But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. -Jeremiah 17:7,8

Friday, March 27, 2015

His Wondrous Deeds


As I have now been here in Ukarumpa now for three full weeks, the first thing that I noticed is how people from seventeen different countries are working together to seeing Papua New Guinea empowered by the written Word of God. Each person or family here, whether aircraft mechanic, pilot, IT worker, literacy worker, language surveyor, translator, or other type is supported and sponsored by churches and individuals in their home countries, who are also committed to this same goal. It is but a small picture of the many members of the body of Christ working together, each with different gifts that the Apostle Paul talks about in Romans 12.
But this time has also given me a chance to look back and reflect on what God has been doing in my life. We never really get over our grief, but then again we are never really the same after we have passed through it. The joy that Christ alone gives, shines through our grief just like the sun shines through the clouds after a storm, revealing something beautiful.
The other day I read this poem, from Streams in the Desert, which beautifully reflects that thought.
And now my heart and I are sweetly singing–
Singing without the sound of tuneful strings;
Drinking abundant waters in the desert;
Crushed, and yet soaring as on eagle’s wings.”
During this past year, I have begun to feel God’s comfort and to experience closeness to and a hunger for God that I had never before known. I began to live in Psalm 42:1, 2 where David said, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God,” and God began to reveal Himself to me in new and wonderful ways, as I found my soul being refreshed by the abundant waters in the desert.
Listening to sermons this past year from Tullian Tchividjian, Scotty Smith, Steve Brown, and my own pastor Gary Ginn have reintroduced me to the Gospel of God’s inexhaustible grace and His one-way love toward me. The power of the gospel is just as necessary and relevant to us after we become Christians as it was before. We habitually look to someone, or something smaller than Jesus, or even in addition to Jesus, for the things we crave and need, and none of these things are ever large enough to fill that void.
But then God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, began showing me that because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross, my identity was not in myself, but was in Him! I love how in Psalm 66:16 the psalmist responds to the awesome deeds of the Lord, “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.” Rediscovering the Gospel has given me a new freedom—a freedom to be “nothing” because Jesus is “everything” and all because of the finished work of Christ on the cross, for me!
I no longer need to worry about being ordinary, because Jesus was extraordinary for me; I no longer have to worry about being weak, because Jesus was strong for me; I no longer need to worry about being a failure, because Jesus succeeded for me. My name is in Jesus’ name–my reputation is in Jesus’ reputation. What freedom that brings!
In 1997 with her first diagnosis of cancer, I marked Psalm 30:5 in my Bible, “Weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes with the morning.” I again marked that verse in January 2014, and while there is still sadness in my life, God is beginning to fulfill that promise, by bringing me unspeakable joy, which can only come in and through Him.
In Psalm 40:3, King David said “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.” Amen!

No comments:

Post a Comment