Life's Inanities and Ironies

  Humility when we must lean on others First Peter 5:7 is simple and sweeping: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” Yet many of us find it harder to cast the care of being a burden than the care of the sickness itself. We never wanted to need help. We never wanted family or church to rearrange their lives around our weakness. Scripture does not shame the one who must receive. It shames the pride that refuses to receive. The early church held all things common so that none would lack (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35). Pure religion visits the fatherless and widows in their affliction (James 1:27). When we are the one in affliction, allowing the saints to fulfill that calling is part of our obedience. There is a holy humility in saying, “I cannot do this alone.” It is the same humility that lets the Spirit help our infirmities (Romans 8:26). It is the same humility that lets the body of Christ function. The Lord who cares for you has also placed people around you to be the ...

  The secret Paul learned in every state Paul wrote from prison, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound… I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:11-13). Contentment is not natural. It is learned. And it is often learned most deeply when sickness strips away every ability to “do.” First Thessalonians 5:16-18 commands us: “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Notice it does not say give thanks for the sickness as if it were good in itself, but in every thing. The circumstance is real; the thanksgiving is an act of faith that God remains sovereign and good. Job lost everything and still worshiped. Habakkuk, facing barren fields, still determined to rejoice in the Lord (Habakkuk 3:17-18). The believer who can no longer help anyone else is not exempt from these commands. In fact, ...

  What Scripture commands when we are sick and dependent James does not leave the sick believer to suffer in isolation. He gives clear instruction: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up” (James 5:14-15). He continues, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (v. 16). Notice the direction of the command. The sick one is to call. Dependence is not failure; it is obedience. We are not designed to carry every burden alone. Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” There is a difference between the personal load each must carry (Galatians 6:5) and the crushing burden that requires the help of the body. When sickness makes us unable to help ourselves or others...

When we can no longer help ourselves There comes a day for many of us when the honest confession is this: I cannot help myself, and I certainly cannot help anyone else. Pride hates that admission. Scripture meets it with one of the most liberating truths in all the Bible. Paul pleaded three times for the thorn to be removed. The Lord’s answer was not healing, but this: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul then declared, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me… for when I am weak, then am I strong” (vv. 9-10). God is not limited by our inability. In fact, He often waits until our own strength is gone so that His power alone is seen. When we are reduced to the place where we cannot rise, cannot serve, cannot even pray as we used to, the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26). Our weakness becomes the ve...