REFOCUS
Begin with Silence, stillness, and centering before God for two minutes.
READ
2 Corinthians 4:8-16< We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don’t know what to do, we never give up. 9 In times of trouble, God is with us, and when we are knocked down, we get up again. 10-11 We face death every day because of Jesus. Our bodies show what his death was like, so that his life can also be seen in us. 12 This means that death is working in us, but life is working in you. 13 In the Scriptures it says, “I spoke because I had faith.” We have that same kind of faith. So we speak 14 because we know that God raised the Lord Jesus to life. And just as God raised Jesus, he will also raise us to life. Then he will bring us into his presence together with you. 15 All of this has been done for you, so that more and more people will know how kind God is and will praise and honor him. 16 We never give up. Our bodies are gradually dying, but we are being made stronger each day. Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me . . .
REFLECT
Hand in Hand
One of the ways that psychological research has dovetailed with the Bible is in the area of resilience. Many studies attest to the fact that those who have faith can recover more quickly from tragic events and trauma, and to cope more effectively with the struggles of everyday life.
From a natural perspective, believing in something “bigger than ourselves” (as the secular research often describes it) allows us to shake off the pesky and destructive forces of victimization, of worry and of negative thoughts that run circular patterns in our heads.
Faith serves as a way of moving beyond our problems and pain as we become more able to visualize hope.
From a Christian perspective, faith unlocks the power of God. It turns the dreams He has placed in us into reality and allows us to hold onto not only “something bigger than ourselves,” but to the hand of God, Himself. There is a reason why David wrote that when he “walked through the valley of the shadow of death,” God was “with him.”
He believed that no matter how hard the struggle — whether the result of the circumstances of life or the tumult of his own sin — God would be there.
That verse from the 23rd Psalm also reminds us what faith doesn’t do: It doesn’t always take us out of the problem or the pain. Instead, it gives us the strength to handle it. Instead of being alone, we are traveling with one who has endured the cross. He has experienced its pain. He knows betrayal, ridicule, and despair and has come through it victoriously. The same nail-scarred hands, once stretched out on the hard wood of the cross, now hold ours.
Everyone struggles. Failures and mistakes are the marks of being human. Each of us experiences pain and problems. We all make mistakes and embarrass ourselves. The question we must ask ourselves is, “How do we get up, keep going and emerge better for the experience?”
Paul’s testimony in the reading above tells of those early followers of Jesus that had “suffered” and been “knocked down” to the point that their bodies showed the marks of the hardship. Yet it also tells of the strength that allowed them to get up again, found in believing that God was in charge, and that he worked in and through the worst that life brought.
There is a long line of believers who have walked with Jesus through the deepest pain and proved the principle that their “faith has made them well.”
RESPOND
Questions to Consider
- What valley(s) am I walking through? (It helps to give them a name – the Valley of Condemnation. the Valley of Fear, the Valley of Betrayal, etc.).
- Now get practical: What is one thing that I can do to remember to trust in the one that “holds my hand” and is “bigger than myself?”
Prayer
“Lord Jesus, help me to see, feel, and hear you in my valley. And when I am unable, stir up in me the faith to trust that you are there and will lead me through.” Amen There is an old tune that can serve as a prayer of surrender by simply changing a few pronouns to personalize it. Here are the lyrics:
I put my hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water
I put my hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea
I take a look at myself, and I can look at others differently
By putting my hand in the hand of the man from Galilee.
Every time I look into the Holy Book, I want to tremble (Tremble)
When I read about the part where a carpenter cleared the temple
And those buyers and the sellers, no different, fellas
Than what you and I profess to be
And it causes me shame (Shame) to know I’m not the man that I should be
I putting my hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water
I putting my hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea
I take a look at myself, and I can look at others differently
By putting my hand in the hand of the man from Galilee
– Gene MacLellan
Blessings,
Rev. James R. Needham, PhD, MDiv