Looking Back on the Last 25 Years of God's Faithfulness

Twenty-five years ago this month, we were dealing with the news that by the end of the year, Garry's employment with Moody Press (Chicago) would end, that his department was going to be phased out and, after 16 years, there was no other place for him in the ministry. I learned this the day before our fourth wedding anniversary. To say I was stunned would be accurate. How could there not be any place for him after all those years?

Fifty weeks after his last day at Moody Press, he began to work for Grace to You, John MacArthur's media ministry in Southern California, and was there for 19 years. I admit I had never thought of living in California, but it was where we were meant to be.

Five years ago, we found ourselves in transition once again, moving from the West Coast to the Midwest, as Garry took "early" retirement and we had the option to be part of a new church in the Cincinnati area, Truth Community.

Have these transitions been easy? The first one in 1993-94 was probably the hardest, since we had certain expectations at that time.

Let me share some Scripture passages from the NASB which have supported and encouraged us over these years.

This passage from James came to mean a lot in our first transition: "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' But you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that'" (James 4:13-15).

This Psalm also became very precious and sustaining over these 25 years: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah" (Psalm 46:1-3).

Garry's favorite verse comes at the end of John 16: "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world" (v. 33).

I take comfort and encouragement from Paul's letter to the Philippians, particularly these verses: "The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things" (Philippians 4:5b-8).

I conclude with these verses from Lamentations, familiar to so many: "This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' say my soul, 'Therefore I have hope in Him'" (Lamentations 3:21-24).

Who Determines the Length of a Life?

Recently our pastor spent two weeks teaching on the believer's preparation for aging, then on the sudden passing of a 13-moth-old boy from our church.

How pertinent certain passages (NASB) have become.

Life is brief, as Moses observed: "For we have been consumed by Your anger and by Your wrath we have been dismayed. You have placed our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. For all our years have declined in Your fury; we have finished our years like a sigh. As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years. Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for it is soon gone and we fly away.... So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:7-11, 12).

Or, as James admonished the presumptuous: "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that'" (James 4:13-15).

Or, as Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth: "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

What must our goals be? According to Moses, a heart of wisdom; according to James, a submission to the sovereignty of God; according to Paul, a choice to look at the invisible, eternal, rather than the visible, temporal.

Length of years?

"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29). According to my understanding, the secret things include how long any one of us lives.

"Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in Your book were written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them" (Psalm 139:16). Even the psalmist recognized that God had determined from eternity past how long he would live.

How Fragile Life Is and Bearing the Unbearable: My Perspective

How Fragile Life Is

I've thought more about how fragile life is since a 13-month-old boy from our church left this world for heaven last week, unexpectedly except to the Lord. We have all been mourning with his family, and comforted by a sermon our pastor did last Tuesday evening,  "Not Why, But Who," which directed us to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who will sympathize with us in our sorrow?
Our Lord Jesus Christ: Hebrews 4:14-16; 2:14-18

Who will love us in our sorrow?
Our Lord Jesus Christ: Romans 5:6-8

Who can help us in our sorrow?
Our Lord Jesus Christ: John 16:33; 1 John 5:4

Who offers hope in our sorrow, joy in our deepest grief?
Our Lord Jesus Christ: John 14:1-3; John 17

Who promises present rest in our sorrow? Who is present now?
Our Lord Jesus Christ: Matthew 11:28-30

He hears our cry, receives us well--unconditionally.

His own tears have wet His own skin.

His tender promises can be trusted.

Bearing the Unbearable: My Perspective

Humans that we are, we seem called to bear the unbearable--
Such a loss as only the Cross can carry;
Such a loss as of a child, born or not yet born;
Such a loss as of a sibling, however close you were in life;
Such a loss as of a spouse, sudden or expected, still sudden;
Such a loss as of a parent--in one way or another--
However close or not you were;
Such a loss of a relationship can seem unbearable--
But there is One who bears
The unbearable grief and
Tenderly brings relief.
He calls us to His wounded side
In which we can abide,
For eternity, not a mere moment.
We mere mortals cannot ourselves
Bear the unbearable, but there is One
Who not only can but has.

"He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him smitten of God, and afflicted" (Isaiah 53:1-4).

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said this: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).