Monday, May 14, 2012,
7:58 a.m. – The Lord woke me this morning with the song “Broken and Contrite” playing in my
mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 8 (quoting vv. 23-27
NIV ’84):
Then he got into the
boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up
on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The
disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
He replied, “You of little
faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the
waves, and it was completely calm.
The men were amazed
and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
My Understanding: A
man with leprosy came and knelt before Jesus. He said: “Lord, if you are
willing, make me clean.” Jesus reached out and touched the man and said, “I am
willing, be clean!” Immediately the man was cured of his leprosy.
A centurion came to Jesus asking him for help for his
servant. His servant was paralyzed and was suffering terribly. The centurion
approached Jesus very humbly and with great faith, believing that just at the
word of Jesus his servant would be healed. Jesus said he had not found anyone
in Israel with such great faith. Jesus told the centurion, “Go! It will be done
just as you believed it would.”
Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law, who was in bed with a
fever. He healed the sick and drove out demonic spirits out of the
demon-possessed. Matthew said that Jesus’ healing ministry was a fulfillment of
the prophet Isaiah’s words concerning Jesus, as recorded in Isaiah 53:4a: “He
took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” From Isaiah 53:
Vv. 4-5: “Surely he
took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken
by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought
us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (NIV ’84). V.4a: “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and
our sorrows He carried” (NASB). Amen!
Grief and Sorrows
I was praying and crying through some situations in my life
yesterday, seeking the Lord’s wisdom, counsel and direction, and asking him to
cleanse me of all impurities when he gave me the words to this song, “Broken and Contrite,” which expresses
so well the prayer of my heart to him right now. Jesus also spoke to me through
this passage in Matthew 8, and especially through this passage in Isaiah 53
(Hebrews, too) where we learn that Jesus suffered and died, not just for our
sins, but also for our grief and sorrows, so that he could become our
compassionate, merciful and faithful high priest who sympathizes with us in our
weaknesses, who comforts us in our sorrows, and who heals our broken hearts.
I noted the approach that the various people took in seeking
healing for themselves or for others. First of all they came to Jesus. When we
are broken in heart and spirit, we need to take it to Jesus, because he is our
Lord, friend, comforter, counselor and healer. They also came humbly to Jesus.
The man with leprosy knelt (bowed) before Jesus, demonstrating a humble and
submissive spirit. The centurion was not seeking help for himself, but for his
servant. He also acknowledged that there was nothing within himself deserving
to have the Lord Jesus even coming under his roof (into his house). We, too,
need to approach Jesus with much humility and honesty concerning ourselves.
They asked Jesus to heal, i.e. they made specific requests
to Jesus, and he answered their requests because of their faith. They were both
confident in Jesus’ ability to heal. And, because of their faith, Jesus did as
they requested. Jesus reached out and touched the man with leprosy, commanded
the man to be clean, and immediately he was made clean. At the very word of Jesus,
the centurion’s servant was healed. Jesus said: “Go! It will be done just as
you believed it would.” The man’s servant was healed that same hour.
And, we need to ask him to heal us, too, and not just of
physical diseases, but of broken hearts and spirits, too. I believe if we
approach the Lord Jesus humbly, submissively, selflessly, and in faith,
believing that he will heal, that he will bring much healing. Healing takes on
many forms. I have seen the Lord Jesus miraculously heal people physically,
myself included. I have seen him miraculously heal broken hearts and wounded
spirits, myself included. And, I have seen him deliver from demonic oppression,
myself included, though I have not yet seen someone delivered from demonic
possession, though I have witnessed demonic possession in a person. Yet, I also
know of those with great faith who were never healed physically in this life,
but were given much healing in other ways, some of whom were taken home to be
with Jesus forever and received their healing in heaven.
Winds and Waves
The disciples were in a literal boat facing a literal
furious storm with real wind and waves. The storm came without warning. Jesus
was physically asleep on the boat. He was completely God but he was also fully
man. He got tired and he slept. The disciples were afraid of the storm, so they
woke the Lord up. They called on him to save them. That was good, but they did
so out of fear that they were going to drown, so they lacked faith. Jesus
chided them, too, for their lack of faith: “You of little faith, why are you so
afraid?” Yet, despite their fear and lack of (or weak) faith, Jesus still responded
to their request. He got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and it was
completely calm. The men were amazed that even the winds and waves obeyed Jesus.
In this life (in our boats) we will also face many furious
(ferocious; vehement) storms (tempests; outbursts; eruptions; commotions;
tumult; upheaval; and/or disturbances). Satan uses these to try to get us to
sin against God, to grow weak in our faith or to challenge our faith, and/or to
try to get us to back down and to give up trying. Yet, God uses these upheavals
and disturbances in our lives, which often come at us without warning, to mold
us, purify us, and to make us into the people of God he wants us to be.
We learn in 1 Thess. 3 that we are not to be unsettled by
the trials of life, for we are destined for them. Jesus told us we would go
through difficulties, persecutions, etc. In James 1 we learn that we should “consider
it pure joy” when we “face trials of many kinds,” because the testing of our
faith “develops perseverance,” and “perseverance must finish its work” in us,
so that we may be “mature and complete, not lacking anything.” In 1 Peter 1 we
learn that when we suffer grief in all kinds of trials that we are to greatly
rejoice, because “These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than
gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may be proved genuine and may
result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” So, trials
(storms) are good for us. They help develop godly character within us when we
respond correctly to these tumultuous times in life.
Without Warning
The storm came without warning. I believe that these are the
most difficult trials of all, because they catch us off guard, they come in
through the back door or the side, are unexpected, and we are not adequately
prepared for how to handle them. A sudden illness or death in the family might
fit into this category. A failing grade in school or on a test when there was
no prior indication that we were not passing might fit here, too. A spouse
suddenly announcing he or she is leaving his or her spouse because the person
leaving no longer “loves,” i.e. no longer has the same feelings he or she once
had toward the respective spouse, would hit hard.
Trusting that someone is telling you the truth, and thus giving
your heart and emotion to that person only to find out the person was lying and
feels just the opposite than what he or she had previously expressed, and so
you feel betrayed, is definitely at the top of this list. Betrayal, I believe,
has much more severe pain associated with it than the death of a loved one or of
a spouse, because rejection and a feeling of being unloved and/or even replaced
by another goes along with lies and betrayal of any kind, adultery included.
As well, if you are telling the truth and people think you
are lying, and so they don’t believe you or they accuse you falsely, that can be
very harmful. Or you might have in your mind that something is going a certain
direction and all of a sudden someone throws you a curve ball and you don’t
know how to respond. That, too, fits with storms that come out of nowhere, and
for which we are unprepared to know how to give the correct response.
Sometimes we hurt others when we don’t respond with the
calmness and grace we would hope would come forth from us at such times. Often
we are hurt when the storms themselves come at us with such fierceness, or when
our responses to the storms of life are met with resistance. I wish I could say
that I always respond to the winds and waves of my life with much grace and
charm (winsomeness), but alas, I don’t always. Sometimes the things of this
life come at me out of left field when my mind is completely someplace else and
I am caught totally unprepared for how to give a correct response. And,
sometimes I could literally kick myself because I either hurt someone or else I
think that I should have responded better. And, that causes me emotional pain,
too.
Yet, often God will allow these “storms” as a way to purify
us, i.e. as a way to reveal to us what is in our hearts that needs God’s
cleansing or healing power to work miracles. The Bible says that what comes out
of our mouths comes from what is in our hearts. Sometimes what is in our hearts
is fear, which is lack of faith, a wounded heart and spirit not yet healed,
sinful attitudes or thoughts, unforgiveness, resentment, and/or pride, etc. So,
when our responses to these storms that come out of left field are less than
gracious and winsome, we need to do a heart examination before God to have him
show us what is in our hearts so that he can heal our infirmities, sorrows,
grief, iniquities and transgressions. In other words, this is spiritual and
emotional healing that is needed here, not physical healing.
Sometimes, by our prayers and responses we may be
essentially saying the same thing to Jesus as did his disciples. We may think Jesus
is not in control and that he is not paying attention to what is going on in
our lives. But, he is very much in control and he always knows what is going
on, and allows it to go on, in fact, because he has a work he wants to do in
our hearts and through our lives, if we are willing. Jesus said that if we have
faith even as small as a mustard seed, we can move mountains. The father of a
boy who had a deaf and mute spirit in him asked Jesus to deliver his son, if he
could. Jesus responded by telling the man that “everything is possible for him
who believes.” The boy’s father then responded by saying: “I do believe; help
me overcome my unbelief!” Jesus honored that prayer. We are not to vacillate in
our faith, yet I do believe God will honor even the smallest amount of faith
that is humble, submissive and seeks to have increased faith.
Jesus is our great physician, and he can heal any amount of
pain, suffering, sorrow, grief, sin problem, and/or broken hearts and wounded
spirits. The “winds and waves” of our lives must and will obey him, as well. We
just have to call on him in prayer, with humble and submissive hearts, willing
to obey, and with our “mustard seed” faith, asking him to help us and to save
us out of (not necessarily from) our troubles, and to fill our hearts with his
peace and calm. And, he will answer, and he will rebuke the storms within us. This
is the prayer of my heart:
Broken and Contrite
/ An Original Work / May 13, 2012
I come before You,
Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and
crushed in spirit.
I bow before You, I
implore You,
Heal my broken heart,
I pray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord,
my master,
You are the King of my
heart.
Lord, purify my heart
within me;
Sanctify me, whole
within.
I come before You,
Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and
crushed in spirit.
I bow before You, I
implore You,
Heal my broken heart,
I pray.
Oh, Lord, I long to
obey fully
The words You’ve spoken
through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me
grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to
obey.
Father God, my heart’s
desire,
Won’t You set my heart
on fire?
Lord, cleanse my heart
of all that hinders
My walk with You, now
I pray.
Oh, Lord, I long to
obey fully
The words You’ve
spoken through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me
grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to
obey.
Oh, Jesus, Savior,
full of mercy,
My heart cries out for
understanding.
I want to follow You
in all ways,
Never straying from
Your truth.
Holy Spirit, come in
power,
Fill me with Your love
today.
Lord, mold and make
me;
Your hands formed me;
Live Your life through
me, I pray.
Oh, Jesus, Savior,
full of mercy,
My heart cries out for
understanding.
I want to follow You
in all ways,
Never straying from
Your truth.
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