Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV
Rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks put the circumstances of our lives, both good and bad into God’s hands and help us see them through His eyes. Last night our beloved daughter-in-law Melinda slipped from this world into the presence of Jesus. And while we are overwhelmed with grief and shock, these words are promises to which we cling. Melinda has finished her race. Her battle with cancer is finished. And while that pernicious disease claimed her physical life, it could not touch her soul. That remained fully and exclusively in the hands of Jesus with whom she now lives. Nancy and I didn’t know how to process the news that came in three words. “She is gone.” Yet as sadness rolls over my heart I sense the message echo back from Heaven, ” She has arrived!”
“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.” John 15:1 NIV
Having worked as a professional gardener and tree surgeon for most of my career, this verse reminds me that the first place that God created for Adam and Eve to live was a garden. The Bible even tells us that God planted it for them! I think of that garden sometimes when I sing the hymn, “In the Garden” as it was where God came down in the cool of the day to walk and talk with His children. However: there are two other even more important gardens in scripture. The second garden we find God in is the Garden of Gethsemane. There Jesus prayed, “If it be possible let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but Yours be done.” There the awful price of our salvation was weighed in the balance and Jesus promised to pay it in full. Yet, there is still a third garden we read of that holds the highest meaning of all. That is the garden, where the tomb of Christ was located. There Mary came to weep, and there Jesus met her, and the walking and talking with Him that day was truly sweeter than any song the birds could sing. I do hope you will be blessed by this rendition of my favorite hymn, “In the Garden,” sung yesterday at our meeting at Discovery Villages. Have a blessed day and I hope that you will take some time to walk and talk with Jesus in all three of these gardens this week.
For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. Not as the result of works so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV
Maybe the reason this now ancient hymn strikes a chord in my heart is that the tumultuous life of young Robert Robertson was a lot like my own. Wandering far from the fold of God, was an understatement in both our lives. But into the middle of my mess, and on a collision course with disaster, God intervened, when someone offered me a ride while hitchhiking if I would just go to church. In Robert’s case, he and some ne’er-do-well friends, made plans to go to laugh and mock at a meeting where the famous evangelist George Whitefield was speaking. God must have chuckled, because there Robertson fell under the conviction of the Holy Spirit under Whitefield’s preaching, and not long afterward, committed His life to Jesu Christ. Then, just two years later, at the age of 22, the wonderful lyrics, of Come Thou Fount were born as Robert wrote:
O to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to me Let Thy goodness like a fetter Bind my wandering soul to Thee Prone to wander, Lord I feel it Prone to leave the God I love Here’s my heart O take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above
That great debt of grace, only paid by the precious blood of Jesus is what binds us in love to Him forever, if we give our hearts to Jesus Christ. I pray that our simple rendering of this wonderful hymn, will be a blessing to you all this Sunday. Have a wonderful Sunday, and may you find rest and peace in His grace.
Going to visit people living in memory-care can be strange, uncomfortable, and even difficult, but it is rarely boring. It seems that every day, someone has a problem. No two days, no two people and no two problems are the alike. Just when things seem to be going smoothly, new challenges unexpectedly appear: The memory care wing is on lockdown, a person we counted on to help with the service is out sick or a resident we have grown to love has passed away. How does God expect us to cope with all of this? I believe that the answer is: He doesn’t! Now, I have experienced a lot of problems over the years at nursing homes and in my personal life, but none of them can compare with the kinds of issues that the Apostle Paul experienced. Shipwreck, beatings, prison and death threats were regularly on his itinerary. As Paul faced all of these bravely, we find him singing in prison with Silas, returning to the town where he was stoned and left for dead and even writing a letter to encourage Timothy while he himself faced the death sentence. But of all these problems, the one Paul faced when he wrote a letter to the Corinthian church was different. This time Paul when pleaded with God to take a problem away from him, God spoke to him about grace:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV
This time God didn’t send an earthquake to change Paul’s situation, give him some new strategy to escape, or promise that things would get better. Instead, God promised Paul what He promises you and me: “My grace is sufficient for you…” God won’t give us the ability to follow Him without grace. He has designed us, not with an inner ability to succeed at anything we hope to do, but with a weakness that will drive us to depend on Him. There in our desperate moment, God comes, restores our hope, and pours His strength into our weakness. So, pray, pray, pray. Pray for God’s grace and then buckle your seat belts. You just may be amazed at what God can do!
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