The Works of God

A provocative and helpful word from Nancy Guthrie.  I’m still thinking about a couple of her examples of Jesus’ humanity.

Jesus Understands Our Deepest Sorrow from Desiring God on Vimeo.

Jonathan Parnell, the young man conducting the interview, edits everything I write for the Desiring God blog.  Though not touched directly by disability in his family, he really ‘gets’ the importance and rich Biblical engagement of God and disability.  God is very kind to have brought Jonathan to Desiring God and placed him in his current position of responsibilities.

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Now that so many people are speculating that Adam Lanza lived with Asperger’s syndrome, more speculation is rising about the role of that disability and how his mother responded to it.

Speculation on top of speculation isn’t going to give us anything even approaching understanding.  I think Pastor Jason offered the best advice in his sermon when paraphrasing Dr. John Sailhamer: get your information the first two days, then turn off the TV when they start trying to interpret what happened.

I fear that the evil one will seek to use this horrible act to create even more horrible acts. In this case, I’m not speaking of violent acts, but of greater isolation for those families experiencing difficult behaviors in their children. We’re already uncomfortable with children who don’t quite fit the mold of how a child should be or behave.  But now Satan will whisper in the ears of Sunday School volunteers and pastors: you have reason to be afraid; you have reason to think they are bad parents – look at what happened in Newtown.

Dr. Steve Grcvich of Key Ministry wrote on this topic, Mental Illness and Mass Murder: Reflections from a Christian… and a Psychiatrist, in which he concluded:

Families who have kids or grown children who demonstrate some or all of the traits described above that predispose them to violent/aggressive behavior are in special need of the love of Christ, and represent a great place to start if we’re going to change the world. Nobody should feel like an outsider in the church. And yet, we’re not very good at creating environments that are welcoming to those with mental conditions that leave them isolated and friendless…and vulnerable to the effects of the evil in the world.

I don’t have the answer, but I’m pretty sure Dr. Grcvich is right.

We must pray for God to help us.

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One of the best things I started doing for my own soul was reading the Bible through in a year.

Yes, I know that is already on your list of things you know you ‘should’ do.  I really don’t mean to add a layer of guilt on your busy life.

Rather, there is good stuff in there for the sake of your joy in Jesus that the Holy Spirit seems to delight in revealing when we read his word.  Real helps and real encouragements for the real issues of the day.

I carry an iPhone with me and use Crossway’s mobile-optimized website.  Dianne has an Android device and I think she uses the mobile site as well. My middle son started in the Spring of the year this year and uses either his Bible or Dianne’s phone. He always reads ahead a day – which goes to show you can do it any way you like!

They have several reading plans, all for free at their website – mobile, print, email, iCal and RSS.

I’ve used Through the Bible in a Year this year, but I think I’ll switch back to the M’Cheyne One-Year Reading Plan in January.  I have friends who are reading through the Bible in two years, reading it chronologically, or using other methods.

The important thing is to read God’s word, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal more of God to you, and expecting that he will help you see and enjoy more of him.

And the best time to start is now.  I’m in Joel and Revelation right now, which isn’t a natural place to ‘begin’ but why not there?  God is everywhere in his word, and by January 1 you’ll have started a new habit which may feel less like obligation and more like food; something meant for your nourishment – even your survival – and for your enjoyment.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)

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Barnabas Piper had a thoughtful post this week exploring the emotional and Biblical realities of God’s sovereignty in a broken world:

A tension exists, polar truths creating a present reality. God is good. It shouldn’t be this way. God is sovereign. Bad things happen.

It reminded me of another Piper who explored the tension of ‘as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing’ earlier this year.  God provides for us in many ways, like giving Pastor John a helpful word as we live this reality of suffering and God-centered joy at the same time:

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I’ve read Aaron Armstrong’s blog, Blogging Theologically, for some time.  Yesterday was the first time I could remember his wife, Emily, blogging.

Her first sentence was powerful and immediately drew me in:

I was diagnosed with epilepsy on Friday.

Her post is a picture of a person receiving the new diagnosis that she will carry the rest of her life. Obviously there was something wrong or she wouldn’t have been meeting with doctors.  But the day the diagnosis comes is different than other days.

And unlike my own experience with my son, she received the blow by clinging to truth. After quoting from a section of the Bible that is very precious to me, Psalm 139:15-16, she wrote this:

I was intricately woven. All the days of my life have been planned. Every moment.

While this brings comfort, it also hurts. It is a strange mix of pain and awe to know that an infinitely wise God has crafted my brain just so.

Since my son also deals with seizures (none since early summer; praise God for medicine and prayer!), I’ve learned things like: 200,000 people will be diagnosed each year, and over a lifetime nearly 10% of Americans will experience a seizure.  These very large numbers can overwhelm us – what can we do?

Emily Armstrong demonstrated one thing we can do – we can prepare ourselves and our families for what God has for us, no matter what it is.  She didn’t cling to Psalm 139 in those moments after diagnosis because she accidentally opened her Bible and found it.  It was already a precious and well-known truth.

And we also don’t need to put on a false front.  It really hurts, and God is good.  Let’s be ready by lingering in God’s word, both to receive the blow and to walk, with tears of grief as well as confidence in God, with those who have received such news.

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My attempt to encourage those who don’t find this a happy time of year, posted at the Desiring God blog this past Sunday:

I know some of you are praying you’ll make it through Christmas — just make it through — not anticipating anything good will come from gathering with extended family and friends. It has become a cliche — right next to the article on what second-graders are excited about for Christmas is the article on the rise in depression during this last month of the year.

You can read the entire post here.

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Sunday was a great day.  Our Daniel turned 12.  The snow was beautiful.  We all got to church just fine.  Pastor Jason made Jesus look incredible. We barely got our van up our alley on the way home. We are safe, warm and dry (as I write this).  Hannah measured six inches of snow in our back yard and it is still coming down.

Every one of those billions of snowflakes are different.  How is that possible?

God is good.

God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’
likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.
(Job 37:5-6 ESV)

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I received this encouraging text from Jan Lacher yesterday:

Last week, Michael’s team leader approached me and said that all the leadership in Connection (Connection is the Wednesday evening service) want Michael in his class no matter how noisy he is.   I took him out at one point because he was extremely loud.  She said that when I gave my little talk to the class in the fall in what to expect with Michael, to know that when he is loud, that is just Michael and to focus on their teacher all the more.  And that is what those kids were doing-focusing on their teacher. The kids weren’t bothered at all with Michael’s loudness.  The team had a meeting after that class and everyone agreed that they want Michael there.

Two great things I took away from this:

1. Jan and Mark have kept showing up at church with Michael, investing not just in Michael but in all the people who interact with him at church.  It isn’t easy to persevere like that.
2. The adults have trusted God for ways to serve Michael and all the other children, and worked hard to include him. It isn’t easy to persevere like that, either.

But the result is wonderful! God has helped those children learn how to persevere through his noisiness because it means Michael gets to stay in his community of peers.  He belongs.

 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. (1 Peter 3:8 ESV)

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I read every comment that is posted.  Though I don’t respond to every one, I am grateful for the time people spend in commenting.

And that was particularly true this past week, when I posted on a Daily Mail article.

A brother and sister in Christ who are involved in healthcare in the UK posted comments challenging my assertions based on their actual experiences.

First a portion of the comments from Andrew:

I am a Doctor in the UK. I am also passionately in love with Jesus.

The Daily Mail articles on this subject have been one sided and inaccurate. I have worked with this so-called death pathway for the last few years. It is not at all designed to remove “difficult” patients or to starve patients we no longer feel are worthy of life.

And this from Beckie:

I was rather disappointed that you ran, and are still linking to, this post. The reason for this, is I don’t think you have all the facts. I am a British healthcare worker who has struggled with the newspaper’s constant lies about The Liverpool Care Pathway. (For full disclosure I work with adults) The articles they have been running this year, including this latest one seem designed to destroy a pathway that actually allows us to love and care for dying people. . .

You can read their entire comments at the original post.

I have two primary reasons why I appreciated their comments:

1) This is an important and highly emotional issue. Getting information directly from other sources is helpful.

2) They were addressing the argument and not attacking me.  Kindness goes a long way toward helping me listen for understanding.  But they also didn’t shy away from expressing clearly what they have observed.  That is a precious and helpful thing they did in practicing care in disagreeing and guiding toward clarity, especially in a public blog.

I’m still concerned about what is happening in US healthcare, especially in the emerging technologies and recommendations to search for children with disabilities in the womb – we know how that ends, statistically. And I’ve read just enough to know that there are people who are concerned about the Liverpool Care Pathway.

But these friends in the UK have shown there are Christians on the inside who see positive things about it, and care should be taken in understanding it, more care than I gave it this past week.  I’m grateful for both what and how they commented.

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.  (1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV)

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Crossway and Desiring God did a wonderful video of Pastor John reading The Innkeeper.  This book is very precious to me, and this reading is beautiful.

The story is very hard, as life can be.  It is important to watch it to the very end.

And, yes, I think I find extra pleasure that this story includes a person with a disability, though how he became disabled is horrifying.

From Pastor John’s blog posting on The Innkeeper:

In the poem called The Innkeeper, I tried to imagine what might have happened when the soldiers came. And what Jesus might have said if he showed up 30 years later to talk to the innkeeper about it. It’s fiction. But its aim is truth and hope and joy.

Desiring God and Crossway Books have teamed up to make a new video recording of my reading of this poem. We hope it will touch some deep place in your heart, perhaps through a wound.

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