Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Scripture’ Category

Let us tell our stories and ask God to change things.

Posted in commentary, News, Scripture on June 25, 2011| 1 Comment »

Dr. Brian Skotko, a Down syndrome specialist at Children’s Hospital Boston, cites a study in the article, New earlier blood test for Down syndrome pregnancies may bring women comfort — or conflict, that “the number of Down syndrome births in the nation dropped 11 percent between 1989 and 2006, a time when it would otherwise be expected to rise 42 percent.”

That statistic has been bothering me all week, so I tried to do the math.  Since I don’t know what the actual numbers are, I tried to figure out the ratio.  If, for example, in 1989 we had 100 Down syndrome births, then we expected that in 2006 we would have 142 Down syndrome births (42% increase).  Instead, we had 89 Down syndrome births (11% decrease).

89(actual)/142 (predicted) = 62.7%

Only 62.7% of the children with Down syndrome that we anticipated would be born in 2006 were actually born.

I looked up some numbers on the Jewish population worldwide before and after the Holocaust:

1939:  17 million

1945: 11 million

The ratio of 11 million (actual living)/17 million (expected but for the Holocaust): 64.7%

Of course, the ratio in Europe was even worse – only about 1/3 of Jews living in Europe survived the Holocaust.

If the systematic identification and destruction of 2/3rds of Jewish people in Europe was called genocide, what do we call an abortion rate of more than 90% of children with Down syndrome for those women who currently are tested?  How much lower will the ratio of Down syndrome births go as new, more accurate and less expensive tests for Down syndrome become available?

I want to be clear – I do not believe that tests are the problem.  Though knowledge of a disability in an unborn child is certainly a hard thing, it is not a bad thing.

But we know our culture has a bias against those who are different, and particularly against those who have developmental disabilities.  We also know, and Dr. Skotko referenced it in the article above, that doctors are not trained in the full reality of disability and usually bring in their own biases.  Abortion is an assumed best option for many, many health professionals at a very vulnerable time in a mother’s and a father’s life.

So, let us tell and re-tell our stories of God’s goodness and provision in our lives.  Whether a person living with a disability or the parent of a child with a disability, we have a particular kind of testimony of God’s faithfulness and goodness.

And then let us pray that God will use our stories to change everyone – presidents and Supreme Court justices and members of Congress and doctors and pastors and genetic counselors and family members and mothers and fathers and everyone else.  We know God can do it!

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.  Proverbs 21:1

Read Full Post »

“We dare not expect him to be the one who changes.” Randy Alcorn

Posted in Quotes, Scripture on June 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I am a natural grumbler – takes no effort at all.  But even I’m surprised at how small my circumstances need to be for me to grumble at God.

This time, it was a head cold.  How ridiculous is that!  We have big issues in our house, and God has helped us on a daily basis for years with those issues.  And I found myself complaining to God about a head cold.  Clearly, I was thinking in my own head, I am far too important in the affairs of the universe to have to deal with a head cold!  Really, Lord, what are you thinking!

God mercifully brought a good word through Randy Alcorn’s blog yesterday on an entirely different subject (in this case, hell).  But these words jumped off the page to rebuke my hard heart and to call me back to a right understanding (emphasis in bold is mine):

There will be no end to dismantling doctrines if we consider it our calling to try to make God look good in our eyes and our culture’s. If his definition of good is different than ours, we dare not expect him to be the one who changes. The Almighty doesn’t need us to give him a facelift and airbrush his image. Our task is not to help people see God favorably but to see him accurately. God has the power, through the true gospel, to touch hearts and draw people to his love and grace while they fully affirm his holiness and justice. It’s not either/or, it’s both/and.

We are tempted to shrink God so he fits inside the borders of our minds. But those are small borders, and he is a big God. There’s great comfort in knowing a God who loves me but doesn’t need my counsel.

And that reminded me of something I had just read a few days ago:

You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?

Isaiah 29:16

God is kind to remind me who is who – he is creator and I am created.  He is good and I am entirely sinful separate from him.  He is strong and I am weak.  He sustains when I am demonstrating all kinds of failure.

So, I repented of my little faith and grumbling heart.  And I asked him to take away my cold, because I know he cares for me.

Read Full Post »

“He is a miracle waiting to happen” – John MacArthur

Posted in commentary, Scripture, Sermons on June 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I like John MacArthur a great deal and have learned much from him.  But I was not really reading for insight and new understanding as I recently went over his first sermon on John 9:1-12.  I was getting rather grumpy about the whole thing as I found more things with which to disagree – poor word choice here, bad example there.

God kindly let a few paragraphs of Pastor MacArthur’s sermon just blow me away and show me what was going on in my own heart!  Emphases in bold are mine:

Sovereign grace dominates this whole miracle. It isn’t this man running to Jesus saying, “Oh! Oh! Oh! Heal me, heal me!” No, Jesus saw him, and see that’s the way sovereign grace is, isn’t it? It’s Christ seeking us. We could not see Him except He saw us. We are blind, we’re absolutely blind. We have no capacity to see God. We have no capacity to see Jesus Christ. We are incapacitated, we are stone blind, spiritually speaking. We can’t see. . .

He’s not blind because of sin, this man is a prepared vessel, he is a miracle waiting to happen. Kind of exciting, isn’t it? He was born blind for one reason, so God’s glory could be seen in this healing by Jesus Christ. That’s why He was born blind…for the glory of God…sometimes is why suffering comes. . .

Even affliction can be for the glory of God. All these things can happen for the glory of God and this was a prepared vessel, a miracle waiting to happen. This was a blind beggar sitting at a gate waiting for the time planned in eternity past that Jesus would pass by and manifest His glory by touching his eyes so he could see. Fantastic truth. . .

And you know what happens when Christ turns on the lights in your soul? All of a sudden truth becomes recognizable, doesn’t it? You know the truth. All of a sudden love is seen, peace is beheld, glory is fully expressed. God becomes visible in the sense of focus. Christ becomes real. The eye of faith sees and understands and the light dawns. And to this blind beggar He gave both, physical sight and spiritual sight.

Why did He do it? What was the purpose? The purpose of it was for the glory of God. 

John MacArthur, Jesus Opens Blind Eyes, December 13, 1970.

I still would have preferred he handled some things differently – but he certainly hit the central theme in a helpful way!  I’m grateful God didn’t let me go through this entire sermon with a grumbling spirit, but let truth shine very brightly to drive my self-righteous, darkness-enjoying, man-centered sin away.

Read Full Post »

“Enquire of Jesus himself!” C. H. Spurgeon

Posted in Quotes, Scripture on June 2, 2011| 2 Comments »

I’ve only read one sermon that Spurgeon did on John 9, the accounting of the man born blind who would be healed, and it is on this text:

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him (the formerly blind man) out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

May we never forget that the greatest thing Jesus did for the man comes near the end of John 9, not at the beginning – Jesus fully revealed himself!  And the man WORSHIPPED because he could now ‘see’ Jesus for who he really is!

Spurgeon provides some great advice from that text:

When you are seeking Christ, ask Christ to reveal himself to you, for there is nobody who can reveal Christ as Christ can reveal himself by is blessed Spirit.

And, next, when you are confessing your faith, confess it to Christ himself. Say, as this man did, “Lord, I believe.” Say to your minister, or to your mother, or to your friends, “I believe;” but take, care, above all the rest, that you say, “Lord, I believe.”

And, lastly, when you are worshipping, worship Christ himself: “He worshipped HIM,” and no one else. Take care that your reverence and adoration are not given, in any degree, to the church, or to any person in it, or to any priest, or minister, or anything created or made; but worship God, and God in Christ Jesus; and the Lord bless you, beloved, for his name’s sake! Amen.

Charles H. Spurgeon, A Pressed Man Yielding to Christ, delivered October 12, 1882.

The only thing I would add, and which Spurgeon makes clear throughout his preaching and writing, is that God has given us a precious book that talks a lot about our Jesus.  We can read it and study it and ponder it – and ask Jesus to send his spirit to help us to have eyes to see what is really, joyfully, eternally there.

Read Full Post »

“It is certainly about that, but so much more than that!”

Posted in Scripture on May 31, 2011| 1 Comment »

While away from Bethlehem visiting family this weekend, we were delighted by the sermon we heard that closed a series on the book of Ruth.

Pastor Rick returned several times to this thought:

Don’t just make this book of the Bible into a nice love story.  It is certainly about that, but so much more than that.  This is a story about redemption and about the coming Jesus.

I thought of how often we end with the focus on people rather than on the greater thing: God himself.  Let us keep pressing into the word to find our Lord!

  • John 9 is not primarily about a man being healed – though it is certainly about that as well – but about a God who is sovereign over all things and a savior who works!
  • Mark 2:1-12 is not primarily about one man being healed of his paralysis, or even of loyal friends who will stop at nothing to bring him to Jesus – though it is certainly about that as well –  “but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”
  • 2 Kings 5 is not primarily about one man being cleansed of his leprosy – though it is certainly about that as well – but about a sovereign God who gives victory to whomever he pleases in 2 Kings 5:1 and who leads a violent, sinful, proud pagan to one of the most glorious statements anyone can make: Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel (2 Kings 5:15).

We would fail to ultimately help anyone if we stop at the thing we think people most want to hear – that God can heal you or your child of disease or disability.  He can certainly do that if he pleases, but what would they have?  “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

Let us continue to press into these accounts of his extraordinary ability to do anything that he pleases and show people the best news of all: God wants to give us himself!

Read Full Post »

On this Memorial Day, pray for leaders so that we might live peaceful lives in all godliness

Posted in Quotes, Scripture on May 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

For the most part, I don’t live an angry life anymore.  Doctors, educators, social workers, people on the street – God has helped me see (most of the time) that they are also people made in his image and deserve a respectful, God-honoring engagement.

But there’s still one group I’m too easily willing to see as being incompetent, lazy, corrupt or stupid – elected officials.  My expectations are pretty low in that area, though they are the very ones who make decisions that result in the need for remembrances like Memorial Day and Veterans Day.  And today millions of people live with disabilities they incurred through their military service as well.

As I reflected on the following Memorial Day letter from Joe Scheumann, a young man with whom I work at Desiring God, I recognized (again) I’m just hurting myself with my attitude about elected officials.  Whether or not they hold a life-affirming, God-honoring position on unborn babies with disabilities or special education opportunities, we are called to pray for them SO THAT we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity – and it pleases God!

So, on this Memorial Day 2011, let us remember those who have died in military service.  And let us also do something God has said is good for us and pleasing to him: supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for “all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Email to Desiring God’s Philippian Fellowship, May 27, 2011:

May 30, 2011, is Memorial Day; a day in which the United States pauses to honor American soldiers who have died in all wars. So, in light of this holiday I thought 1 Timothy 2:1-3 is a very relevant passage of Scripture on which to meditate and pray. It says,

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Paul first calls us to make supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for all people and for kings and all who are in authority. Paul does not limit our prayers to only people or leaders of the country we live in; instead, he calls us to pray for all men and all authorities.

Next Paul gives the reason for our prayers. The goal of our prayers for all men and authorities is that we might lead peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity. Notice that this is not merely a peaceful and quiet life, but it is a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

This aim of the prayer is then grounded in the character of God. In verse 3 Paul links the goodness of peaceful and quiet life in godliness and dignity with God’s nature. Paul says this is good in the sight of God our Savior and the aspect which Paul chooses to highlight about our Savior is that he desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.

So then, this Memorial Day weekend, will you join me in obeying Paul’s exhortation in making supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all men and all authorities? Let us pray for them so that we might live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and dignity knowing this is good in the sight of God our Savior.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer,

Joe Scheumann

Read Full Post »

Elephants exist to bring glory to God!

Posted in News, Scripture on May 19, 2011| 14 Comments »

This was a great story!

Kuk-kik, a 14-year-old boy, punctuates his few, slurred words with yelps. Kong screams and bites his fingers when he can’t figure out how much to pay for bananas. Other children freeze mid-motion, fix their gazes on minute objects and withdraw.

Enter Nua Un and Prathida — two gentle, lively and clever female elephants — and the mood among the autistic teenagers in Thailand changes as they begin their therapy, the world’s first using these charismatic animals.

Therapy elephants!  How fantastic is that!

Animals are wonderful therapy tools.  I’ve seen therapy dogs and therapy horses and therapy monkeys and even therapy llamas.  This is one of my favorite pictures of Paul as he has a little ‘equestrian therapy’:

(All of you parents know this isn’t ‘official’ therapy because he isn’t wearing all that ridiculous equipment.  As you can see, he is much happier this way.)

It made me think of this passage from Isaiah 11:

6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

I know some Biblical scholars believe this isn’t speaking of literal animals but of nations represented by those animals.

But right now I’m thinking how exciting it will be if we really get to play with all the animals of God’s creation – because look at those kids living with the confounding condition of autism who get to play with elephants today!

Yes, elephants were created for the glory of God!

Read Full Post »

How was your celebration of the Lord’s day?

Posted in commentary, Scripture on May 16, 2011| 1 Comment »

Psalm 22:27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.

The post today is really self-indulgent – but Sunday was just such a blessing for the entire family!  And so much of it was related to disability.

There have been seasons when church was more duty than delight for me.  If church isn’t that great of an experience for you right now, I pray that God would provide something different for you, if not in your circumstances than in a heart completely satisfied in him.

There are many reasons we had a great day.

  • We dropped Paul off with one of his favorite people, and we received the report that he had an active morning with her.  She has served us for years; we are so grateful for God’s provision of this kind woman!
  • We celebrated a baptism!  I can’t remember the last time we had a baptism on Sunday morning.
  • Pastor John’s most recent sermons – No One Will Take Your Joy From You and yesterday’s Before Abraham Was, I Am (to be posted Monday afternoon at DesiringGod.org) are passivity-killers. Last week emphasized the pursuit of our own joy in Christ.  This week the fear of death is crushed.  I’m grateful for God’s continued feeding of my soul from the word.
  • After the service we rushed to a time of prayer with one of our favorite families.  Their oldest boy, with multiple disabilities, is having surgery in a few days and the men and women who gathered around this boy have increased in their love for him and regard for his parents.  I’m grateful for God’s granting of good men in my life like this boy’s dad.
  • Following Sunday School was a lunch gathering of the volunteers for the 1st grade.  Dianne is a weekly volunteer in that class, which is lead by one of the great women of Bethlehem (her husband has served in the nursery for 16 years!).  What a joy to be with the younger volunteers experiencing new things – two women are getting married, another women is having her first baby – along with the veterans.  Paul’s behaviors are all pretty normal for this group so we didn’t have to worry about him bothering anyone.
  • We also received our church picture directory.  It is like a memory book of God’s sweet and bitter providence!  Some families are growing – both spiritually and in the numbers of their members.  Some are going through very deep waters right now. Several were missing a member from the last time the directory was made.  God remains sovereign over all things.
  • And we went fishing.  We weren’t successful, but we all enjoyed God’s extraordinary creation.

Psalm 22:22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.

25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.

Read Full Post »

God is solid though everything around us is shaking

Posted in Scripture on May 15, 2011| 1 Comment »

The prayer requests from just our church family brought together through disability continue to come – hospitalizations, surgeries, changes in medications, changes in diet, changes in diagnoses.

I’m grateful that my readings from the Bible are so full of terms about God that are associated with strength and power and stability.

From Psalm 62:

1 For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.

5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah

From Psalm 63:

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.

From Isaiah 12:

2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God [7] is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”

From James 5:

10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

This is my second time through the One Year Tract Bible Reading Plan.  God has frequently used these readings to provide comfort for my soul or a word for my family.  Even though it is the middle of the year, if you have never read through the Bible in the year, why not start now?

Read Full Post »

Introducing Paul Tautges, pastor and father of children with disabilities

Posted in commentary, Scripture on May 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I met Paul Tautges, Pastor of Immanuel Bible Church and father of several children with disabilities, last month at The Gospel Coalition – what a joy that was!  I’m very grateful to God for that unexpected, divinely-appointed time of conversation and prayer!

Paul is also a writer, and yesterday posted From Womb to Tomb: The Constant Reality of Suffering at a new blog sponsored by The Biblical Counseling Coalition.  David Powlison (who has spoken several times at DG conferences) is one of their board directors, and Paul Tripp, a frequent contributor to DG’s blog, conferences and DG live, is also a board member.

I recommend his blog post to you, which is full of Bible.  Here is a sample:

Christians can rejoice in the midst of trials because even though we do not see God we believe in Him. This maturing faith produces joy that exceeds speech and is full of glory—even in the face of pain. “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Rom. 5:3–4).

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »