Living in the Spirit

September 8, 2021

Scripture Reading:
Psalm 116:1-9

I love the Lord, because he has heard
   my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
   therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me;
   the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
   I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
   ‘O Lord, I pray, save my life!‘ –Psalm 116:1-4

I am writing this the day after I found out an infant I had been praying for died. Having worked in a children’s hospital, when I heard the child’s diagnosis, the first thing that flashed through my mind was to let her go. She is not going to make it. I immediately felt wrong about even thinking that and, thus, have prayed for her, entrusting her in God’s care. I am indeed sorry she was not the first to beat this cancer. There will be a first someday, I pray.

I was reminded of a patient in the hospital where I worked with an equally negative outcome predicted. She was 13 years old, and when told there was nothing else medical science could do at the time except highly experimental treatments, she said to bring them on. She knew the treatments might not do any good but being a part of these tests may save someone else in the future. So she participated in trials until the doctors said no more, and she died. Eventually, the first patient survived that cancer through surgery and medication, and many others have since.

Jesus’s ministry on earth was encapsulated in three years where he briefly demonstrated that we were to do such things as feed the hungry, care for the sick, and welcome strangers. He not only spoke these words, but he also lived them—fed the five thousand on the hillside, healed many, including the child of the Syrophoenician woman. Jesus’ ministry was setting the example for our service to God to this day. He even prepared us for the reality that bad things happen to good people when he said it rains on the just and the unjust*.

A wise pastor preached a sermon on prayer that left a lasting impression on me. He said, God always answers prayer. The answer will either be yes or no. We may not understand God’s response when it breaks our hearts. It is only through faith that we can move forward, trusting that God’s Love will sustain us through the things we do not understand.

Prayer: Lord, today we asked a special blessing on all those caught in the throes of the things they do not understand. Grant them your Shalom. Amen.

*See Matthew 5:45

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.