I was reading on my favorite Christian website crosswalk.com and as usual I came across an article that I so needed to hear today. Riley's big doctors appointment is Friday and it kills me to say it but some fear is creeping in. Here is an excerpt from an article by Donnetta Cole that has given me some comfort for today:
In his book It's Not About Me, Max Lucado says the following of Paul’s words to the Corinthians: The words 'weight of glory' conjure up images of the ancient pan scale. Remember, two pans, one on either side of the needle. The weight of a purchase would be determined by placing weights on one side and the purchase on the other. God does the same with your struggles. On one side he stacks all your burdens. Stack them up, and watch one side of the pan scale plummet. Now witness God's response. Does he remove them? Eliminate the burdens? No, rather than take them, he offsets them. He places an eternal weight of glory on the other side. Endless joy. Measureless peace. An eternity of him.
Watch what happens as he sets eternity on your scale. Everything changes! The burdens lift. The heavy becomes light when weighed against eternity.
Look at each of these verses, he offsets each of these situations with Himself. "You will have peace. Take heart! I have overcome the world."(Jn 16:33) "I will be with you. The rivers will not sweep over you. You will not be burned." (Is. 43:2) "We are not crushed, not in despair, not abandoned, not destroyed." (II Cor. 4: 8-9) These are just a sampling of the promises found throughout Scripture.
We are not promised a life of ease and comfort. We are not promised escape, rescue, tearless, pain-free living. We are guaranteed quite the opposite. BUT, we are promised, beyond the shadow of a doubt, God's presence, peace, joy... His very self through it all.
We are promised the heavy will become light when weighed against eternity.So often I find myself believing the wrong promise. But as Natalie Grant stated so well in her song Held: "The promise was... when everything fell...we'd be held".
That is the promise. It is one worth clinging to. That is the promise to clasp for dear life. The promise that when everything feels as if it is crashing around you, that you will not survive, that it so very dark and more than you can take... you will be held. Held in the very palm of the Heavenly Father's hand. Now that is a promise worth believing!
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