Whose Mind is Stayed on Him

Isaiah 26:1-3 ESV

 

“In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

 

‘We have a strong city;

    he sets up salvation

    as walls and bulwarks.

Open the gates,

    that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

You keep him in perfect peace

    whose mind is stayed on you,

    because he trusts in you.’”

 

This is going to be more by way of testimonial today because of what I am presently going through in my life. I know that I have shared parts of this before but new developments are taking place. And so I was praying through those new developments and I was thinking them through when the Lord put the song “Sweet Beulah Land” in my mind. These were the words that were jumping out at me:

 

There's just a few more days to labor.

Then I will take my heavenly flight.

 

I wanted to have a better understanding of these new developments and so I did some more research on my symptoms, and my research solidified much of what I was suspecting. And what I learned is that the virus I have had in my body for about 6 months now, due to breathing in mice urine and feces back in late July/early August of last year, is progressive, and it can be long term, and there can be permanent neurological damage to my body.

 

It isn’t that those are comforting thoughts by any means, especially since my pain level has now increased, and especially since I have had a 13 year commitment to the Lord to remain drug free, so I don’t take anything for pain other than prayer and heat/ice. But sometimes just having a better understanding of what your body is experiencing brings some peace, because then you have a better idea of what you are up against.

 

So, basically I was infected with a virus carried by mice nearly six months ago, and it has not gone entirely away, and in fact, new symptoms are developing and can increase more as time goes by and can have lasting and permanent damage to my central nervous system and to my overall physical health. But that does not instill fear in me. I find peace in that knowledge.

 

And the main reason

 

..I am able to deal with this is because of my relationship with Jesus Christ and my understanding of his sovereignty over my life, and my knowledge of the fact that he is in control over all things, including being in control over those mice that infected me, and over my illness. He is my great physician, my healer, who has healed me many times over, but who is choosing this time to walk me through it rather than to remove me from it.

 

This virus is not passed human to human but one can only get it from the infected mice. And it is rare, but I tend to fall into that rare category. And there is no cure for it or treatment for it that will make it go away. I have altered my diet and I am doing specific exercises to help keep my body going and to reduce pain and to strengthen those areas that are weak, but basically I have no control over this virus or where it goes from here.

 

My life is totally in the hands of God. He is my strength and my support, and he leads me in the way that I should go, and he fills me with his peace. I am having to use a walker to help me to walk because of the pain and weakness in my knees but also because loss of balance (dizziness) is one of the lingering symptoms of this illness and without the walker I would keep falling over. So, I thank the Lord that I have that walker.

 

Now, I know that

 

..this passage of Scripture is talking about our salvation, and that the strong city is the body of Christ, the true church (not the buildings called “church”). And our salvation is our fortification, our protection from enemy forces and from the devil’s schemes against us. For Jesus died to deliver us from our slavery to sin so we would now be slaves of God and of his righteousness.

 

And I know that the righteous nation is not a physical nation but a spiritual nation of people who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and who have been raised with Christ to newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And I know that our righteousness comes from God but that we also must walk in his righteousness.

 

But Jesus Christ, who is the giver of life, and who is the author and the perfecter of our faith, and who is the one who sacrificed his life for us on that cross so we could die with him to sin and live to his righteousness, he is also our strength and support, and he is our bulwark, and he is the one who strengthens and who empowers us to live godly and holy lives.

 

And he is the one who helps us through times of physical weakness and when we are in pain and when we are going through trials which test our faith. And so he is also the one who fills us with his peace when we are suffering and who reminds us that he is in control and that we can trust him for he knows what he is doing and he has a purpose for it all and he will bring good out of it in our lives if we will rest in and trust in him.

 

I know full well

 

..that if I did not have the Lord that I would be in a tizzy right now with all these changes that are going on in my body. But I am perfectly at peace. My mind is stayed on him, and I trust him fully with what is going on in my body. Seeking understanding through research is in no way not trusting him any more than was Mary’s inquiry to God in understanding how he was going to bring about the things he told her were going to happen to her.

 

But when the Lord allows us to go through such things as this, or other things, we should always run to him first and inquire of him as to what he wants us to do unless, of course, it is an emergency situation and decisions have to made with haste, but even there, if we are in tune with the Lord, I believe that he will direct our steps. We should seek the Lord and his counsel and follow his guidance, for there we will find perfect peace.

 

And then there was the reminder that the Lord gave me:

 

There's just a few more days to labor.

Then I will take my heavenly flight.

 

Basically, all that we suffer in these bodies is temporary. If our trust is solely in God, and if we are walking in his steps, one day our labors will be over, and we will have no more pain or sickness, but we will be with our Lord forever, and what a glorious day that will be! And that brings hope!

 

Sweet Beulah Land

 

By Squire Parsons

 

I'm kind of homesick for a country

To which I've never been before.

No sad goodbyes will there be spoken

For time won't matter anymore.

 

Beulah Land I'm longing for you

And some day on thee I'll stand

There my home shall be eternal

Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land

 

I'm looking now, just across the river

To where my faith, shall end in sight

There's just a few more days to labor.

Then I will take my heavenly flight.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW8W7RXg6AA

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