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Family Devotion

Having a child with a life threatening disease is difficult to reconcile to a loving God. Do you agree?  Clearly, the natural man can't understand such things.  However, we live in a spiritual world, deal with spiritual battles, and God's grace is sufficient and gives those born spiritually an understanding so that they can have the peace, joy, rest, and hope that is needed.  I couldn't possibly imagine the heartache, stress, etc., that I would be going through without God's grace that has given me the understanding that everything is ok and that he loves us very much.  We have opened up our devotion to you. Your comments, suggestions or questions are welcome.  And remember, God loves you  comments

I have much to learn about html so I hope this format isn't too rough to follow along.  Also I have no idea why some words showed up in underlined yellow.  But I believe those who proceed anyways will be greatly blessed.

The following devotion, suffering and life's trials, was shared by me to my family over the last several months. In whole, it is many devotions. You are welcome to read along if you would like to know how we have reconciled Joey's sickness with peace, joy, rest, and hope. I'm not to good at html so the fonts, bolds, etc may not work so well but hopefully you will be able to follow the thoughts. To gain understanding, I first spoke on God's character so that we may be confident that his Word is the Truth. Then I spoke on his promises. Then suffering. None of this is exhaustive; it's only a foundation that was shared for the understanding of trials. And it may ramble since I didn't follow an outline.

The Character of God

God has many attributes but I will write a few with references that you may want to read for personal study. Knowing God’s wonderful attributes to his Character helps us to trust God, and allows God to grant us peace, rest and hope, even in times of trials.

1.God is unchanging. This gives us great stability. Unlike Man, God’s character doesn’t change. James 1:17 2.God knows everything. I John 3:20 3.God is Truthful. Proverbs 30:5 4.God is Righteous. Deuteronomy 32:4 5.God is Love. I John 4:8 Knowing God, as opposed to knowing ‘of him’, gives believers like us much peace, hope, and rest when times of tragedy or sickness come our way. I just mentioned a few of his attributes, but by reading his scripture we develop understanding and meaning of some of life’s most difficult times. And we find out where we fit in, who we are and why we are here. Now that we know his character, we can trust the promises he made to believers.

Promises

There are many promises to believers in the scriptures but I will go over the 2 that come to my mind the most when I think of Joey’s condition.

A. Promise that all things will work for the good of those who love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 That scripture gives me the assurance that whatever happens in Joey’s life will be for his good along with Melissa’s and me. It might sound twisted since Joey is unhealthy right now but God will work it for the good.

B, The promise of eternal life. The Apostles wrote this promise repeatedly in scripture for those who are believers. This gives us great confidence and hope in dealing with life threatening situations or tragedies that happen. So that, by dying, it will be a coming home and believers should not fear dying or death because the finished work of Christ already gave victory. Let’s face it, the only life insurance is Jesus Christ, all other insurances are death insurances. Those that have Jesus have life and needn’t fear death.

Suffering

But what should we make of suffering? Suffering in our culture represents something profane doesn’t it? But one also learns things through suffering. The scriptures tell us that Jesus learned obedience through suffering (Hebrews 5:8).

If we read the first Chapter of the book of James, believers see that we should have joy in trials in our lives because it brings about patience and if we endure the trial we shall receive a reward from the LORD. Joy in trials? To be sure, such a thought doesn’t fill the natural mind, but it is food for the spiritual mind. I don’t like the thought of embracing suffering, it is difficult for me to accept, but the scriptures help me understand its place and know its meaning. If I, or Joey, didn’t know what it meant, we would probably be stuck in anger right about now. Who would want that burden? Unfortunately many are bond in their anger towards God, or towards others, when they fail to understand God. I believe that is why, in the same chapter in the book of James, it says for those who lack understanding to ask for wisdom. Without understanding of the trials in our lives, we are at risk of becoming unstable in such situations. Thankfully his grace allows us to be free from that. Free to continue loving him and loving the people he made.

I know I have rambled but in closing I will say this. I find it interesting how God himself had a son who suffered like no other. His son even prayed to him

“O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

But the Father’s will was for his Son to die a terrible death on the cross. It sounds sick and twisted but it is tied together by God’s love. Why did he allow his own Son to die on the cross? Because he loved you and wants to freely give you eternal life. God’s Word said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

If you don’t know the LORD, then come as you are right now to him, you don’t need any money, deeds, nothing. God forbid! I remember the thief on the cross next to Jesus, that’s how I saw myself when I came to the Lord. The thief didn’t offer or do anything, how could he? He couldn’t even get baptized. But he believed in Jesus with a repented, broken spirit…. and Jesus told him “today you will be with me in paradise.”

Going to church never saved anyone. Being baptized never saved anyone. The scriptures say, “Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”. That’s what the thief did and that’s what every believer has done. If you are someone who already knows you aren’t righteous and that you can’t be ‘good enough’ to enter heaven, but you see yourself as a sinner in need of a savior, then it may be that God is speaking to your heart. Throw away that anger that has done you no good; allow him to carry your burdens, trust him...he is trustworthy.

Free yourself from the dark and open your eyes to the light by allowing the LORD’s grace to save you, it is impossible for you yourself to do it. He loves you with a love that I can’t explain. If you hear him speaking to your heart then I would ask you right now to receive the gift of God [eternal life] through Jesus Christ our LORD. Receive him, believe on his name.

The scriptures say, “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, to them that believe on his name.” Thereafter you will have a victorious, abundant life, so that no matter what comes in your path, you will be able to say it is well with my soul, and you will have the peace, hope, and rest that you so desperately needed. I know we needed it and I am so thankful of God’s grace and love for us. In Christ, Tim