We think our chronic illness is a 605 pound, bar-bending beast and we cannot find our way out from under it. But it is as light as a toothpick for our all-powerful God. Why do we try to handle our beasts alone, in our own pitiful strength? We are fools to do that when God is standing beside us ready to lift a finger and lighten our load. He is more than able.
Read MoreSuffering is perplexing. It sets us in circumstances that are difficult to comprehend. In our disorientation, we might struggle to accept our new circumstances. We may be tempted to believe that no one else can understand either.
That is a lonely place to live. And it’s not true.
Read MoreCongenital blindness is untreatable (v.32). In the opening verses of John 9, the disciples don’t question if the man born blind can be healed by Jesus because they assume a congenital defect is beyond a miracle. Instead, they use the man’s predicament as an opportunity for Jesus to clarify a debated question. “Who sinned to cause this blindness,” they ask, “the man or his parents?”
We have an innate desire to connect cause with effect. But from Jesus’ reply we learn that causation is not as important as purpose. Jesus answers that neither the parents nor the man sinned—the blindness existed so that the wondrous signs of God could be displayed.
Read MoreOften, real change happens in small increments that we may not notice. This is true for physical healing as well as spiritual healing. Becoming more like Christ happens in one moment (salvation) and in a lifetime of moments (sanctification). It is the work of the Holy Spirit who is constantly healing and shaping our hearts, but if we’re not careful, we’ll miss it entirely.
No wonder the Bible repeatedly commands us to “remember,” “remind,” and “write down” the faithful deeds of the Lord.
Read More“I don’t need easy, I just need possible,” she said. For Bethany Hamilton, world-class surfer and shark-attack survivor, those hope-filled words are empowering. They echo the words of Jesus: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). We have a tendency to forget to factor in God’s grace and power when we think of doing hard things or seemingly impossible things. But Scripture is full of people like Bethany, doing the impossible because our all-powerful God extended His power to them.
Read MoreReading the book of Lamentations is like reading a nightmare in which parents eat their children or leave them to starve. No wonder the author is lamenting... sorrowing. His situation is utterly hopeless. "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD." Yet, he also says, "Therefore I will hope in him." How can the author say that after claiming he had no hope?
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