Tag: Time

It’s only a matter of time

But Jesus’s perspective is different

Mark 1:34, 41; 2:11 Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases … Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and healed the leper. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” … Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home.”

2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away [a tormenting “thorn” in Paul’s body]. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

How can a loving father with power to heal, NOT heal his beloved daughter?

Karis took this vexing question to the Lord again and again during her life. At age 11, she chose 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 as her life verses. She referred to them often in journals when she details her intimate conversations with God. Another frequent phrase is, “Don’t ask why. Ask what for.” Her high view of God’s sovereignty, combined with her absolute trust in his love for her, led her to look constantly for what he was doing through her difficult circumstances. I came to expect this question when we were once again in crisis and on the way to the hospital: “I wonder who’s there this time who needs to see God’s love?”

I mentioned on the last blog that the conversation between Jesus and Little James in the second episode of Season 3 of The Chosen could have been lifted from Karis’s journals. Here’s my transcript. It’s not complete but most of the conversation is there, in case you want to refer back to it later.

Jesus has just instructed the twelve disciples to go out two by two in different directions, giving them the authority to heal, as they have seen him heal many people. Lame Little James asks Jesus for a conversation afterwards.

James: How can I heal others when you haven’t healed me?

Jesus: Do you want to be healed?

James: Yes. Why haven’t you?

Jesus: Because I trust you.

James: What?

Jesus: Precious Little James, listen carefully. Within the Father’s will, I could heal you right now, and you would have a good story to tell.

James: That you do miracles.

Jesus: Yes. That’s a good story to tell. But there are already dozens who can tell that story, and there will be hundreds more, even thousands. But think of the story that you have if I don’t heal you. That you still praise God in spite of this [disability]. That you know how to focus on all that matters so much more than the body. That you show people you can be patient with your suffering her on earth, because you know you can spend eternity with no suffering. Not everyone can understand that. How many people do you think the Father and I trust this with? Not many.

James: But the other disciples—they’re so much more …

Jesus: Are you fast, impressive when you walk? Maybe not. But these are things the Father doesn’t care about. You are going to do more for me than most people ever dream. So many people need healing in order to believe in me … That doesn’t apply to you. And many are healed or not healed because the Father has a plan for them which may be a mystery. And we remember what Job says, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.”

James joins Jesus saying: “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Jesus: When you pass from this earth and you meet your Father in heaven, Isaiah promises you will leap like a deer. Your reward will be great. So hold on a little longer. And when you discover yourself finding true strength because of your weakness, and when you do great things in my name in spite of this [your lameness], the impact will last for generations. Do you understand?

James, with tears: Yes. Thank you, Master.

Jesus: A man like you healing others. Oh, what a sight! I can’t wait to hear your stories.

Jesus starts to walk away after they bless each other but turns back.

Jesus: And James, you will be healed. It’s only a matter of time.

Karis’s famous smile … on a Christmas day in the hospital

But God views time differently

Acts 27:1-3 When the time came, we set sail for Italy. Paul and several other prisoners were placed in the custody of a Roman officer named Julius, a captain of the Imperial Regiment. … Julius was very kind to Paul and let him go ashore [at Sidon] to visit with friends so they could provide for his needs.

Galatians 4:4 (also Romans 5:6, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 1:3) But when the right time came, God sent his Son …

Will we meet Captain Julius in heaven? I wouldn’t be surprised!

Did God delay Paul’s journey to Rome for more than two years just so he could know Julius? It’s an interesting question, I think, in light of Jesus’ parable about how much he cares for individual people (Luke 15:3-7).

But—two years! More than two years stuck in prison in Caesarea, dragged out now and then to “entertain” the guys in power with his bizarre beliefs?

Again and again in Scripture, I’m puzzled by God’s sense of timing. Israel waited for the Messiah for centuries—more than four hundred years after the last prophecy of his coming. In what way was that particular starry night in Bethlehem “the right time”?

Questions to ask in Heaven (if I still care).

I thought about timing yesterday at a Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert—the opening weekend celebration of the first in-house concerts since Covid began. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 evoked childhood evenings in the village of Nebaj, Guatemala. If we had electricity, Dad spun his disks while we five or six or seven kids read books or made jigsaw puzzles in our small living room, the fireplace adding warmth on chilly nights. Dad loved Tchaikovsky, the sweetness and the thunder.

Shutterstock: Africa Studio

There’s so much that goes into music of this caliber, I mused yesterday as the woodwinds danced with each other through Glinka and Ravel. The musicians bring their skill and their instruments, of course. But they also bring a willingness to submit their wills to the conductor’s baton. If any one of them decided to play by his or her own timing, the whole performance would be ruined. Implicit in each one’s choice to join the orchestra is the ability to blend, to add to the whole his or her hard-won skill as designated by the score.

I wonder whether any of them questions the conductor’s decisions, in practice or in private, as I sometimes question God about the timing of events in my own or other’s lives.

And I wonder how different our world might be if each of us were willing to watch, trust, and submit to our Conductor’s baton.

Shutterstock: Stokkete

A side note: The only way I’ve figured out to honor my no-screens-on-Sundays practice is to switch But God postings from Sundays and Wednesdays to Mondays and Thursdays–not that I’ve always been consistent. But that’s my intent. Some of you were kind enough to notice I missed a couple of weeks around our son’s wedding and a retreat with several of my siblings. Life happens!

April and Dan leaving the ceremony. The wedding had a Tolkien theme, thus the bridesmaids carried bows and arrows and the bride a lantern. Many guests came dressed as elves, dwarves, or hobbits. So fun!