Digesting Truth

2 Corinthians 6:10 As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

Swallowing things have never been that hard for me. From childhood thinking watermelon seeds would grow in my stomach to an 8th grader who could inhale two Big Mac’s with fries on family road trips to visit relatives during the summer, I have never had much of a problem eating, swallowing and digesting. However, how you ever had a friend who would have a lump in their throat when it came time to swallow medicine that they needed? I remember a friend who refused to take what the doctor had prescribed to make him better. Only after much pleading and coaxing would he swallow the antidote.

Do you ever feel like life isn’t treating you fair? Your 1, 5, and 10 year plan has not worked out just the way that you wanted it to. After leaving college six years ago, my plans were to become a successful business man and hopefully being in the six figures by age 30 or 35. My goals were to have my family in a place of financial comfort where we wouldn’t have to think about making payments week to week or month to month. I wanted security in the temporal things of life. Then, I met Jesus on April 7, 2003. After shattering the self-sufficient and invisible view I had of my self, He showed me my depravity and sinfulness. At 2:20 in the morning, He regenerated my heart, and I was justified by faith in His work of redemption. That night, I picked up my cross and have been walking ever since.

Over the past year, I have been able to walk with Jesus through the valley of the shadow of death by losing my grandfather (77), our first hopes of a child (6 weeks, 1day), and my dad (48) a month ago. Though He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, He has been my best friend (Isaiah 53:3). He’s listened to my groaning, reminded me where they are, and comforted me on my first Father’s day and birthday without them. Over and over again, He reminds me that this life is not about my comfort. This life is so short and so fragile. You really could be here one day and gone the next. I guess in losing these close family members, I have been able to walk to the edge of eternity and begin grasping what Jesus meant by “eternal life.” My eyes have been opened, heart is being renewed, and mind is in awe of God who is Sovereign. He is so intricately detailing your life that you would be amazed at all the work He is doing behind the scenes to conform you into the image of His dear Son.

Even with this year of grief, I just got back from a 12-day Biblical Tour of Israel. This was planned last August, and the LORD knew exactly what I needed to get away and get closer to Him, His Word and the Land on which He placed His Name. Jesus was fully God and fully man. He walked with real people, in a real place, at a real time. We saw the ruins of the towns that Jesus ministered in around the Sea of Galilee, took a boat on the waters that He stilled, and walked in synagogues that He would have entered. We saw the gates and walls that Nehemiah restored in Jerusalem, the platform of the Temple, the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. However, my favorite places were the Place of the Skull where Jesus died for our sins and the Garden Tomb that was completely empty. It’s hard to swallow the truth that God would love us so much that He would give His only begotten Son as the sacrifice for our sin. What a sorrowful and bitter cup of sin He drank on our behalf, but remember the victory of the third day! I do not know what trial you are going through right now, but I can point you to the One who can help you say, “as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing!”