“Your faith will not fail while God sustains it; you are not strong enough to fall away while God is resolved to hold you.”
J.I. Packer, Knowing God
Without Apology
The last post was about how God holds our hands. The first post four years ago was too.
Firm and kind, I often feel His hand guide mine. It helps me die to sin and side with Him and rise in newness of life. This familiar hand I know by feel.
But his hand helps in a way I know only by sight. I saw it over Uncle Kevin when he faded from this life. I saw again when Uncle Tony went graceful into glory. And I saw it this week how his hand holds the hands of J.I.Packer and Rory and Joey.
And I know it sounds so sentimental, spiritual- all this hand-holding talk. But I do not apologize. Because it’s God-talk. Holding hands is the language of our Lord. He said it first. And not just once or twice.
Take Isaiah 41. It’s laden with that language. To his frightened, fading flock God said,
Be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them;
For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand;
It is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”
Things like repent and fly from sin and fade away and die.
Those who war against you shall be as nothing at all.
Satan wars against us. He’d have us despair and lose heart and break faith. He’d have us puffed with pride. He’d have us think we can handle our own problems without God’s hand or that our pain is beyond help from God’s hand. That’s when pain gets proud.
But, Those who war against you shall be as nothing at all, God said. Saints who fade graceful rouse me to see God’s hand at work, not by feel, but by sight. Fading saints prove that nothing at all can block God’s hand. God holds the fading fast.
Saints Fading Gracefully
Theologian J.I. Packer developed macular degeneration in December. It’s already impaired his vision so that he can’t read or write. When he announced he’d have to cancel all writing and speaking engagements, he called his condition, “a clear indication from Headquarters.”
WORLD Magazine (2/6/16) reported, “the 89-year-old British author of more than 300 books and articles said he’s experienced enough with God not to doubt Him: ‘God knows what he’s up to.'” Packer knows whose hand hold him fast. And fades gracefully.
Then I flipped to A Star Fades Gracefully and was introduced to Joey Martin Feek and her husband Rory. The two were a country singing duo. Joey’s 2012 song “When I’m Gone” is the story of a dying wife encouraging her husband to carry on. The song has come true.
Two years after the song came out, shortly after the birth of Indiana-an almond-eyed daughter with Down syndrome-Joey learned she had cancer. She fought hard. But after surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, the cancer is winning.
But God still holds her fast. Hospice care began this fall. Doctors didn’t know if Joey would last to December. Jeff Koch shared their story,
Rory called the season’s first snow “manna from heaven,” because it brought comfort during one of Joey’s darkest moments. “I want to raise our baby,” she had cried. “I want to be the one to teach her.” Yet the sight of snow shot a bolt of light into Joey’s heart as she admitted, “I didn’t think I’d get to see snow again.” She then raised her eyes upward and said, “If this is the last snow I ever see, thank you, Jesus.”
Christmas was a treasured milestone. Rory wrote, “The prognosis was clear that there was a good chance Joey wasn’t going to be with us” for the holidays. But Christmas Day came and a smiling Joey celebrated with family-what Rory called “the best gift of all.” He wrote, “We will continue to believe and trust that what is waiting on the other side of the deep, dark wood is something even better and more beautiful than our minds can even imagine.”
Because no one is strong enough-or weak enough- to fall away while God is resolved to hold us. No one, no thing, no-nothing can separate us from His hand of love.
Nothing at all. Those who war against you shall be as nothing at all.
