"Someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." I wonder what Peter thought when Jesus spoke these words to him. Did he have any idea of the cost involved? Peter went on to live his life of faith, doing great things for his Lord, but in the back of his mind Jesus' words must've echoed... "When you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." When the final chapter of Peter's life was being written and the fulfillment of those words in the form of a cross was imminent, Peter chose death over denying the One who died to purchase his life.
Here "in the land of the free" we may not face the ultimate sacrifice Peter faced, but in your life circumstances have you ever felt that you have been bound and led somewhere you did not wish to go?
I remember feeling, when diagnosed with cancer, like I had been lifted off the path of what was "normal" life and set down on a road not of my choosing. I felt hemmed in, and I knew I had to move forward, one step at a time, without any certainty of where that road would ultimately lead. My oncology nurse, early on, told me that I might want to go ahead and shave off all of my hair before the dreaded two week mark when it would begin to fall out one clump at a time, because then at least I could feel that I had some control over my circumstances. You must understand; I loved my oncology nurse! She was not being calloused. She had walked through two diagnoses of breast cancer herself and knew how little control one has in that situation.
Well, I'd like to tell you about a hero of mine - someone whose life circumstances have bound and led them where they would never have chosen to go, but also someone who epitomizes how we as believers in Christ can choose to glorify Christ even when His sovereign love places us on the road marked with suffering.
This young person was diagnosed with a debilitating chronic illness that causes immense and almost daily pain. I've watched this friend over the past few years since the diagnosis submit under the mighty hand of God and put roots down deeper in Christ, to the point where the stronger the pain, the deeper the roots seem to go, as if they are pushing down through the darkness searching for Christ alone, the source of Living Water. My friend does not know how long this journey will last, but he does know and love and trust the One who has mapped it out and who lovingly walks with him one day at a time.
Listen to these words written in the midst of his pain with no promise of relief. If you find yourself in a similar place, whether your pain is is emotional or physical or perhaps situational, may my friend's resolve give you courage to trust afresh our great God and Savior and to "release yourself to the wisdom of a compassionate God."
"When as a christian, you are engulfed in a pain that clings to you with the persistence of an old friend, and every day drags on with the same twisting, wrenching torturous predictability, you are left with only two options: You can become embittered, call down futility on every tear and groan, and charge with cruelty the very One who laid down His life for you, or you can release yourself to the wisdom of a compassionate God, and let the severity of your circumstances teach you to suffer and to cry, to love and to care as you ought. The choice is your own."
May you, by God's grace and with His help walk in the footsteps of Peter and of my amazing young friend as well.
"Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." Psalm 62:8
Here "in the land of the free" we may not face the ultimate sacrifice Peter faced, but in your life circumstances have you ever felt that you have been bound and led somewhere you did not wish to go?
I remember feeling, when diagnosed with cancer, like I had been lifted off the path of what was "normal" life and set down on a road not of my choosing. I felt hemmed in, and I knew I had to move forward, one step at a time, without any certainty of where that road would ultimately lead. My oncology nurse, early on, told me that I might want to go ahead and shave off all of my hair before the dreaded two week mark when it would begin to fall out one clump at a time, because then at least I could feel that I had some control over my circumstances. You must understand; I loved my oncology nurse! She was not being calloused. She had walked through two diagnoses of breast cancer herself and knew how little control one has in that situation.
Well, I'd like to tell you about a hero of mine - someone whose life circumstances have bound and led them where they would never have chosen to go, but also someone who epitomizes how we as believers in Christ can choose to glorify Christ even when His sovereign love places us on the road marked with suffering.
This young person was diagnosed with a debilitating chronic illness that causes immense and almost daily pain. I've watched this friend over the past few years since the diagnosis submit under the mighty hand of God and put roots down deeper in Christ, to the point where the stronger the pain, the deeper the roots seem to go, as if they are pushing down through the darkness searching for Christ alone, the source of Living Water. My friend does not know how long this journey will last, but he does know and love and trust the One who has mapped it out and who lovingly walks with him one day at a time.
Listen to these words written in the midst of his pain with no promise of relief. If you find yourself in a similar place, whether your pain is is emotional or physical or perhaps situational, may my friend's resolve give you courage to trust afresh our great God and Savior and to "release yourself to the wisdom of a compassionate God."
"When as a christian, you are engulfed in a pain that clings to you with the persistence of an old friend, and every day drags on with the same twisting, wrenching torturous predictability, you are left with only two options: You can become embittered, call down futility on every tear and groan, and charge with cruelty the very One who laid down His life for you, or you can release yourself to the wisdom of a compassionate God, and let the severity of your circumstances teach you to suffer and to cry, to love and to care as you ought. The choice is your own."
May you, by God's grace and with His help walk in the footsteps of Peter and of my amazing young friend as well.
"Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." Psalm 62:8
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