I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
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!
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.
(Psalm 22:22-24 ESV)
Archive for the ‘Scripture’ Category
He has not despised the affliction of the afflicted.
Posted in Scripture on December 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Thankful and peaceful, even about disability and suffering
Posted in commentary, Quotes, Scripture on November 21, 2012| 1 Comment »
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:15-16 ESV)
This is a universal call to peace and thankfulness – not just in and during circumstances that are pleasant. Dr. Mark Talbot explains why even suffering is something for which we can praise God:
We must come to see through the illusion that life’s ordinary pleasures are enough for us.
And this is another part of what significant and chronic suffering can do: when our lives begin to be significantly and perhaps rather consistently unpleasant, our quest for life’s ordinary pleasures tends to lose its appeal and our Lord’s declaration that “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” may begin to strike home (Luke 12:15; see, e.g., Ps. 107:17-20).
Moreover, the new taste of the new creature in Christ – the taste, that is, for God himself and thus for the “hidden treasure of the holy joy” that alone can satisfy our deepest desires – tends to grow as we lose taste for merely mundane satisfactions.
Pain often affords us our first real taste for the things of God.
Mark Talbot, “When All Hope Has Died: Meditations on Profound Christian Suffering,” in For the Fame of God’s Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper, edited by Sam Storms and Justin Taylor, p. 84.
“Disability says ugly things to me. . . God says beautiful things to me. Listen!” Krista Horning
Posted in Scripture, Special Events on November 18, 2012| 10 Comments »
The first video from the conference is online! The DG media team picked a good one to work on first: Krista Horning’s testimony.
Krista Horning – Testimony of God’s Good Design from Desiring God on Vimeo.
The Lord says, ‘Do not fear!’
Posted in Scripture on November 15, 2012| 1 Comment »
I came across one reference to ‘do not fear’ and looked for others. Here are two that encouraged me as many of us are facing hard things in our families:
“I called on your name, O LORD,
from the depths of the pit;
you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
You came near when I called on you;
you said, ‘Do not fear!’
“You have taken up my cause, O Lord;
you have redeemed my life.
(Lamentations 3:55-58 ESV)
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Luke 12:4-7 ESV)
The godly are bettered by the worst of things
Posted in Quotes, Scripture on November 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »
As the wicked are hurt by the best things, so the godly are bettered by the worst. — William Jenkyn
Are the godly really bettered?
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 ESV)
(Thank you to my sweet sister Arlene for pointing to the Jenkyn quote)
Paul said it better than I can
Posted in Scripture on November 9, 2012| 1 Comment »
God was very kind in how he provided for us at the conference yesterday. Every speaker gave me something fresh to think on about God’s sovereign goodness. And if you didn’t see Krista Horning, you will be blown away when its available in a few days!
I am so grateful to God, and am happy to let Paul speak for me:
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36 ESV)
Why ‘the works of God’?
Posted in Scripture, Special Events on November 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »
If you’re an early riser and reader of this blog, would you pray for the conference, The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability? You can watch it live here. If you get this blog by email at night, would you thank God for his help today?
I haven’t explained the title of this blog for a while and some new folks have joined us.
I like the phrase ‘the works of God’ for many reasons, but these are the two I return to most often:
1) It is directly connected to disability
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:1-3 ESV)
2) It is directly connected to hoping in God (and fathering)
He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
(Psalm 78:5-7 ESV)
Because God has ordained those days, we can be thankful even for the hard ones.
Posted in commentary, Scripture on November 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
(Psalm 139:16 ESV)
What a comfort it is that God knows every one of our days so intimately and rules over them so thoroughly that he wrote them down!
Greg Lucas, in his book Wrestling with an Angel, points out that he’s getting weaker just as his son with disabilities, and associated really difficult behaviors, is getting much stronger. What’s a man to do in that circumstance? You’ll need to read his book to find his answer, which is a very good one.
Greg’s observation that things with his son are getting more difficult, not less, was one that resonated with me as well. And God knows those days! There is hope in future grace!
Then on Friday I was introduced to a new song, for me, called Every Day by Joel Sczebel and Todd Twining. Here’s the chorus:
Thank You for the trials
For the fire, for the pain
Thank You for the strength
Knowing You have ordained
Every day
Because God is who he is, we can be thankful even for those days of deepest sorrow. God is amazing.
Here’s the entire song. I hope you find comfort in it as I did:
Why do I say our children with disabilities are the works of God? Because he made them (and us).
Posted in Scripture, Special Events on November 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »
But now, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
(Isaiah 64:8 ESV)
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.”
So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:1-6 ESV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3 ESV)
In six days we will gather for The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability. There is still time to register or you can watch it that day at www.desiringgod.org/live.
It is a weighty and beautiful topic. Please pray for everyone involved, that we would find our hope in God and would treasure him above all things!
All conference audio and video for The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability are now available at Desiring God!
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We must warn the strong; someone stronger is coming. And he will repay every wrong completely.
Posted in commentary, Scripture on December 3, 2012| 2 Comments »
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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