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Psalms 139:13-16 (NIV)
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my
mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your
works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not
hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven
together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed
body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of
them came to be.
"Can God use me with my
disability?"
The question came from one of the students that I meet with on campus each
week. His name is Casey. Casey was born with severe Cerebral Palsy. He is
confined to an electronic wheelchair and must depend on someone else to take
care of his regular needs.
I met Casey two years ago at the Student
Center on campus. We were holding an open forum with students who had
questions concerning the Christian life. One of the students asked about suffering
and why God allowed it. It was into this discussion that Casey entered.
Casey began by saying that it was his
disability that caused him to see his need for Christ. His joy in Christ was
evident and contagious. His presence provided the student with the answer he
did not think he could find.
Fast forward to yesterday in the Student
Center. Casey met with me and one other student for Bible Study. He began by
asking, "Can God use me with my disability?" He went on to say that
he had been told by one of his caretakers that they thought God was harsh in
allowing Casey to have such a disability. They thought that Casey was just
being brainwashed into thinking that God had a purpose for his life.
So our conversation led us to Psalm 139. We
talked at length about God's providence and his active participation in
creating all of life. Psalm 139 destroys any idea of the deist's position
that God just wound up the world and let it go its own way. No, the Bible says
something far more radical than that. The Bible teaches us of a God who is so
actively involved that he is involved in the very formation of the fetus in
the womb. He is involved in the creation of every synapse between every nerve
cell. He oversees and directs and actively causes the division of every one
of your one hundred trillion cells.
In the midst of all this He is working out
his sovereign purpose and plan. A smile began to grow across Casey's face. We
continued to study the Scripture in Psalms and then we read from I
Thessalonians 4:13-17.
We discussed at length how often it is that
God chooses to use things to accomplish his plans that this world would not
have chosen. We turned to I Corinthians 1 and read of God choosing the weak
things to confound the mighty, the things that are not to nullify the things
that are. Who would have chosen a cross to rescue the world? Who would have
chosen a poor carpenter from Nazareth to be the Messiah of the world? Who
would have chosen a blind man to display the glory of God in John chapter
nine?
What the world will label as disabled may
be the very thing that God calls enabled to display his glory. Casey began to
laugh out loud. After his laughter subsided he said, "Pastor, I am not
laughing because I don't believe the Word, I am laughing because just hearing
the Word of God taught once more has brought joy to my life again."
We talked a few more minutes about when
Jesus returns. There will be no catheter bags, no wheel chairs, no muscular
paralysis, just unhindered ability to run and to worship and celebrate God's
goodness. There wil be no sinful flesh that often disables us from loving God
as we desire. We ended our time together in prayer looking forward to the
return of our Lord. O what a day that will be. Until then God will choose to
use those whom the world may label as disabled to echo his glories across
this fallen globe.
One Disabled person to another declaring
the glory of God,
Pastor Phil
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