I’m sick today. Shocker.
I don’t keep an exact tally of my sick days. But a realistic count for the last year was 60-65 times. I consistently average one Fibromyalgia flareup per week. With me the flareup symptoms look like the common cold, minus the fever. Many flareups last more than one day. And that’s not counting all the “real” times I get sick… I’m IgA (immunoglobulin A) Deficient. Open a new tab and google it. 🙂
On many days, I can push through; on others (like today), I can barely move around. Everything hurts. Thoughts are foggy. My skin is sensitive to the touch.
My Mean Summer Book List
I started an on-site summer ministry intern program in 2017. Interns arrive for a training week, then work with us in our 9-week summer day camp and feeding program. They’re with campers, many of whom are from difficult low-income backgrounds, from 7:30am to 6:00pm five days a week. We house them, feed them, and all adopt them as part of our family.
And I train them the best I know how. We spend the early mornings and evenings discussing the day camp, ministry “land mines,” and the 21 assigned books interns are supposed to read while here. When I mentioned the 21 assigned books to someone yesterday, they said “you’re mean.” Yep.
I chose the books that most powerfully influenced my life and ministry practices.
One of those books is 50 People every Christian Should Know by Warren Wiersbe. I’ve read that book often; each time it reminds me God uses all types, that there’s no one way to serve God, and that many other Christians have faithfully served Him in spite of their frail bodies.
Wiersbe devotes one chapter to the 19th Century Scottish pastor Andrew Bonar.
[Trivia Bit: Andrew’s older brother was Horatius Bonar, who wrote many hymns including his most famous “I heard the Voice of Jesus Say.“]
Life at 80
At 80 years old Andrew Bonar made a journal entry:“I see distinctly that my Lord is teaching me to glory in my infirmities and to be willing to be set aside…all this is saying ‘He must increase; I must decrease.’”
Those words resounded through my mind today. Bonar was quoting the Apostle Paul 2 Corinthians 12 (from the King James Version). In verse 8 Paul recounts praying 3 times God would remove a “thorn in his flesh.” [Brilliant Biblical Scholars disagree about that mysterious “thorn.” So I certainly will not wade into that quagmire. I’m not concerned today with the thorn, but Paul’s response.]
But instead of granting Paul’s request, God responded to Paul in verse 9 with “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul then explains to his readers what he will now do, given the Lord’s response…
“Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9b-10).
Glory!
These extemporaneous shouts of praise were especially heart-warming if you knew the man– always clean cut, never at church or the seminary without jacket and tie. He taught church finance classes in addition to his work as a seminary administrator.
Yet when singing about his Savior, this straight-laced man often couldn’t contain his joy. The exultation would eventually come bursting from his lungs with his familiar, “Glory!”
Beware of projecting some awkward and monotonous ‘Sunday morning Bible reading’ on the Apostle Paul’s response. It’s clear Paul was not afraid to express emotion.
The same God who set the stars in the heavens has finally finally spoken, after Paul’s three heartfelt requests to remove that “thorn.” However God answered, I believe Paul would have been thrilled that God finally gave him an answer.
“Most gladly therefore will I rather GLORY! in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (emphasis mine, obviously)
Rest
I firmly believe God will, one day, heal me of my current auto-immune conditions. For reasons I don’t understand, He’s yet to grant my requests.
No matter. I don’t follow God for what He will do for me. I follow Him for what He has already done. He’s forgiven me, called me his “beloved child,” and lavished His grace upon me.
Yes, even with 60-65 days of sickness per year, even with my own current aches and pains, I will agree that “His grace is sufficient.” And, like the Apostle Paul and that dear man shouting from the choir loft, “I will Glory! in my infirmities.”
Furthermore, on this day when the simplest tasks left me feeling winded, I will stand in agreement with the Apostle Paul… when I am weak, then am I strong.
It’s 10:30pm. That’s late for me. My sleep schedule is now off from too much sleep earlier today. My body needs more rest. But Andrew’s older brother, Horatius, reminds me… It’s Christ, not a comfy mattress, who gives me the rest I truly need. Good night, friends.
May you Glory! in your infirmities, whatever they are and however long they linger.
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me and rest;
lay down, thou weary one, lay down
thy head upon My breast!”
I came to Jesus as I was,
so weary worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place,
and He has made me glad.
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
the living water; thirsty one,
stoop down, and drink, and live!”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream;
my thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
and now I live in Him.
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s Light;
look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
and all thy day be bright!”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
in Him my Star, my Sun;
and in that Light of life I’ll walk,
till all my journey’s done.
I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say,Horatius Bonar, 1846