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Archive for the ‘Scripture’ Category

When we can’t see God’s purposes, trust his character

Posted in Quotes, Scripture on October 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Disability usually doesn’t make much sense.  We can’t see God’s purposes in the moment.

Which is why I especially appreciated this word from my friend and president of Desiring God, Jon Bloom, as he explored Jesus’ words to Peter: What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand (John 13:7 ESV).

Our understanding his purposes in a particular providence tends to be not as important to God as our trust in his character. So together let’s continue to “trust in the Lord with all [our] heart, and…not lean on [our] own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). Because one day we will understand. And we will, with great joy, proclaim, “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works” (Psalm 145:17).

Jon Bloom, What I Am Doing You Do Not Understand Now, posted October 26, 2012.

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Two reasons to stand up for the littlest people

Posted in commentary, Scripture on October 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

1) You can save a little life.

I heard this story last week.  Because of a pregnant couple’s circumstances, the father of the child was considering abortion.  Their life story is complicated, like most stories of this type are.  Another couple (the ones telling me the story) stepped in and helped them see the simple reality of a baby and a family.  A baby was born a few months ago.  Nobody is regretting that ‘decision.’  On the contrary, joy would be an appropriate descriptor!  I thought them courageous; they thought it was a happy responsibility to love the baby and the mom and the dad this way.

2) You can prepare a couple to stand firm.

A young couple we know learned recently they are having a child.  They live outside the United States, in a place where abortion is even more common than it is here.

Women who refuse to do certain tests, or who hold the position that they will not abort even if the baby has a problem, often receive harsh criticism and pressure from doctors and nurses.

These young people don’t fear the results of the tests or the pressure from medical professionals because they know who their God is.  As the Lord wills and only as the Lord wills, their baby will join us in a few months.

Yes, laws need to change.  Yes, medical professionals should be oriented toward serving the most vulnerable rather than destroying them.

But right now any one of us could be called to save a little life, either by saying true things about God and children to a pregnant couple, or by preparing the next generation to stand firm.  Let’s do it.

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; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Psalm 78:5-8

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“I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” God

Posted in Scripture on October 21, 2012| 7 Comments »

“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots!

Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”

Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:

“Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands?

I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.

I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward,” says the LORD of hosts.  (Isaiah 45:9-13 ESV)

“Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.” (Isaiah 46:3-4 ESV)

“Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country.

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. (Isaiah 46:8-11 ESV)

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Let us never have God say of us, “you turn things upside down!” Our future joy is at stake.

Posted in Scripture on October 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”  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”?

Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.

The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

(Isaiah 29:15-19 ESV)

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We are created in Christ Jesus for good works!

Posted in Scripture on October 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

In preparing for some upcoming speaking opportunities I was drawn back to Ephesians 2 – and once again blown away by God’s kindness!

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV)

“For we are his workmanship” – I don’t see any statement here ‘except for those with disabilities.’ Everyone called by God into life with Jesus, regardless of ability, is created in Christ Jesus for good works.  Let’s look hard for everyone’s gifts and let them use those gifts as Jesus intended, for his glory and for our joy!

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God works all things!

Posted in Scripture on October 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

We’ve been camped out on Ephesians 1 for morning devotions at work.  This phrase in bold jumped off the page at me on Friday:

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11-12 ESV)

Him = God!

Works=purposeful activity

ALL THINGS – including disability

God has a great purpose in disability.  We may not be able to see any of God’s purposes now (though sometimes we get glimpses!); we can still confidently say that God reigns and he is good.

Ephesians has a magnificent beginning! And we haven’t even gotten to one of the sweetest statements in the Bible: having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. . . (Ephesians 1:18 ESV)

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Why disability ministry is a constant testimony to ‘as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing’

Posted in commentary, Scripture on October 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Earlier this week I was talking to Brenda Fischer, our very fine and godly coordinator for the disability ministry at Bethlehem. She spends a lot of time with hurting people.

She shared about a hard situation on one of Bethlehem’s campuses, and the seeming lack of any good solution for the people involved.  Real people, with despairing hearts, and no answers evident with the resources available.  She longs for them to find peace and comfort in their lives, and for Bethlehem to be a conduit of God’s grace and mercy.

In those moments we pray desperate prayers, like this from 2 Chronicles 20:12 – We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

And she also shared that she spent time last Sunday with a little guy with disabilities that manifest in some really difficult behaviors.  At one point he lost control.  This got the interest of the other children but it didn’t phase the adult volunteers at all.

Brenda shared that she was seeing this all over Bethlehem: volunteers demonstrating through their own reactions that all the children are welcome even when a child’s disabilities bring on disruptive behaviors.  Not perfectly, of course – we are a church full of finite, sinful human beings after all!  But such a difference from when she started as coordinator nearly five years ago and many people had no experience or training in disability.  God IS helping us!

We have yet to experience a season of ‘coasting’ with this ministry.  The pain and the suffering in families continues and even seems to grow. But the victories God grants also are accumulating.

God in his kindness uses our disability ministry to help us really feel and understand what Paul meant:

as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. (2 Corinthians 6:10 ESV)

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Video: Why did Jesus heal the paralyzed man in Luke 5?

Posted in Scripture, Special Events on September 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I was given the opportunity to speak at the Bethlehem College and Seminary Chapel last week.  Below is the video of my attempt to serve the faculty, staff and students.  It is about 20 minutes.  My manuscript can be found here.

It was based on Luke’s account of the healing of a paralyzed man in Luke 5:17-26.

Note: I had a little trouble with the video actually playing.  If you have similar trouble, turning off high definition by clicking on the HD symbol below (to the left of the word ‘vimeo’ at the bottom of the video) seemed to help.

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Worth repeating: God is unstoppable. And he is for us!

Posted in Scripture on September 18, 2012| 1 Comment »

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
(Isaiah 40:28 ESV)

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.
(1 Peter 1:3-7 ESV)

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Blessed is he. . . whose hope is in the LORD his God. . .

Posted in Scripture on September 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

As I catch pieces of the political conventions, I am comforted by God’s word and reminders of where my hope really is secure:

Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The LORD will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!
(Psalm 146 ESV)

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