Text: “They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”
Isaiah 65:23-24.
Good morning, faithfully suffering Christian! Perhaps you have been born again now, secured
in Christ’s full Atonement Sacrifice at Calvary’s Cross, for many years – yet,
recently, you find yourself in some situation of profound suffering, sudden
calamity, heart-breaking bereavement; or very present danger and
oppression. This Bible message is
written just for YOU. Pray on, faithful
sufferer, your Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is already on His way to help
you.
Personal Experience of Author: Some years ago, my Christian
wife, lovely young daughter Abigail, and myself flew off to a foreign clime to
enjoy a much-needed break, a package holiday, where we could unwind from our
busy schedule of faithfully serving the Lord God.
Half-way through the holiday, we had been down at
the pool, enjoying the sun and the entertainment of a game of water-polo with
the other guests at the hotel. My dear
wife went up to our room to change and have a shower time with some privacy
before my daughter and I would follow her up to do the same.
When my daughter and I arrived at the hotel room
door, we knocked the door, but got no response but a low voice informing us
that my wife had hurt herself, and could not get to the door to open it! I rushed immediately down to the check in
desk, got another plastic key card, and got up again and opened the hotel room
door. Shock! Immediate human fear!
My wife was lying on the floor half-conscious, and
groaning with pain, slipping in and out of consciousness. I immediately got the hotel to send for an
emergency doctor, who came and, after brief examination, called an ambulance to
rush my wife to the local hospital some miles away.
Long story short:
Turned out
that my wife had finished her shower, was reaching across for a bath-towel from
the rail, slipped in the bath, and crashed down on her left side, breaking two
ribs, and, as we later learned just in time, ruptured her spleen, and began to
bleed internally! The hospital surgeon
removed her spleen, and we eventually got her back to the hotel to recuperate a
week later.
So, there we were, the three of us, paid holiday
time over, and facing a near future of food costs, hotel costs, doctor’s bills,
hospital bills – not to mention whether my dear wife was going to fully recover
from her terrible injury and surgical removal of her spleen. Fear, dread, and uncertainty set in, in spite
of our strong faith in Christ, and dependence on Him.
So, to the text I have chosen above for faithful
sufferers of Christ. Just when we neared our whit’s end and
positive expectations there in that, now sanitized hotel room, my wife and I
held our daughter’s hands in our own and we began to pray earnestly to the
Living Lord.
We had just begun to pray, “Dear Lord God, if ever
we needed Thy help, it is now. We don’t know how we are going to pay to remain
here in this hotel, pay for our daily food, and perhaps new flights home and
the costs of it all – on top of my wife’s serious surgical consequence’s…”
That’s when the hotel room telephone rang and
interrupted our earnest prayer time: “Hello, Doctor McClinton, this is Tesco
Insurance Company calling to assure you that you and your family are fully
protected by the policy you purchased before leaving on your holiday. ALL expenses incurred, including medical
bills, extra hotel bills, daily food, and your flights home – are covered for
the duration of your necessary stay until your wife is fit to fly home.”
“And it shall come to pass, that before they call,
I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24)
I share this personal experience to seek to
encourage all faithful sufferers, no matter what nature your sufferings are,
that the Lord already KNOWS your deepest need, has not only heard your faithful
cry for His help, but has already ordained the exact time and nature of His
help for you. When our own children cry
out to us as parents, can we refuse to help them?
“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she
should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget
thee (God’s Blood-bought people). Behold
(look, and fully understand), I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands;
thy walls (defences) are continually before Me.” (Isaiah 49:15-16)
Faithful Sufferers: Is the nature of your present
sufferings down to profound bereavement, loss of a loved wife, husband, child,
parent? Then, take heart, beloved
Christian friend, the lesson remains the same for YOU. When you suffer as faithful Christian
believers, the Lord Jesus suffers with you, knows your every need, is
experiencing your grief, your pain, your loss of health, your sense of present
danger from the hands of oppressors and foolish, anti-Christian
blasphemers. He will help! And His wrath is kindled against your foes!
Verse 18. “And that the foolish
people have blasphemed Thy Name. The meanness of the enemy is here pleaded. Sinners are fools, and shall fools be allowed
to insult the Lord and oppress His people; shall the abjects curse the Lord and
defy Him to His face? When error grows
too bold, its day is near and its fall certain.
Arrogance foreshadows ripeness of evil, and the next step is
rottenness. Instead of being alarmed
when bad men grow worse and more audacious, we may reasonably take heart, for
the hour of their judgement is evidently near. (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David,
page 322)
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)
Verse 22. “Arise, O God, plead Thine
own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth Thee daily. In all my 78 years of this life, 46 years as a
redeemed Christian, have I ever heard more the precious and Holy Name of the Lord
Jesus Christ ‘…taken in vain…’, used as a swear word; flung from the mouths of
crass actors in silly movies as an insult to the King of all kings, and the
Lord of all lords. What a terrible price
such fools will have to pay.
Thought: Take courage, beloved and faithfully
suffering Christian: your Lord Jesus loves you with an everlasting love, and
has heard your cry for His Divine help and protection. “Surely I come quickly.
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev.
22:20)
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