Sadness

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

Psalm 34:19 KJV


It's a sad day in my life. In fact it's been a sad week in so many ways. Literally, I've prayed for hours during the past week because of my sorrow. So I really don't have anything profound to say tonight.

I take great comfort in the above verse. Even in times like this, where I feel like I'm walking through the Valley of The Shadow of Death, I trust that Jesus will be with me and he weeps with me.

And I'm not alone on earth either. Think of all the saints that suffered in this life (this is a very abbreviated list):

Moses - forced to exile
Noah - ridiculed
Job - lost everything and was despised
Daniel - thrown in the Lion's Den
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abenigo - thrown in a furnace
David - ran for his life from Saul
Elijah - hid for his life
Isaiah - according to legend he was sawn asunder
Ruth - forced to glean because of poverty
Jeremiah - according to legend he was stoned
John The Baptist - beheaded
The Apostles - most were martyred
Paul - ship-wrecked, imprisioned, beaten, and martyred
Jesus - crucified

So when I'm suffering, I'm in good company. My only hope is to remain faithful as these people did.


John Wheeler

Faith of Mustard Seed

I still remember when I first heard the Bible story in which Jesus says, "if you had faith like a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain be cast into the sea and it would obey." I was a very young kid, and was anxious to put this verse to the test. So living within sight of Mt. Rainier I headed outside to do some big mountain moving.

Well,,,,, needless to say, the mountain is still where it's always been for ages.

Like so many before, I thought that faith was something that was palpable - a force that I could feel and see. Something that I could use like a weapon in my arsenal of spirituality. However, I was wrong.

What Jesus is really saying is that if you'll trust God with all your heart, just like this little mustard seed - you can do anything.

The key to spiritual power is to completely rid yourself of yourself and completely trust God. To humble yourself before God and man, and finally admit that you are completely powerless. (Which you are, even if you don't admit it). If it weren't for the good things that God benevolently supplies you with, how long would you last? What if God turned off the sun? Or if on a whim he allowed all the oxygen escape into outer space, what would you do oh small mortal?

So emtying yourself should be easy. It should be the most logical thing to do, but we're stubborn and we're proud.

And therefore we lack the power of the Kingdom of Heaven that we should have.


John Wheeler