Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.
He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”.
“You don’t impress the officials at NASA with a paper airplane.
You don’t boast about your crayon sketches in the presence of a Picasso.
You don’t claim equality with an Einstein because you can write H2O.
And you don’t boast about your goodness in the presence of the Perfect One.
Mark it down. God does not save us because of what we’ve done. Only a puny god could be bought with tithes. Only a heartless god would sell salvation to the highest bidder. And only a great God does for His children what they can’t do for themselves. That’s the message of the first beatitude.”
Max Lucado
When we are trying to build a relationship with our Father in heaven, we must be humble. Knowing how weak we are compared with His greatness is essential, if we are going to be able to have a relationship at all with Almighty God… the clue here being the word ‘Almighty’. We could also use the title El Shaddai, which is often translated as “God Almighty” or “The Almighty God.” This name puts emphasis on God’s ultimate power and authority over all creation.
How can we live with a Father like that without being humble? God is so much in charge that He is able to give all the help necessary to live a productive life, even when we live with disability or pain. A lot of people depend upon God’s ultimate grace and mercy to be able to get through each day. There are a number in this complex who are in this position, depending on painkillers to an extent. However, most of them admit that without the strength of God, no amount of analgesia would give the same amount of relief.
Some also tell others that the pain helps to keep them humble, knowing that nothing they can do for themselves helps, they are driven to seek the relief of El Rachum - God of Mercy.
When I was training as a nurse, we were always told that the patient should not need to suffer pain when there were other methods of pain relief. How much better is being able to trust God to give us pain relief than need to rely on tablets? Of course, there are times when even God will agree that tablets have their place, especially when sleep is needed, to allow much needed rest from constant pain.
Perhaps, in some cases, lack of sleep makes pain feel worse. When sleep eludes us in the dead of night, we know most people are asleep but for some reason it doesn’t happen for us. Even if pain is not normally a problem, it can appear so much worse. At these times being humble enough to call on a family member or good friend who also does not sleep well and admitting that help is needed. Of course, we don’t always need to call on another person. The God of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps, isn’t that an ideal partnership?
Prayer
Abba, Father, we come to You and ask You to teach us humility in every situation we encounter. Your mercies are abundant and never-ending, and we call on You often, to ease our pains and difficulties and we are never disappointed. If only the same could be said about us and our faithfulness toward You. We are often afraid of disappointing You, but maybe it’s the fear of disappointing You that lets us know our own feelings of love to You. Father, Son and Spirit, how much pride would we need to have not to feel humility in Your presence? Too many people today are full of pride and self-worth that they think they do not need the Triune God to be safe from Your wrath, when we come to the day when You will pour out the cup on those who miss their opportunity to accept You through the blood of Jesus and accept Your forgiveness and holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus name, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment