God’s promise for Week 3:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor 12:9)
For those who want further Scripture reading each day here are a couple of suggestions:
-Read one Psalm a day and meditate on it.
-Read a chapter or part of a chapter out of Acts or Matthew or Hebrews each day, focusing on the idea of faith.
Day 17
“You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance." Ps 32:7
Pride often rears its head in unlikely areas. To become a little child we must humble ourselves to the point of becoming aware of the fact that it is God who gives us life and breath: "For in him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). It is not our own strength that keeps us alive on this earth, but rather it is the sustaining hand of God. Once again, we can learn from the way that little children, in their humble innocence, look to their parents for their security. This truth hit home on that terrible day on the hiking trail last June when those two little girls lost their lives (see Day Nine). My youngest daughter Emma, who was then five years old, was badly shaken by this tragic incident. Her recurring questions gave us great insight into the source of her pain. She repeatedly asked if we thought that the girls’ parents had yelled for them to get out of the way when the tree began to fall. She asked if we thought the parents had tried to catch the tree before it fell. While phrased in slightly different ways, over the next weeks she posed to us this question: How could those children have died while they were with their parents? The word ‘parents’, to her young mind, was synonymous with ‘safety’. Emma’s faith in our imperfect, fallible love taught me a lesson about the kind of faith I should have in God. As we left my sister and her family who were with us that day, her husband grabbed my arm and said “look after your kids!�? At that moment, I came face to face with my own powerlessness, and I realized that it is only through God’s incredible power and love that my children, and every one of us, are kept alive. “No king is saved by the size of his army, no warrior escapes by his strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name." (Ps 33:16-21)
Through these very tragic circumstances, my children’s faith in their parents was shaken, as was our faith in our own ability to protect and save and sustain our children. But there was no void left, for we trust in his power that knows no bounds and his love that never fails.
Prayer:
Lord, help me to trust you like a child—knowing that your love for me is greater than I can even comprehend.
In faith:
Don’t forget to pray for your “hopeless cases"!!
