A Firmly Established Heart
Nathan & Brittany got me a Roku stick a few months ago. It’s been great during this quarantine. I particularly enjoy Love It or List It. I haven’t had HGTV since I moved to Colorado so I may be binge watching it now. These shows were one of the reasons I never want to renovate a house. They always find some expensive problem within the walls or the floor. I really cringe when they crawl under the house to discover rotting foundation pillars. Hillary always explains it with great dramatic flair. “the foundation or the wall simply won’t hold the weight” of whatever she wants to do. Of course, more money to shore up the pillars will do the trick.
Some of life’s biggest blows come in the form of a diagnosis. I’ve cried with friends diagnosed with cancer, I’ve said all the right scriptures to friends diagnosed with chronic illness and now, I weep over social media posts about friends diagnosed with Coronavirus, a word we didn’t even know two months ago. Six weeks ago my youngest grandson was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, out of the blue. Within 24 hours, my children were figuring carb intake and insulin dosages and giving shots. In that first day we did 8 finger sticks and 5 shots to a three year old.
One of the greatest fears plaguing our friends and families today is the fear of the diagnosis. Ironically, we mostly fear Coronavirus but other diseases are still being diagnosed daily. Theo’s doctor at BDC shared that children are still being diagnosed with Type 1 and they are still seeing patients. My neighbor shared that her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer, an Oklahoma teenager underwent a biopsy for liver cancer last week (Benign PTL). Fear of diagnosis didn’t just start a few weeks ago. It has become a constant in our lives. I confess, I have knee-jerk reactions to any and all pain in my body. These days I say a prayer of thanksgiving every morning and night that I wake up easily able to breathe.
As I study these scriptures, I am encouraged to realize that the great King David was a lot like me. In Psalms 112:7, he wrote, “They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.” NLT. I was intrigued, Who? Who doesn’t fear bad news? It was back in verse 1,
“ How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying His commands.” Several months ago, I studied the words “fear’ and “delight” in other contexts. “Fear” here, doesn’t mean to be afraid, it means to respect, admire and worship. People who ‘fear’ the Lord are not scared of Him, they respect and worship Him.
“Delight” was one I looked into deeply. I believed my whole life I had ‘delighted’ in the Lord, and tried to cash in on those promises about getting my desires met. I was humbled to learn that “delight” means to want what He wants above what I want. Just going to leave that right there, without further comment for now.
So, those who want what God wants more than their own desires and worship Him do not fear bad news. Those are people who decided before the diagnosis that God was and is completely trustworthy. They know that any darkness is lit with the Light of the Risen Lamb. They are steadfastly established in their belief of God and his character. I want to be that person.
Thinkin today about the heart of my Lord. I can trust it, even when I can’t see His plan.
