It’s been a busy week starting with our daughter-in-law undergoing extensive abdominal surgery along with heated chemo placed in the open abdomen and “sloshed” around (my term) to touch as much of the organs and wall as possible.
It’s a big surgery with an extended recovery time. Think eight hours under anesthetic, a large incision from the top of the rib cage down, a temporary ileostomy bag. Add on one to two weeks in the hospital and two to three months before resuming full activity. With standard chemo starting again in about six weeks.
Stage IV colon cancer is scary. She was diagnosed just about a year ago. They did a more localized surgery at that time and she has been doing chemo every two weeks with a couple of breaks since then. I would say her top two goals have been
- To see her 10-year old little girl graduate
- To glorify the Lord In all things
You may be going through something completely different that is just as scary/painful/faith-challenging.
I was reminded in this morning’s YouVersion devotion by Tara Lee Cobble to consider how David had been chosen by the Lord to be king and anointed by Samuel, yet King Saul still lived and reigned and pursued David to kill him for many of the 15 years. Many of those years between David’s anointing and actually becoming the king David spent running from Saul and, sometimes, getting himself in another mess in the process.
Here’s a man who wanted to do God’s will as king, but also was willing to wait for God’s timing. How hard is that?!
Yet David left us with many songs he wrote where he was crying out to God asking Him to do something - and often giving Him ideas about how to accomplish defeat of the enemies. There are many where He is questioning God’s ways.
But at the end of almost every gut-wrenching song, David proclaims the glory, majesty and sovereignty of God. He is willing himself to trust in what he knows of the Lord - not only from scripture but from experience.
In whatever you are going through today, I encourage you to read all of Psalm 34.
Note in the Psalm the things David says the Lord has done for him. Spend time recalling what the Lord has done for you. Then worship Him for who He is! When we lift up His name, our problems and fears look smaller and smaller.
O magnify the Lord with me!
