A few years ago, I took part in an excellent women’s Bible study at my church, a study using Jerry Bridge’s Respectable Sins. It’s a most interesting, enlightening, eye-opening and convicting book, and I am thinking that it is finally persuading my spirit of some critical truths – for instance:
I won’t spoil the book by telling you any more. But I do recommend it highly. Its teachings are solidly biblical, very well-done, easy to process, and extremely persuasive.
They are not revolutionary, however. For instance, this is one of the messages that Katharina A. von Schlegel conveyed in her wonderful 1752 hymn “Be Still My Soul”:
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Singing this hymn makes me think of the daily trials faced by my friends at the nursing home – trials such as sometimes having to wait, and wait some more, for help from an aide who’s currently occupied with another resident, or for a visit from a beloved but all-too-busy child.
Is even this circumstance orchestrated, or allowed, by the Lord?
Apparently so.
For what reason?
Could it be to teach us patience? Mercy? The infinite superiority of eternity in heaven?
Beats me. But it seems like this would be a subject worth exploring with an elderly person who belongs to Jesus. He or she may have some invaluable wisdom to share on the subject – wisdom just as life-changing as any we’ll ever find in a book, outside of the Bible itself.
- The Lord sovereignly controls the events in our lives for His own perfect purposes.
- He makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
- It is counter-productive to try to fight ourselves out of difficult circumstances, because He is using them for our ultimate benefit.
I won’t spoil the book by telling you any more. But I do recommend it highly. Its teachings are solidly biblical, very well-done, easy to process, and extremely persuasive.
They are not revolutionary, however. For instance, this is one of the messages that Katharina A. von Schlegel conveyed in her wonderful 1752 hymn “Be Still My Soul”:
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Singing this hymn makes me think of the daily trials faced by my friends at the nursing home – trials such as sometimes having to wait, and wait some more, for help from an aide who’s currently occupied with another resident, or for a visit from a beloved but all-too-busy child.
Is even this circumstance orchestrated, or allowed, by the Lord?
Apparently so.
For what reason?
Could it be to teach us patience? Mercy? The infinite superiority of eternity in heaven?
Beats me. But it seems like this would be a subject worth exploring with an elderly person who belongs to Jesus. He or she may have some invaluable wisdom to share on the subject – wisdom just as life-changing as any we’ll ever find in a book, outside of the Bible itself.
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