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“Don’t give up” by Jon Bloom

Posted in Quotes, Scripture on February 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Disability is relentless – you already know this!

And God reminds us that waiting on God, even when we are so tired we don’t think we can continue, has a great result, as Jon Bloom wrote yesterday:

Do not give up when waiting on God seems endless.

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:30–31)

Jon Bloom, Don’t Give Up

Yes, God is greater!

Even if you have already read Jon Bloom’s post at Desiring God from yesterday, read it again and be filled up with God’s word.

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Here’s one way to learn scripture!

Posted in Scripture on February 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Dianne spends hours of her day in the van between the twice-daily school run to piano lessons to basketball practice to visits to the doctor.

Disability adds to the miles. On Monday she drove more than 40 miles roundtrip to get Paul to his dentist.  As you can probably guess, we can’t just run him up the street to our local dentist where our other three children go.

Last week I drove the van and discovered she’s using the time well – hopefully only at stoplights and when parked!

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God writes down our days, and our tears

Posted in Scripture on January 25, 2012| 1 Comment »

I have read these I don’t know how many times but never put them together before.

You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Psalm 56:8

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

What a comfort, God’s book includes every hardship in our days, and every tear is recorded. We are entirely known by God.

And that is good news because of who God is and what he does:

You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. Psalm 119:68

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Shameful history. Joy-filled eternity!

Posted in News, Scripture on January 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

For my most recent blog post at Desiring God I spent time reviewing some of the shameful history of the church in the eugenics and abortion movements.  Similar to the church’s history with slavery, Dianne had to listen to me wonder how the religious proponents of eugenics at the turn of the 20th century and their theological children who support abortion in the 21st century could have been and are so unaware of the evil they were and are promoting.

And it makes me tremble to consider what evil I’m still clinging to that will be considered shameful in a hundred years.

Thankfully, J.C. Ryle gave me a shot of something strong and good and pure in the midst of a life that ‘may be weak, sickly, unhealthy, painful . . .”:

Faith is life. How great the blessing! Who can describe or realize the gulf between life and death? “A living dog is better than a dead lion.” (Eccles. ix. 4.)

And yet life may be weak, sickly, unhealthy, painful, trying, anxious, weary, burdensome, joyless, smileless to the very end. Assurance is more than life. It is health, strength, power, vigour, activity, energy, manliness, beauty. . .

Blessed, thrice blessed are they that believe! They are safe. They are washed. They are justified. They are beyond the power of hell. Satan, with all his malice, shall never pluck them out of Christ’s hand.

But he that has assurance does far better–sees more, feels more, knows more, enjoys more, has more days like those spoken of in Deuteronomy, even “the days of heaven upon the earth.” (Deut. xi. 21.)

J.C. Ryle, Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots, p. 190.

The argument from those who promote aborting unborn children with disabilities is that the parents don’t want the children to suffer and the parents themselves don’t want to suffer through their children’s suffering.  Somehow, this prior knowledge of suffering grants the right to rid ourselves of it, no matter the cost to a little human being.

Jesus had prior knowledge of his suffering, and he also had prior knowledge of something else:

. . . who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 ESV

Let us live in this knowledge – joy is coming!  God will help us endure to the end.

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As Christians, knowing isn’t necessary (and it’s ok to ask)

Posted in commentary, Scripture on January 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This past week, two men who pastor churches – one a veteran, the other in his first years – sent out information about their children.  The little girl’s multiple issues are still a mystery, but probably genetic in nature.  The little boy has an unknown and as yet undiagnosed issue that causes him to vomit multiple times a day.

Both men (and their wives) want answers, and are actively pursuing answers.  Yet both are living with a serenity in the sovereignty of God that is beautiful and convicting.

Paul Tautges, the father of the little girl, wrote this on his blog last November:

Biblical faith does not require answers. Our daughter’s neurologist has gone out of his way to request a secondary funding source (genetic array costs a minimum of $20,000) not because we cannot live without answers, or because our faith in God is threatened. On the contrary, our faith in the sovereignty and goodness of God is surer than ever. Our confidence in Christ and the eternal hope of the gospel is richer now than if our lives had been free from having children with physical disabilities.

Trusting God doesn’t mean we are passive.  On the contrary, having the foundation that God will strengthen us for the task he has given provides impetus to act!

We’ve all been there at some point – not knowing what is really going on in our children.  Dianne repeated something last night we’ve said to each other a hundred times: not knowing is much harder than knowing, even when the knowing is devastating.

So I pray for these families, that God would grant them the knowledge that would help them serve their children.  I know they are praying earnestly for it!

And if he chooses not to reveal it, we can still rest in this: God knows it all, he is the eternal source of love, he designed those children with a purpose, and nothing can stop him, for his glory and for our good.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 ESV

 

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Tempted to fear? APTAT

Posted in commentary, Scripture, Sermons on January 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I’m going to blatantly steal from Pastor John the next couple of days, from his sermon The Word of God Is At Work In You.

His closing remarks were very practically and particularly helpful:

It helps me to have an acronym called APTAT.

A — I admit I can’t in myself do what needs to be done.
P — I pray for God’s help.
T — I trust a particular promise he has given.
A — I act to do whatever God is calling me to do.
T — I thank him for his help when I am done.

So here’s how it works.

The Temptation of Fear

God has called you do something. You know it’s right, but you’re afraid. What do you do?

You admit honestly and humbly: “I am afraid and I cannot do this by myself.” Then you pray: “O God, grant me courage. Please don’t let me be ruled by fear. Take it away.”

Then you call to mind a specific, tailor-made, blood-bought promise that Christ has guaranteed for you by his blood: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). You trust this promise. You say to God, “I take this promise for myself. I trust you. You are now my help.”

And you act. You act, believing that God, the Holy Spirit, is acting in you by his word through your faith. And when you are done, you bow your head and say, “Thank you. Thank you.”

Fear is something I know; I’m guessing you do as well.  In fact, with Paul’s seizures seeming to have returned, I’m often thinking about how much I don’t want to return to what happened this past summer.

A – I don’t want him to hurt like that again and I’m afraid.  I can’t do anything about them.  I can’t help him.  His body hurts; he hurts; I hurt.

P – Lord, please help him.  Help me know what to do.

T – I frequently go to this verse: “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).  I remember that God knows his days, including the hardest days, and that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39 ESV).  The days are hard, yet we will say with God that it was all worth it.

A – We clean him up, and make sure he is safe and warm and as comfortable as he can be.  Dianne pursues his good through doctors and medicine.  We don’t stop pursuing his good.

T – It is easy to thank God for this boy, and for the help that God provides; “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7 ESV).

And we live ‘as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing’ (2 Corinthians 6:10).

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Should we teach the Bible to those with severe cognitive disabilities?

Posted in commentary, Scripture, Sermons on January 10, 2012| 38 Comments »

Pastor John’s message, The Word of God Is at Work in You, was exceedingly helpful to me and I commend it to you.

As he made seven observations about the text, 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16, to open the sermon, observations 3 and 4 particularly caught my attention.

3. The Thessalonians heard the words of Paul.

Verse 13b: “When you received the word of God, which you heard from us . . .” God spoke, humans gave his word through their words, and the Thessalonians heard that. They heard the sounds. They knew the Greek language. They construed meaning with their minds.

God uses humans to deliver his word, and he delivers it to humans. Human minds hear and understand the word from God, and then another set of human minds receive it from those human mouths and again hear and understand it.

From the perspective of having a child with severe cognitive disabilities, this appears to raise a problem.  My son Paul can ‘hear’ from the sense that his ears work, but he cannot understand or make sense of most of what he hears.  And he also cannot communicate much of what he actually understands.  Is the Gospel closed to him?

Thankfully, the fourth observation follows:

4. As they heard, God acted on their minds and hearts.

What did he do? And how do we know this?

What he did was enable them to receive Paul’s words as the word of God. Verse 13b: “When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.” That’s what God did.  He opened their mind and heart to know that Paul was speaking the word of God, and he gave them the inclination to receive it for what it is, not mere human words, but God’s word.

How do we know God did this? Because at the beginning of verse 13, just before saying that they received his word as the word of God, Paul says, “And we also thank God constantly for this.” For what?, “That when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.”

But why would Paul thank God for this? Why would he thank God that the hearts of the Thessalonians grasped the divine nature of the human word? Why would he thank God that the hearts of the Thessalonians embraced the human words as divine word? The reason is that God enabled them to do this.

I may be going out on a limb with this, but if it is necessary for God to make this understanding possible for people with ‘normal’ cognitive abilities, is it not also possible for God to do so for those with limited cognitive abilities?  After all, he knows everything about every human being that he has made, and when compared to God, all of us live with pretty impaired cognitive abilities!

The Thessalonians could communicate that they understood these words were coming from God, but that doesn’t change the primary actor being God.  Paul was obviously encouraged to know how it was being received!  But the evidence of their receiving it was only that – evidence of God’s prior actions to give them understanding.

So, I don’t think it is a stretch to include those who have limited abilities to understand anything and no ability to communicate what they understand as being entirely able, through the work of the Holy Spirit, to embrace truths about who God is and what he has done for them.

When Paul was younger we spent time teaching him Bible verses. He even earned a bag after reciting five verses.  But I gave up on that because I didn’t think it was really worthwhile; he was just repeating a string of words.

Or so I assumed.  Maybe there was more going on than I realized through the work of the Holy Spirit.  It raises questions about whether I believe Isaiah 55:10-11 to be true:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
(Isaiah 55:10-11 ESV)

What do you think?

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Please pray for the families gathering in Oregon

Posted in News, Scripture on January 6, 2012| 1 Comment »

Pastor John just spoke to 45,000 young people in Atlanta this week.

Greg Lucas will be leading 12 families through Mark 9 the next couple of days at The Elisha Foundation’s winter retreat for families experiencing disability.

I’m so glad Jesus showed us it is important to reach big crowds and small!

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
(Mark 6:34 ESV)

And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
(Mark 7:32-35 ESV)

As you know, Greg is the writer of Wrestling with an Angel, the book I enthusiastically recommend to families experiencing any kind of hardship, but especially disability.  He is also a gifted speaker.  Most of all, he loves Jesus.

He emailed me this prayer request:

Please continue to pray for us at TEF. We have 12 families. A lot of hurt.

“A lot of hurt.”  He didn’t need to say more.  May God meet each and every one of them this weekend with the magnificence of Jesus Christ!

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:7 ESV)

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God made us!

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

Sometimes it is good to be reminded about the totality of God’s care for us.  We’re back to Paul having multiple seizures every day, and that is discouraging and painful.

One of the fine young men of Desiring God went to Psalm 100 as he lead devotions on Wednesday.  My heart melted at verse 3:

Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
(Psalm 100:3 ESV)

He made us!  What a comfort!

That reminded me of the three pillars of scripture I return to time and again in Psalm 139, Exodus 4 and John 9.

He carefully made us, and our children with disabilities.  He already knows our days and their days:

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
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 139:13-16 ESV)

Why am I certain this includes making some with disabilities, and all the suffering that goes with it?  Because he said so:

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 ESV)

And he did it for a glorious reason:

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)

Devotions yesterday ended on this incredible good news: he didn’t just do these things because he can, but because he is good and loves us and will never, ever fail us or our children:

For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
(Psalm 100:5 ESV)

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Why I am optimistic about 2012

Posted in commentary, Scripture, Sermons on December 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Friday morning I woke up with no heat in the house because the boiler had failed, Desiring God was still $200,000 from its year-end goal, and Paul had multiple seizures the day before.

I felt crummy.  The little darts and arrows of anxiety and doubt were multiplying.  Yet, I knew enough to say to Dianne, “I am commanded to live without anxiety.” To which she rightly replied, “yes, you are.”

So, the fight began.  And God provided, through something Pastor John had preached just this past Sunday.

This is a longer piece from Pastor John’s most recent sermon, but I encourage you to read it all:

And because we have peace with God because of being justified by faith, we can begin to grow in the enjoyment of peace with ourselves — and here I include any sense of guilt or anxiety that tends to paralyze us or make us hopeless. Here again believing the promises of God with a view to glorifying God in our lives is key.

Philippians 4:6–7 is one of the most precious passages in this regard: “Do not be anxious about anything [the opposite of anxiety is peace], but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God [in other words, roll your anxieties onto God]. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The picture here is that our hearts and our minds are under assault. Guilt, worries, threats, confusions, uncertainties — they all threaten our peace. And Paul says that God wants to “guard” your hearts and minds. He guards them with his peace. He guards them in a way that goes beyond what human understanding can fathom. Don’t limit the peace of God by what your understanding can see. He gives us inexplicable peace, supra-rational peace. And he does it when we take our anxieties to him in prayer and trust him, that he will carry them for us (1 Peter 5:7) and protect us.

When we do this, when we come to him — and remember we already have peace with him! — and trust him as our loving and almighty heavenly Father to help us, his peace comes to us and steadies us, and protects us from the disabling effects of fear and anxiety and guilt. And then we are able to carry on and our God gets the glory for what we do, because we trusted him.

And God provided, again.  As I write this, I am at peace.  The house is still cold (repairman is on the way, Lord willing), I have no idea what donations will look like for Desiring God, and Paul’s doctor is off until next week so we must wait.

In all this, I know God is good.  I have a foreign righteousness supplied by Jesus that lets me come into the presence of the Lord of the universe to seek his help!  Amazing.

That is why I am optimistic about 2012, and I pray you are as well – not because of our circumstances, but because God himself is for us.  And we know how that story will end someday!

And for my friends who are weary this last day of the year, I also recommend a beautiful post by Jon Bloom, A Year-End Prayer for Weary Waiters.  Yes, come quickly, Lord Jesus – next year in Jerusalem!

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