Bandaged

 

Friday, February 5, 2021

Praise the Lord!  How good to sing praises to our God!  How delightful and how fitting!  The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem and bringing the exiles back to Israel.  He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.  He counts the stars and calls them all by name.  How great is our Lord!  His power is absolute!  His understanding is beyond comprehension!

This Psalm was written in the wake of the joyful return of exiles from Babylon.  It would be hard to underestimate the thankfulness God’s people experienced.  They had been defeated captives; now they were going home.  There is something about being bandaged up and encouraged when you’ve been beaten to a pulp!  Freedom is sweet enough to make even those who can’t sing praise God in joyful song. 

This week I (literally) had my eyes opened once again to that reality.  These old, badgered eyes saw everything as sepia-toned, dull, no vibrant colors or definition.  Blurry-drab was the focus of my lens, until the surgeon did his thing with the laser to remove the cataract.  Now whites are dramatically-white, and are becoming clearer every day.  I feel like the brokenhearted, having been bandaged and healed. 

It was no surprise that John Newton’s hymn, Amazing Grace, came to mind after eye surgery.  That hymn proclaims, once I was blind, but now I can see!  Of course my healing this week was merely physical; Newton’s words announce the spiritual truth of a soul’s redemption, the healing bandage of salvation.

The returning exiles cried out How great is our Lord…His power is absolute!  We believe every word of that, and not just because seeing clearly is a euphoric reminder of how bad my vision had gotten. 

We believe it because this little reminder of God’s healing mercy is only a portent of things to come, when faith becomes sight in every delightfully possible way as God banishes sin, sorrow, death, and removes even the memory of pain, wiping away every tear.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:4

This is the glorious bandaging up of the brokenhearted, badgered, and beleaguered…the eternal balm of Gilead for those who walked in great darkness, but now see beyond the pain to the glory of God’s majestic throne, where sits the King of Glory.

For You Today

It has been said that the stuff and events of our lives are an example of Scripture’s hope for us, and that Scripture, in every way, explains our lives.  One preacher said it this way:  a preacher ought to stand before his flock with a Bible in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other.  If we read that right, it means you can open the Book of Books to any page and you’ll read about what’s going on in your life.

That’s so; like I trusted my surgeon this week to open my physical eyes, let the Great Physician open yours…his Scalpel is sharper than a two-edged sword.[1]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For another post on Psalm 147 see City of David 

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[1] Hebrews 4:12

 

The Sedative Effect

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Friday, July 7, 2017

But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep?  When will you wake up?  A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.  Proverbs 6:9-11^(NLT)

It’s been a lot of years since I had surgery with general anesthetic.  Aside from the effect of having someone carve holes in you with a scalpel, there are other consequences. 

Monday morning when the anesthesiologist put the mask on me and said, now just take a few deep breaths…I’m not sure I heard another word.  I awoke a few hours later…almost!  They told my bride, Elizabeth I was tough to wake up.  (She could only smile; she knows I sleep like a weary dead man anyway.)

I honestly don’t remember ever waking up.  I don’t recall them helping me to get out of the semi-private gown and into my jeans.  I seem to recall walking through the surgery center doors outside, but missed the trip back to Thomasville entirely, including a stop at the pharmacy for those wonderful little pills that took the post-op pain away. 

The next two days are a hazy blur!  I will have to take it on faith that some unethical telemarketer didn’t get me to sign-away my firstborn into slavery while I was under the influence!

There are some other residual effects of sedation strong enough to bring down a herd of bull elephants; I’ll spare you the graphic intimate details!

You’re welcome.

One application about drug-induced sleep; it’s a little like the sin of complacency.  When you’re in deep, you hardly know you’re in deep.  And even when they – friends, family, or the preacher – try to awaken you, you can’t cooperate without some strong assistance. 

God spoke to the nation of Israel, with that kind of rather harsh assistance, to get them to awaken from the sedative effect:

“I am the Lord, and I do not change.  That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed.  Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them.  Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’  “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!  “But you ask, ‘What do you mean?  When did we ever cheat you?’  “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.  You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.  Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple.  If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you.  I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in!  Try it!  Put me to the test!  Malachi 3:6-10^(NLT)

The sedative effect of cumulative sin had dulled the spiritual sensitivity of God’s people, and they were quite comfortable in going through the motions of religious activities, while their hearts (and tithes) were far away from the God for which they proclaimed undying love.

Israel needed strong assistance out of their anesthesia…it was time to wake up! 

Yet, despite their obvious, sleeping, sinful ways, God was still willing to bless them if they turned back to him.  Which proves once again that it wasn’t Israel’s people who had undying love for God…it was the other way around.

For You Today

Could it be America, its churches, and we, the people, need to return to our Heavenly Father as much as ancient Israel?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

NOTES

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[i] Title Image: Pixabay.com

A Father's Guiding Hand in Troubled Times

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Monday, June 19, 2017

Finally, when we could stand it no longer, we decided to stay alone in Athens, and we sent Timothy to visit you.  He is our brother and God’s co-worker in proclaiming the Good News of Christ.  We sent him to strengthen you, to encourage you in your faith, and to keep you from being shaken by the troubles you were going through.  But you know that we are destined for such troubles.  Even while we were with you, we warned you that troubles would soon come—and they did, as you well know.  That is why, when I could bear it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong.  I was afraid that the tempter had gotten the best of you and that our work had been useless.  1 Thessalonians 3:1-5^(NLT)

I’m certain Paul considered the believers at Thessalonica his children in the faith.  His fatherly love for them shouts through this passage when he confesses he couldn’t stand it any longer, not knowing if they were still holding firm in the faith.  It seems Paul had heard about the persecution the young Christians were facing, and was anxious to know how they were faring.  It’s like that with fathers.  A father has dreams that his children’s dreams will come true; you want the best for them.

Yesterday was Father’s Day, and it was also the 99^th anniversary of my Dad being born.  He went home to be with Jesus two years ago and I miss him terribly.  That being said, I would not draw him back from Heaven for even a moment, even if that were possible. 

But I do think often of his care for me, and the ways he was anxious for my well-being.  I never felt wanting when it came to being loved by my father.

When I was 16 I played high school football.  One time I zigged when I should have zagged, and a knee from another player found its way into my side, and that led to a speedy trip to the hospital in the back of Coach Weitz’s station wagon, and emergency surgery for a ruptured spleen. 

Mom and Dad spent six hours in the waiting room while the docs put me back together.  There was plenty of “waiting-room coffee” but nothing to eat.  I am told that when they wheeled me out of surgery around 10pm past my parents I was white as a sheet, unconscious, and had tubes, needles and IV bags hooked-up to arms, legs, and any other available spot.  Dad never ate lunch, and hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast that morning.  Sources say he turned white as his comatose son, got wobbly-kneed, sagged back into his chair and fainted.  Now my Dad was 6’2” and a man’s man, but the sight of his little boy in that shape drove any pretense of remaining strong when your kid might bleed to death.

Years later I can think of that whole escapade and laugh.  If Dad were still here he would say in his customary lame way:  That’s easy for you to say…you were taking a nap the whole time!

It’s true; I was out cold and never knew the real danger I faced, and how the doctors were busy saving my life.  But Dad never prayed so hard or felt so pressed and helpless.  Such is the burden of one who cares.

For You Today

It is a good reminder, Father’s Day, to remember and give thanks for those who have cared for you and guided you through troubled times. 

We have a Heavenly Father to thank, and for Whom we can be grateful!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

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[i] Title Image: Pixabay.com

Hardened Heart

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Monday, August 22, 2016

So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God.  So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today.  God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:  “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”  

Hebrews 4:6-7 ^(NLT)

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What is the difference between a softened heart and a hardened heart?  It’s the difference between life and death!

Physically our hearts have a two-layered sac which covers the inner portion of our heart muscle.  This is the pericardium, and it helps the heart work and protects it as well.  But this pericardium can become inflamed and also can develop sclerosis, or hardening.  When this happens the heart’s activity is constricted and can be fatal.

The remedy for hardening of the heart is sometimes nothing less than operating, where the surgeon will slit the pericardium, allowing the heart to expand and do its work.  I read years ago of this procedure, and the physician described seeing the sick heart as lethargic, gray, and nearly lifeless.  Then, with the slightest skilled move of his scalpel, the pericardium sac opened like a bursting rosebud, revealing a pink, pulsating heart ready to go to work.

I don’t know that any of the prophets or apostles sat-in on open heart surgery to see such a miracle, but they were spot-on about the spiritual condition of a hardened heart!

In today’s reading God’s Word declares that God’s rest (or salvation) is available to anyone who will come.  It also describes the all-too familiar reality that many do not enter into that relationship because they prefer to hold onto their sins (disobedience). 

The Scripture pleads…don’t harden your heart; in that way you shut yourself off from the very relationship your heart wants…fellowship with your Creator.  The hard lining of a spiritual pericardium is an impenetrable shield against every invitation God extends, because we refuse forgiveness when we hold on to our disobedience.

There is a great sweeping movement today of the kind of disobedience clearly named in Scripture which people prefer to ignore, blithely (and ignorantly) stating that God has changed His mind, and now permits whatever man prefers.

Hardening the heart against God in the name of a soft-heart towards sin is the very image of apostasy; it is calling evil good, and will bring judgment.  It is the pathway which seems right to many people, but ends in death of the soul.

For You Today

Pray for those with hardened hearts; but also pray for yourself, inviting God to do a spiritual X-Ray on your heart’s lining.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

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[i] Title Image:  By en:User:Stanwhit607 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons