The Works of God

Matthew Henry, writing his commentary on John 9:3:

God has a sovereignty over all his creatures and an exclusive right in them, and may make them serviceable to his glory in such a way as he thinks fit, in doing or suffering; and if God be glorified, either by us or in us, we were not made in vain. This man was born blind, and it was worth while for him to be so, and to continue thus long dark, that the works of God might be manifest in him.

Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible, John 9.

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I don’t have a top ten list of anything.  There were too many instances of God’s help and kindness – Paul’s seizures coming under control, my dad’s heart issue being dealt with, Mike Beates’ book, the vote on Pastor Jason, the long-anticipated vacation in Colorado, the Desiring God disability conference, etc., etc.

But there was a special moment or, more accurately, 10 minutes, when I felt the presence and pleasure of the Holy Spirit as his word was spoken back to him by a young women who has lived her entire life with disabilities.

As Krista spoke her opening sentences, I knew the many prayers offered for the conference and for her talk were about to be answered:

People ask me how I live with disability.
How do I live with disability?
How do I live with Apert Syndrome?

. . .My parents and my pastor told me to keep looking in the Bible.
That’s where I would find answers.
And they helped me to see things that I was missing.
They helped me see that God tells the truth.
So I keep listening to him.
He opens the eyes of my heart and I believe.
I trust him and his words.
God says beautiful things to me.
Listen.

It would be an easy mistake to say Krista did a great job (though she did) and leave the emphasis there.  That would not honor Krista at all because that wasn’t the point of her talk.  She was helping us see God more clearly. The power was in the God-given faith that God’s promises are true and have relevance to every moment of every day.

I also had a great vantage point:

Watching her intently are Mary and Bob Horning (her mother and father), Pastor John, and Greg Lucas.

So, that is my top moment of 2012.  God was kind to give it:

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The God who creates some to live with disability:

Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? (Exodus 4:11 ESV)

Is the same God who intends for those living with disability to do the work God has given them to do:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

So, Christ’s church should be actively preparing everyone, disabled and non-disabled, to serve using the gifts God has given them!

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Along with a Bible reading plan, I also highly recommend a good study Bible.  For example, this was from my reading on December 3 from Habakkuk 3:

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
(Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV)

The meaning is plain from the text.  But there is more, and my ESV Study Bible helped me see it:

Anticipating great destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, Habakkuk has radically changed-he began by informing God how to run his world, and ended by trusting that God knows best and will bring about justice. Though the fig tree should not blossom. Verse 17 contains a frequently quoted list of material disasters in which all crops and livestock are lost, and as a result it is unclear there will be food to eat. Yet even amid suffering and loss, Habakkuk has learned he can trust God, and with that trust comes great joy, not in circumstances but in God himself: yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Yahweh has become Habakkuk’s strength (see Ps. 18:32, 39).

ESV Study Bible, Crossway Bibles, p. 1727.

“Yet even amid suffering and loss, Habakkuk has learned he can trust God, and with that trust comes great joy, not in circumstances but in God himself.” Of course it is in the text, but I missed it!  I’m grateful for good tools that help me see and think on and enjoy more of what God’s word has for us.

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God has specifically warned against abusing those who live with disability, even reminding us who we should fear:

You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:14 ESV)

Those who kill smaller human beings who are disabled or sick, those unborn or newly born, through active means like surgical instruments or passive means like starving them to death, all share one characteristic: they are stronger than the human beings they are killing.

We need to warn them.  God sees everything:

The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
(Psalm 33:13-15 ESV)

In this Advent season, we can be lulled into thinking of Jesus in limited ways. Pastor Jason pointed out yesterday that the picture of a cute, helpless little baby in a manger is grossly inadequate.  He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords, and there is more to him than just mercy:

I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the forehead of Moab
and break down all the sons of Sheth.
(Numbers 24:17 ESV)

In fact, he is so fearsome that the strong and powerful will hope to be crushed by mountains rather than face him:

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”  (Revelation 6:15-17 ESV)

He is coming. Every evil done to every child with a disability will end.  We must warn them, and ask God to give us a heart to do so.

Or at least I need to ask God to do so in my heart, because warning isn’t usually my thought for people who kill and abuse our children.

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