Week
6 Trust and Peace
Day 36
Doesn’t
He Leave the Ninety-Nine?[i]
If you love God first
and best and serve others out of that love, then peace—the Christian equivalent
of happiness—will sustain you regardless of your outward circumstances.
~~~
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O
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ne of the biggest
robbers of peace is the sense that our gifts are being underutilized, that we
could accomplish so much more for God’s kingdom if only we were unhindered by
the life circumstances that have entrapped us. When we think of service to
other people, we tend to imagine a far away group of less fortunate folks who
need our comfort and contributions. Even within our churches, the type of
service most emphasized usually has to do with missions because the Great
Commission does carry with it a responsibility to show Christ’s love to the
nations. We are to use our hands and hearts to accomplish God’s will on earth.
However, there is another kind of ministry that is less likely to be
accorded recognition as service, and
that is the taxing work we perform on behalf of our own families. Our loved
ones pull not only on our purse strings, but our heartstrings; they tax not
only our physical strength, but our emotional and spiritual health as well. The
heartache involved in staying engaged with the needs of a suffering loved one
can be unbearable; it is instinctive to turn away from the pain. And yet the
Lord sometimes places before us precious relatives whose needs cannot be
ignored, and as their caregivers we may feel trapped by the very life
circumstances God has provided.
The types of service required by needy loved ones are many and varied,
and are not confined to handicaps or disease. The mother who lays awake nights
praying for her children is just as vulnerable to the despair of caregiving as
the person who cares for a parent who suffers dementia. It is not usually the
physical labor of service that causes our knees to buckle, but the
heartbreaking agony we feel as we are forced to watch the struggles of those we
love. How to find solace for the heartache of spending ourselves on behalf of
our beloved burdens? How to have peace in the midst of feeling entrapped by
circumstances we did not choose?
We must remember that it is God who chooses our field of service, and
that the Bible reminds us not to turn away from our own flesh and blood.[ii] We are to work for God’s approval and not
that of human beings, who may admonish us to abandon the needs of only one
hurting person in favor of more impressive forms of service.[iii]
We forget that we serve a good shepherd who left ninety-nine sheep in the fold
in order to search for the one that was lost; human beings tend to judge by the
size of the work, but God has intense love and passionate interest in even one
child whose heart is aching. When we find ourselves assigned to only one or
just a few of those needy children, we will probably not receive recognition in
the eyes of the world. We must remember that in God’s eyes, the work He has
given us—no matter the size—is of inestimable value.
If you are weary from the weight of responsibilities for those God has
placed in your care, please remember that this time of your life is temporary,
and that God is your deliverer. The enemy’s lying whispers tend to focus
upon some minor feature from the middle of the story; in a recipe for chocolate
cake Satan would have you think about the unpleasant taste of baking soda
rather than the appeal of the finished product in which only the leavening’s
effect and not its flavor are evident. God delivers His children out of
trouble, and He will deliver you and your loved ones from the pain they now
suffer. More than that, He will prosper and bless them because of the difficult situations they endure, and you with them
as the pain of the trial recedes in memory, and the blessings of its honing
influence remains.
Discontent and worriment over circumstances we can’t control can lead to
a desire for the escapism of overeating. It is good to remind ourselves of how
faithful God has been to us in the past. He has never let us down and is
with us through each new challenge. We can rest in the certainty of His
provision and presence regardless of our circumstances.
Pray: Lord, please forgive me for the irritability that stems from the
false belief that I could be doing bigger or better things than the work You
have assigned me. Please grant me Your grace to pray for the ones You’ve
entrusted to my care, to respond in love when they are unloving, and to
minister to their needs as You have ministered to mine. I trust You for the end
of my story, Lord, and I give You the glory right here where You have placed
me. Amen.
~~~
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord
your labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58
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