BETTER THAN ANYBODY ELSE

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever; with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations.  Psalm 89:1

 

 

I was always bemused when, in their Golden Years, my parents would often reflect on their blessings.  “God has been better to us than anybody else,” Momo would say.  And Papa would agree as they recounted God’s goodness.

The reason for my perplexity had to do with my firsthand knowledge of their circumstances for most of the decades of their lives:  I’d seen and lived through various severe illnesses, financial stresses, personality clashes, heated disagreements, griefs, and assorted crises.  And yet my parents thought their lives were better than anyone else’s.

As I get older I am beginning to understand.  My parents were faithful, committed believers but were not perfect.  They lived with the same challenges and struggles many of us encounter and sometimes, I think, they, too, may have been at a breaking point.  BUT THEY BELIEVED GOD.  Romans 4:3 says that “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  God knew Abraham’s heart and walked with him through all the dark places of his life just as he walked with Momo and Papa.

As we walk with the Lord, learning from the suffering and failures, praising him for his faithfulness, our trust in him (our belief) is strengthened, and we begin to know him.  We experience his faithfulness; we experience his love, his closeness, his comfort; and, like Paul, we are persuaded that he is able to keep us (II Timothy 1:12).  Over time we begin to know experientially that God is everything he says and will do everything he says.  We know that he will provide desired outcomes or the grace to enrich the most terrible circumstance.  We learn to accept his peace before the storm is stilled, and we obediently rejoice in him always.

Nowadays, I think I may be among the most blessed people alive, and then I remember Momo and Papa.  Yes, I’m beginning to understand what they mean.

 

Father, thank you for the seed of eternity you’ve put within us, and thank you for that joy and hope that continually grows as we walk faithfully with you.  Help me to walk on and on with you, as Enoch did, and someday arrive at home.  In Jesus’ name.  AMEN.