free of cancer--though it might return--and a happy little person, high-fives and fist-bumps everyone.

They weathered this period by clinging to the Lord--their life raft. The rough waters continued for months. Surely that time hung over them endlessly. Life happens a  minute at a time and those minutes pile up until you can't see over them. 

But they end. Life moves on. And we appreciate the good God gives us more because we spent a period without it. When Winter ends, how beautiful are the Spring flowers.

Dear Lord, please let me trust you, knowing the raging waters in my life will smooth out my personality and character to make me more in Your image.

Painting by Charles Vickery (1913-1998), Gallery

Miracles. We're Not in Heaven Yet.

Miracles often result from tragedy—an impossible healing. A mangled car that the driver and passengers escape without a mark. Salvation and a turned around life. A man raised from the dead ...

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John 12:10-11

But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

Luke 16:19-21

Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table;

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Lazarus takes up little space in the Bible, but his life carries a big message. The Bible gives no information on Lazarus other than Jesus called him from the tomb. And his crime—living—caused the Sanhedrin (Jewish leaders) to put a price on his head. He embarrassed them. It became harder to deny the power of Christ.

He might have wished the Lord left him in the tomb.

Jesus taught the parable of a rich man and a beggar who sat at his gate. The beggar went to heaven and the rich man entered hell. Jesus’ parables give many lessons. For my purposes, let’s discuss the name the Lord gave the man. He called him Lazarus. Did He refer to the same Lazarus? No other parable names names. Do you know the name of the woman at the well? Or the Good Samaritan?

Lazarus wasn’t a common name. John, Judas, even Jesus had namesakes. Nowhere in the Bible do we see another Lazarus. So, did the Lord prophecy the end of Lazarus’ life? The Chief Priest planned to have Lazarus killed to squelch knowledge of Christ’s miracle. Was Lazarus called out of the tomb to end as a starving beggar? A fugitive?

God honored Mary by allowing her to carry His son—miracle of miracles. Several months later she bounced along behind Joseph to Jerusalem riding a donkey: a miserable trip for a pregnant woman.

God’s perfect will doesn’t assure a perfect life. And miracles by definition are rare. 

Sometimes the Lord opens the waters. Sometimes He teaches you to swim. Sometimes He doesn’t.

Dear Lord, thank you for showing us Your power and grace through miracles.

 

Painting: John Everett Millais (London, 1800s)

Out of the Quagmire: Leap and Praise God!

Acts 3:6-8

But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” ⁷ And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. ^8 [c]With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

Peter couldn’t give the beggar money, but he gave him something better. He restored his legs, and the beggar walked.

What a moment. Unable even to rise, and then in a blink, you’re off the ground, and moving the withered legs, now full and strong. Ecstatic, you leap and praise God.

This terrible condition that wrecked your life, disappears.

Disabilities of every kind sap our strength and spirit: not all of them physical. Mental illness or addictions rule us, destroying God’s best will for our lives and crushing our capabilities.

In His three-year ministry, Jesus healed infirmity daily. He healed Mary Magdalene of seven demons: one sentence in the Bible, but a woman transformed.

Nowhere does the Bible describe her demons and writers have taken liberties to twist what they might have been. But she became one of the Lord’s most faithful disciples and gave financial support to His ministry.

Addictions lead people to carry out acts inconsistent with decency. I’m convinced most crimes and abuse of children and spouses happen under the influence of something.

But addiction often sends us into the arms of the Lord. We can’t stand our life. So we plead for release. “God, if You exist, please deliver me. I can’t go on.” As the Lord takes us into His kingdom, your spirit soars and you (at least figuratively) leap and praise God. The self-sufficiency of so-called good people builds a barrier. They’re doing fine by themselves. They don’t need God.

And that’s one reason bad things happen to good people. God WILL get your attention.

Don’t despise your past. It brought you to salvation, and it led you to empathy for others who suffer as you did. It might lead you to your life’s work, helping those still living as you did.

Dear Lord, Thank You for the pain that brought me to salvation. And thank You that You are living and real.

 

Nicholas Poussin Painting 1655 Saints Peter and John Healing the Lame Man

Fine Arts America