To Worship or To Curse

The last two months have been a lot of emotional up and downs; while these are less than enjoyable times, they really do cause you to grow and teach you to lean heavily on your important relationships. Jesus has been more than a wall in which I can lean on; He's been a proper support and I can say without doubt, has graced me with understanding of patience in addition to providing comfort and hope.

While the troubles are far from over, I rest in this unchanging provision of His goodness. I know I need to wait, to be patient, to rest and lean on Him, all the while maintain a healthy dose of optimism that while the rough patches are indeed very rough, they will get better. 

I wait with joy because I had a two-month taste of something that was truly and properly blessed by God and I hope that it may some day continue. Though, if this is not according to God's will, then I'm prepared to lay aside what I really truly want and allow Him to work. 

This following exert from John Piper's book Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ is such a clear indication of what I've been experiencing over the last several weeks. I hope it blesses you as much as it blessed me.

~~

... It is not surprising that when Christ came into the world, all nature bowed to his authority. He commanded the wind and it obeyed. And when the disciples saw it they wondered. And then worshipped. "And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat... And [Jesus] awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace! Be still!' And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm... [The disciples] were filled with great fear and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?" (Mark 4:37-41).

Water obeyed Jesus in more ways than one. When he commanded, it became "solid" under his feet, and he walked on it. When the disciples saw this they, "worshipped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God'" (Matthew 14:33). Another time, he commanded water, and it became wine at the wedding of Cana. In response, John says, he "manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him" (John 2:11). Wind and water do whatever the Lord Jesus tells them to do. Be still. Bear weight. Become wine. Natural laws were made by Christ and alter at his bidding.

The composition of all things was not only created by Christ (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:2), but is also held in being moment by moment throughout the whole universe by his will. "He... upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3). "In him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). Jesus Christ defines reality in the beginning and gives it form every second.

Fatalities, fevers, fish, food, fig trees. Anywhere you turn, Christ is the absolute master over all material substance. With a word he commands the dead to live again. "Lazarus, come out" (John 11:43). "Young man, I say to you, arise" (Luke 7:14). "'Talitha cumi,' which means 'Little girl...arise'" (Mark 5:41). He rebuked a fever and it left Peter's mother-in-law (Luke 4:39). He planned for a fish to swallow a coin and then get caught with Peter's hook (Matthew 17.27). He took five loaves and fed five thousand men (Matthew 14:19-21). And he made a fig tree wither with his curse (Mark 11:21). 

Now we have a choice. Worship or curse. There was a group at Lazarus' grave whose facts were right and hearts were wrong. They said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?" (John 11:37). The answer to that question is, Yes. Jesus timed his coming to Lazarus' home so as to let his friend die. He waited two days, then said, "Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe" (John 11:14-15). Yes, he could have saved him. Just as he could have saved Job's children, and ten thousand more in Honduras and Guatemala by commanding Hurricane Mitch to turn out to sea, the way he did in Galilee. 

Will we worship or will we curse the One who rules the world? Shall sinners dictate who should live and who should die? Or shall we say with Hannah, "The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol [the grave] and raises up" (1 Samuel 2:6)? And shall we, with ashes on our heads, worship with Job, "Blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21)? Will we learn from James that there is good purpose in it all: "You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful" (James 5:11)? Should we not then face the wind and stand on the waves of affliction and sing with Katharina von Schlegel, 

Be still, my soul! Your God will undertake

To guide the future as He has the past;

Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul! The waves and winds still know,

His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

"Be Still My Soul"