Wednesday, August 27, 2008

My reminder of the PURPOSE of my LIFE

In the sense that all sickness (i.e. disability) is linked to sin, because if there were no sin, there would be no sickness. Sometimes sickness is designed for the glory of God even though there are those who denies that concept.

I was born with deafness and later in life I was diagnosed with MS. My step-daughter was born with cerebral palsy as well as mild retardation due to seizures when she was a child. My blood daughter have bipolar and other disorder disabilities.

This is from my journal:
The fact of the matter is the visible providence of God has no respector (discriminate) of persons. I arrived naked from the womb of my mother; I will leave in the same condition--with nothing. Ecclesiastes 3:2: "a time to be born and a time to die". What made God decided that I was born on December 11th? Why am I living this way? God is adjusting my history according to His purposes. He knows what He's doing that I have to learn to trust His will, His power, and His timing when the time is right, and not until then. That's the essence of real faith. God carries out His will in His perfect power and timing. My own growing pains were different than others. Some may be worst than others.

My life's experiences have laid the foundation for my new way of thinking, living and hoping in this world. There are many people who never see past the pain because they’re self-absorbed, they’re self-centered, they’re caught up in their own comfort and I decided not to be that way.

I am reminded of Psalm 139:13-14 states, “For You (God) created my inmost being; You (God) knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

I am also reminded of this:
Exodus 4:11 states, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”

Again in Psalm 22:10 From birth I was cast upon You; from my mother's womb You have been my God.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Again in Isaiah 44:2 This is what the LORD says— he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

Again in Isaiah 44:24 "This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, Who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, Who has made all things, Who alone stretched out the heavens, Who spread out the earth by Myself."

MOST IMPORTANT, in John 9:2-3, Jesus and His disciples encountered a blind man. “His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”

In John 9 and 11, sickness had nothing to do with sin. A disabled Christian believer can enrich in a Christian community they are often referred to Christians with disabilities. The Bible also teaches us to bear the burdens of someone with a disability fulfils a command of scripture (Galatians 6:2). 2 Samuel 9:3-4 tells the story of David’s kindness to Mephibosheth, the lame son of Jonathan, modeling the way the church should minister. There are those who (especially WOF) says that Joni Tada's disability (illness) do NOT glorify God at all.

The potter (God) is working with this soft, yielding clay (us). The potter (God) could make anything useful and beautiful (spiritual fruitful) out of an unyielding blob of clay (us). If He was unable to do that, He would be less than sovereign. This verse confirms God's Sovereign: Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in the earth, in the seas and in all deeps (Psalm 135:6). God controls all the millions of species of plants, birds, animals and fish that exist on this earth. They all fulfill His will. Every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine (Psalm 50:10-12). God sovereignly works out His purposes in each person's life. The steps of a man are established by the Lord (Psalm 37:23). He marks out the paths of all His creatures and determines the way in which they will walk. I know O Lord that a man's way is not in himself; nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps (Jer.10:23).

1 comment:

Nancie said...

Thanks for sharing these encouraging Bible verses, Jim. I am reminded once again of the sovereignty of God. I too believe that sometimes sickness and other afflictions or trials are designed for the glory of God. God has His purposes in allowing these in our lives, and He is working all things for His glory and our good. God sovereignly works out His purposes in each person's life. This is my greatest comfort in my own afflictions and illness. Thanks for sharing with us. Take care and have blessed weekends and Lord's day!