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I came down sick this weekend after not having as much as a cold for over 2 years. Strangely it hit just before starting my ministry tour in Indiana today. I saw online both the service I was supposed to be a part of today in Indiana and in my local church.  They all worshipped just fine without me and this underscores to me how humble I should be that God allows me to do what I do when healthy. Is that the point of this?

For those of us who lead relatively healthy lives, I think it is a big adjustment to accept and deal with physical limitations that disrupt our plans. Pain and suffering are new to us and our faith is tested as we try to understand why God allows these things to happen.

As I lay in bed these past 2 days, I have been meditating on various psalms and some other scriptures that detail what our relationship with God should be…even in suffering. One of the main themes that seem to ping my spirit is how dependent we really are on our maker.

It also is interesting to note how limited our impact really is in our short lifetimes and that God’s will is done whether we are around or not. We are to remain faithful to Him in good times and in bad, in health and in suffering. No matter what happens to us, His will and plan will be completed. It is only by His grace and mercy that He lets us participate for a time until He calls us home to be with Him. We are to learn, learn, learn…while remaining humble, humble, humble.

For some of us, it is hard to rely on other people when we are weak. I am so thankful for such a supportive, nurturing wife who has been attending perfectly to me. I know many don’t have that in a spouse. Yet, I confess to some anger and depressing thoughts in the middle of this having to bother her or worry that she might get whatever this is.

My temporary suffering doesn’t begin to compare to Job whose story takes up a whole book in the Old Testament. He did not understand why He was being attacked by the evil one. He believed he was clean before his Lord and though his friends criticized and rebuked him…making fun of his plight even…Job remained steadfast and God rewarded him many times more than what he had lost. Even if God had not rewarded him, I believe Job meant it when he said “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him” (Job 13:15).

The Psalmist David recognized his dependency on God even as king of Israel.

Psalm 40

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.

4 Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.

10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!

12 For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.

13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!

14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!

15 Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!”

17 As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!

Key points of this that hit home today are:

• David recognized that his iniquities and imperfect flesh had something to do with his plight
• He saw how his enemies took great delight in his misfortunes
• He realized that God was his only hope for deliverance and restoration
• He could not count on “sacrifices or offerings” to earn his salvation. There is no deserving God’s grace
• He was praising God in the midst of his calamity

Also, my pastor was in Psalm 139 today which assures us that our lives were planned and known before the beginning of time. We really have little to do with generating faith. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit as we seek Him, even in the midst of calamities.

Thus I will not fear even to the death. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). No one can touch me there.

PS. Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow, so let’s be right with God at all times. Don’t take chances.