Adding Himself to Usfeatured
Hello friends and neighbors,
Allow me to ask you the following questions and be as honest as possible: Have you worshiped God in difficult situations? Or have you turned yourself to the Lord for guidance and even praised Him during those painful life experiences?
My personal testimony has been the following: As a young Christian in my 20’s, I mainly praised and worshiped Him when everything was going well for me. In my 30’s, most of the time when things didn’t work out my way or I experienced hardship, I basically closed up to Him and to people. Yikes, not a good way to mature in Christ! Now that I’m in my early 40’s, I am beginning to open up to the Lord and His members in difficult situations and learning to worship and praise God despite difficult situations.
I hope that this sharing will enlighten you to consider praising Him regardless of your external situation so that you can experience God in a deeper way. Guess what? He is the eternal God, forever and ever, despite problems and difficulties, and He is always worthy to be praised. It is when we turn our hearts to Him in difficult situations that God realizes we mean business with Him and adds His divine element into us (see my previous blogs on God’s Economy).
The God who enters into “Our fiery furnace.”
In the old Testament book of the prophet Daniel, chapter three, a decree had been given that everyone should bow down at the sound of different musical instruments and worship the golden image of King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel’s friends refused to bow down and worship it.
They were summoned to the king who questioned them. Daniel’s friends answered: “If it be so, our God is able to deliver us from the blazing fire, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image that you have set up” (3:17-18). These three were willing to die for God rather than worship an idol. All I can say is what a pattern these ones were.
King Nebuchanezzar was furious and ordered that they be thrown into a fiery furnace. However, something interesting happened, instead of being consumed by the fire, they were seen walking in the fiery furnace with a fourth man, who appeared “like a son of the gods” (3:25).
Did God save them from the fiery furnace? Yes and no. He didn’t save them from entering into the fiery furnace, but He saved them by entering in with them and protected them from the extreme heat. The New King James Version states that he appeared “like the Son of God.”
Have you ever been in a situation where you are bogged down and feel as if you were in a fiery furnace? It could be related to a job situation causing you all kinds of problems, a financial mess, a difficult relationship, or the loss of a loved one just to name a few.
You and I may wonder, where is the Lord our savior during those times? Well, we just need to trust that He is there and grasp the opportunity to invite the Lord to join us, He makes Himself even more real during those times.
As the apostle Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Know and be assured that the Lord will not give us more than we can handle.
In every hardship, we can call upon the Lord to join us, as seen in these verses from the Old Testament book of Lamentations:
“I called upon Your name, O Jehova, from the bottom of the pit. You have heard my calling… You drew near on the day that I called upon You; You said, do not fear. Lord, You have pleaded my soul’s case; You have redeemed my life” (3:55-58).
Not Healing the apostle Paul
“And because of the transcendence of the revelations, in order that I might not be exceedingly lifted up, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, that he might buffet me, in order that I might not be exceedingly lifted up. Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weakness that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me” (2 Corinthians 12: 7-10).
The Lord definitely used the apostle Paul in a mighty way to spread the gospel in many areas and to write fourteen epistles that unveil deep truths. The apostle Paul even healed people, but as we can see from the above verses, the Lord did not heal the apostle Paul.
Not healing the apostle Paul was certainly God’s will and sovereignty. On the one hand the apostle Paul was kept from becoming conceited (due to the revelations that he saw) and kept him constantly turning to the Lord.
On a similar note, the apostle Paul also advised Timothy to “No longer drink water only, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” ( 1 Timothy 5:23). The great apostle Paul wasn’t healed, and we don’t see him laying his hands to heal Timothy. This shows very much the limited humanity of the apostle Paul by simply offering a natural treatment to the best of his ability. He was human just like us, but no doubt greatly used by the Lord.
My Wife’s Medical Condition
In case you had been reading my previous blogs, you probably have wondered why I stopped writing for a number of months. Well, not only was I extremely busy at the clinic being the only doctor there, but my wife also had a multiple sclerosis (MS) exacerbation. This is an autoimmune condition where your immune system attacks the nervous system. One of her legs gradually became numb, and the other got weaker and weaker until she had a prominent limp when she walked. One of her hands was numb and weak also.
After communicating with her MS specialist, Dr. Alejandro Cruz, we decided that the best course of action was to get her into Doctor’s Hospital at Renaissance for more specialized neurological care. I was very thankful that Rachel’s parents came to help us care for our three boys, who are now ages 2, 4, and 6, seen in this picture:
With a broken heart, seeing my patients everyday at the clinic while my wife was in the hospital made it difficult for me to focus initially. Rachel sounded peaceful when I spoke to her by phone and that was an infusion of optimism to me. Many of our friends from church prayed daily for her over the phone and visited her to encourage her. After a week of treatments, she was then transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation unit. The boys and I mainly visited her on the weekends.
My wife was recently discharged and is now walking a bit better. But just when you think it is all over, now that she has been on a new MS medication, she has been very tired lately.
I now realize that Rachel’s going through this difficult situation has caused her, myself, and our local church and friends to unite in prayer and be stronger. It seems to me that the enemy sends attacks our way, and God sends the perfect provision and puts the enemy to shame. I have no doubt that in the midst of Rachel’s suffering, He has added Himself more into all of us.
Know that God will not always save you from going through a painful experience, as it is precisely that hardship that will cause you to grow, mature, and turn to the Lord. Sure, at times He does save us completely and heal us, being part of His love and care for us, but that’s not always case! It is precious when He does heal us and we praise Him for that, but it is more amazing when in the midst of suffering, or pain, the Lord adds Himself as grace, peace, and life, and joins Himself in our suffering, causing us to experience God in a deeper level.
Please comment and share as it may encourage someone that needs it.
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