While being Sick...

Well, I have spent this day in a way that I could not have foreseen. I had plans to prepare for the trip back to Louisville and complete some Christmas shopping. I also looked forward to getting some more reading done in the book that I want to finish this winter.

But here I am in bed only now possessing the strength to type. I woke up this morning with a heaviness in my stomach and finding myself with less and less energy to do simple things. I manged to get myself back in bed where I have stayed for the entire day.

I feared that it was a stomach viruses since that seemed to be the bug going through Knoxville during these months. But, thank the Lord, I have not had any of the major symptoms like vomiting. I don't know what it is but I pray that the worst it will do to me is just zap my strength.

Yet, I don't need to waste this illness either! If God is sovereign of everything that happens in this world then microscopic viruses are under his dominion as well. The Lord has seen fit to take away my strength and lay me up in bed for the day. (maybe worst if He sees a means of bring Himself glory.) So what should I call to mind from my predicament that I have been placed in?

1. God is good to me beyond what I deserve, But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (Eph 2:4-8). Even though I am laid up in bed I am in a position that I do not deserve. I do not deserve to have a temporary sufferings. I deserve to have eternal sufferings! God, on the other hand, has decided to make me a recipient of His mercy and grace for all of eternity! What struggles I go through here on earth cannot compare to the rebellion God forgave at the cost of His own blood! I do not deserve this grace that I am in while I am sick

2. I have been granted the greatest healing that I could ever havev hope to attain. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (1 Peter 2:24-25). The greatest healing that I could attain is not some name it and claim it prayer where by I pray to God for physical healing and I know that He will give it. No, the greatest healing is that I was once dead to the sin that ensnared me and was bring me into destruction. But now, because of Christ death on the cross the old nature is dead and I am able to live unto righteousness. I can cast away the sins that brought pain and torment and be created in the image of the most glorious being in the universe, Jesus Christ! I can live according to His commandments, His guidance, His oversight and find myself fully satisfied in bring Him glory! That is true healing! Though this body lay broken, I have been healed according to righteousness through the sin defeating death and resurrection of Christ!

3. I am completely dependent on God for the normal functions of my body to work properly. Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" (Ex 4:11) mouths and eyes are all dependent on God. One day I was fine, going to get a shirt for an upcoming wedding (not my own, just to dispel such thoughts) and the next day all my strength is gone. Who am I but a creature that is totally dependent on his creator. That is a very humbling thought! One that I need to keep in mind for the rest of my life. I may think of myself as successfully but my very well being is under the dictates of God.

4. All my bodily functions can fail and I be left a powerless and desolate yet God upholds me by his strength and Christ is still in my possession. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Ps. 73:26)I maybe powerless on my bed, but Christ is still mine and I am His!

5. God does not need me. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. (Is. 40: 12-17) He can lay me up in bed for the day and rule the earth in absolute perfection. He does not need my strength, my insight, my well being for Him to accomplish His purposes. He is from everlasting to everlasting!

6. This body is broken like all other things in this world yet there is coming a day when this body will be redeemed. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.(Romans 8:23)

Well, my strength is getting close to depleted, so I believe that is all I can say for right now.