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Archive for the ‘Scripture’ Category

Looking forward to disability in heaven

Posted in Book Commentary, Scripture on June 6, 2010| 1 Comment »

Revelation 21 has good news for those called by God:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Not everyone looks forward to being made new.

Dr. Nancy Eiesland, who wrote an influential, frequently-cited book on God and disability, The Disabled God, does not agree that it is good news that all things will be made new.  In an article in Impact, Dr. Eiesland writes about why she hopes she will have her disability in heaven:

As a person with a disability, I could not accept the traditional answers given to my own query of “What is disability?” Since I have a congenital disability, I have had opportunities to hear and experience many of these so-called answers through the years. They included “You are special in God’s eyes, that’s why you were given this painful disability.” Imagine it didn’t seem logical. Or “Don’t worry about your pain and suffering now, in heaven you will be made whole.” Again, having been disabled from birth, I came to believe that in heaven I would be absolutely unknown to myself and perhaps to God. My disability has taught me who I am and who God is. What would it mean to be without this knowledge?

Dr. Eiesland also concluded that God is disabled; that’s a subject for a different post.

I don’t know what our new bodies will be like.  Like most people, I imagine these new bodies will be spectacular.  But the greatest thing isn’t that we will have new bodies.

The greatest thing is we will be in the presence of Jesus without any of our old sin-filled existence dragging on us.  For eternity we will enjoy Jesus purely, without any worry about sinful motives clouding our judgment, drawing our attention away from our Savior, or tempting us to do anything other than what Jesus would have us do, which is enjoy him.

So, I am expecting that none of us, even those who live a disability-free existence in this life, will have any relevant comparison point when we arrive in Jesus’ presence.  Sin has distorted everything in this life:

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  Romans 8:19-23

So, as much as I look forward to knowing my Paul without all his disabilities getting in the way, I really look forward to being free of my sin.  And I take Dr. Eiesland’s perspective as a warning that anything can be used to distort our understanding of the age that is to come.

Our physical bodies here will not determine our eternity.  Only God does that, by the work of Jesus Christ.  And Jesus himself has said, “I am making all things new.”

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Good news from Isaiah 35

Posted in Scripture on June 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

Isaiah 35:4-7

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Thank you to America’s Disabled Veterans

Posted in commentary, News, Scripture on May 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Memorial Day exists to remember those who died in military service.  It is good and right to remember the sacrifices made, and their impact on society as well as individual families.

I think it is also appropriate to recognize all those who are disabled because of their service, a number many times greater than those who die in combat.

The Department of Defense has reported slightly more than 4,400 military deaths in Iraq as of May 28.  Numbers of those disabled in this war are harder to come by.  But as of 2008, about 181,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were receiving disability benefits from the Federal government.

When disability comes, often suddenly and violently, on mostly healthy young men, the response can be one of intense questioning of the goodness and sovereignty of God.

Yet, God’s word demonstrates both his sovereign intentionality in our lives and the opportunity for hope, no matter the situation:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  Jeremiah 29:11-13

Nothing ever has or ever will catch God by surprise in our individual lives and circumstances:

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

And no situation that results in disability, whether from a genetic anomaly, a sickness or disease, an accident or an act of war, has the final word on the glorious reality that awaits those who are trusting in Jesus:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

So, thank you to all veterans and those currently in active military service.  May Christ’s church welcome you gladly, helping you see the glorious goodness of God in all circumstances.  Especially those of you living with disability because of your service.

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Old Testament reminders that God cares about disability

Posted in Scripture on May 29, 2010| 2 Comments »

We are working our way through Proverbs at work and came to this verse in Proverbs 31:8:

Open your mouth for the mute,
for the rights of all who are destitute.

None of you will be surprised that I immediately thought of this:

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)

And because I had just spoken to some young people on this topic, this verse also came to mind:

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)

I marveled at what God was reminding me of on Thursday morning:

1.  I create, intentionally, some who will live with a disability (Exodus 4:11).

2. I appoint some to protect those who are vulnerable because of their disability (Proverbs 31:8).

3. I remind you that what a blind person cannot see or a deaf person cannot hear, I will both see and hear.  If you are tempted to abuse someone with a disability, fear the one who will repay all wrongs done to them (Leviticus 19:14, Deuteronomy 32:35, Hebrews 10:30-31).

God’s word is amazing.  It is relevant in its entirety and frequently specifically helpful for those of us dealing with disability.

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Indispensable revisited: I need him more than he needs me

Posted in commentary, Scripture on May 28, 2010| 2 Comments »

Jan’s post from yesterday has been rattling around in my head along with this video that Noel Piper posted on her blog a few days ago:

At about the 1:05 point of the video comes this quote: “I bought into the lie that circumstance defines happiness.”  What a great reminder for those of us dealing with disability!

I need all kinds of reminders.  I could feel some grumbling rising in my spirit yesterday morning as I began to calculate the thousands of times we have already needed to dress Paul.  Everyone else in the family can do that without assistance.

The Lord brought this to mind in that moment:

On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. . . (1 Corinthians 12:22)

“On the contrary,” I could hear the Lord saying to me in my grumbling, “this boy is indispensable to your knowing who I am – and I have done a great deal more for you already than you will ever do for him.”

Then that final phrase in the video came to mind as well, altered a little:  I need Paul more than Paul needs me.

Blind, autistic, small, unable to feed or dress himself, completely dependent on other people for almost everything in his life.  Or put another way, an example of my helplessness before an awesome, holy and just God.  Yet God never gets tired of my dependence on him.  Quite the opposite – I glorify him when I point to how great he is and how much I need him for everything.

Yes, I need Paul more than he needs me.  And I need to trust the Father like my son trusts me.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me this boy!

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Make war on my sin? On a beautiful Saturday morning?

Posted in commentary, Scripture on May 22, 2010| 3 Comments »

Why do I need to make war on my own sin?

Because this morning I woke up feeling a little sorry for myself, a little bad about what I’ve got to deal with.  And I was ready to just let it remain that way.

That is evidence of self-righteousness and self-satisfaction and self-glorification and self-esteem becoming more beautiful and more hopeful and more helpful than Jesus Christ.  That could kill me.  And my family.

And because of our family circumstances, people are ready to give me a pass  on my murmurings, even some Christians.

But we’re called to something more!  How many times have people entered into my suffering in my family with prayer and Bible and meals and leaf-raking and conversation and encouragement – pointing me to Jesus?  How many times have people acted according to Hebrews 3:12-13 in my life:

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

They didn’t obey God and enter my suffering just so I could passively sit around and let that hardening take hold and begin to kill me.

So, I’m grateful for reminders like this.

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“The man declares, I am weary, O God. . .”

Posted in commentary, News, Scripture on May 20, 2010| 1 Comment »

At Desiring God every morning we pause to have devotions.  We have been going through Proverbs verse by verse for the past several months.

Yesterday morning, we started in Proverbs 30, and these verses jumped out at me:

The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle.

The man declares, I am weary, O God;
I am weary, O God, and worn out.
Surely I am too stupid to be a man.
I have not the understanding of a man.
I have not learned wisdom,
nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.

I understand weariness.  I expect that you do as well.  And I understand feeling ‘too stupid to be a man.’

Why are those of us dealing disability weary so often?  Because it doesn’t stop.

And God in his infinite mercy included verse five in Proverbs 30:

Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

EVERY word!  The omnipotent creator of the universe says he will be our shield – if we take refuge in him.  Not if we perform perfectly.  Not if we muster up enough strength on our own to do the next hard thing.  But if we take refuge in him who knows how weak and weary and stupid and unwise we are.  What a comfort!

Then, later in the day I read a Facebook entry from Justin Reimer, creator and executive director of The Elisha Foundation.  This is an organization worth paying attention to.

He had a good word for me in his most recent newsletter:

One word does well to summarize the day in and day out of families of people with special needs – RELENTLESS. Think about that word, what does it speak to?

Webster’s dictionary defines it as: showing or promising no abatement of severity, intensity, strength, or pace.

The effects of disability do not let up. They are daily, they are hourly, they are there offering challenges by the minute at times. There is no end in sight, there is no cure, there is no healing in the broader sense. But what sweet balm of ultimate healing they will meet if their eyes are turned to Christ. When they know about receiving “resurrection bodies” on that Day, the Ultimate healing!

Read this from the heart of a father:

“Though at times our path in life with our special blessing of a child seems relentless, we see there is hope in God alone. Relentless, never letting up…not a momentary inconvenience but a life of need each day with our child deeply dependent on us. We understand this now as a unique blessing and an opportunity to make much of Christ in our every day whether in caring for our child or in a simple cup of coffee with a friend.”

And the heart of our Father is found in I John 3:1&2

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

A good word, Justin!

So, weary friends, let us all take refuge in God as beloved children.  And he will provide the strength for all that we need to do today.

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Three glorious pictures of disease and God’s sovereignty

Posted in commentary, Scripture on May 19, 2010| 3 Comments »

Yesterday Dianne and I attended the God-centered, Christ-exalting service in memory of Mary Pearson.  If Pastor John’s sermon is posted at Desiring God or hopeinGod.org, I’ll let you know because you will want to hear what he said.

Pastor John preached on 2 Timothy 4:6-8:

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Early in his remarks he connected it with Psalm 139:16:

In your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

I love that section in Psalm 139 because of the picture it paints for those of us dealing with disability.  Every day is known; every human being is intentionally made.  And every one of us has an ending day written down.  God knows everything.

Later in the day, I watched this video on Pastor Matt Chandler’s progress in his battle with cancer.  His news was positive.  And he says things that we’ve had to say about Dianne’s cancer:

They’re never going to say you’re cured or you’re healed or this is miraculous.  They’re just going to be hopeful and continue to watch it.

This is a broken, fallen world.  Frequently it is hard:

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:22-23).

One mother is called away from her four children and into paradise with Jesus after 16 months of battling her disease.  Another mother is granted more than five years and counting with her four children.  A young pastor with a passion for Jesus and a rising reputation is called to publicly walk through fire as he battles his disease.

And we have nothing ultimately to fear:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9

“According to his great mercy” – what a statement!  And what a hope.  Yes, we will rejoice!

Thank you, Father, for the examples of Mary Pearson, Dianne Knight, and Matt Chandler.

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Why did ‘great crowds’ follow Jesus?

Posted in Scripture on May 14, 2010| 2 Comments »

Frequently, because he was dealing with disease and disability:

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.  Matthew 4:23-25

Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there.  And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.  Matthew 15:29-31

While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. Luke 5:12-16

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Now that was a mistake. . . but it showed me my kids know a good argument from a bad one

Posted in commentary, Scripture on May 6, 2010| 2 Comments »

After enjoying the podcast done by Tim Challies and David Murray on Tuesday I thought I would look for other podcasts on this subject of disability and faith.

That was a mistake.  At least so far.

The first one I found was this one.  I don’t recommend it.  No, let me be stronger – it is terrible.  If you wanted to conduct a case study on unbiblical, illogical, unfair treatments of scripture, the seven minutes that Reverend Guy Pujol spoke could be the primary example.  He managed to distort Leviticus 21, John 9, Mark 2 and 2 Corinthians in his few short minutes.

John 9 might have been the most egregious example of his distortions in that he quotes the disciples’ question about who sinned, and then he completely neglects Jesus’ response:

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

I can only conclude that his mistreatment of scripture was intentional and that he did not want his audience to hear the whole text.  What he was afraid they might hear, I can only guess.

I didn’t listen to the Muslim scholar or the Rabbi who were also part of the podcast.  I wanted my seven minutes back by the time he was through.

But we have NOTHING to fear from this kind of treatment – his argument was so weak a child could answer it.  In fact, I asked one of my children (Hannah) how she would respond to someone who said that John 9:2 proves that the Bible equates sin and disability.  Her confused reply (she was truly confused about the question) was, “well, the next verse sort of answers that.”  Her younger brother paraphrased Exodus 4:11 for his response, “God says he makes some to live with disability.”

That made me happy.

Let us be Biblical Christians on this subject.  God certainly is not ashamed of his sovereignty over disability as proclaimed in his word, and neither should we.

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