Rehearsing God’s Faithfulness

Rehearsing God’s Faithfulness in Troubling Times

It was 5 weeks ago today that I fell and broke my left humerus.

I didn’t think I could survive this affliction the pain was so excruciating and it left me quite debilitated.

But here it is five weeks later and the Lord has helped me persevere despite what I was dead certain I could not live through. He is showing me yet again that He will never fail me in the trials He takes me through. He in His limitless love, mercy, and faithfulness has provided everything I’ve needed and so much support and prayer from so many wonderful people.

Through every trial He takes me, though it’s never pleasant, I’m always reminded He is always with me and He never fails. If He hasn’t failed me thus far, then I don’t have to walk in fear and doubt that next time a crisis occurs, He might slip up.

But as the following scripture passage from the Book of Hebrews relates, that is just what happened long ago to God’s special people whom He rescued from Egypt.

“God’s Holy Spirit says this:

‘You must listen when you hear God speak today.

Do not refuse to obey Him.

Do not be like God’s people many years ago.

When they travelled in the wilderness, they turned against Me.

They wanted to see if I would punish them.

For 40 years your ancestors saw the great things that I did.But still they did not obey Me.

That is why I became angry with them. I said, “They always want to do what is wrong. They refuse to understand My message.”

Because of that, I promised to punish them. Because I was angry with them, I said, “They will never arrive in My special place of rest.” ’

So be careful, my Christian friends. Do not refuse to trust God.That would be a very bad thing to do.

Do not turn away from the God who lives for ever.

Instead, help each other to be strong every day.

Today, you can still hear God’s message.

While that is still true, do not refuse to obey God.

Do not think that sin will not hurt you. That is a lie.

We must continue to trust Christ very well, as we did when we first believed in Him.

We must continue to trust Him until the end of our lives.

Then we will share in everything that is His. We have seen what the Bible says:

‘You must listen when you hear God speak today. Do not refuse to obey Him.
Hebrews 3:7-14 EASY

FEAR AND DOUBT

The Hebrew children saw God’s mighty works, His miracles, for forty years as they traversed the desert wilderness.

God often tested their faith, but instead of trusting Him building on the experience of how He’d brought them through the previous times, they repeatedly fussed, doubted, and complained against God and grew not in their faith.

They seemed never to cross that bridge of fear and worry to advance with God toward the Promised Land.

This gives us a sobering message and warning.

For all God’s children will be tested in our faith according to His Word. However the Lord asks that we trust Him.

How often The Lord in His mercy has spoken to my heart in the midst of countless afflictions, “These troubles are not going to kill you. However, fear, stress, doubt, and depression ~ now these are the dark things that can kill you. But trust, hope and faith will conquer those things and you have to choose to walk with Me by faith.”

“Many adversities come to the one who is righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all.”
Psalms 34:19 HCSB

“He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken.”
Psalms 34:20 HCSB

I asked the Lord, why He didn’t keep His scripture promise to protect my bones.

The Holy Spirit reminded me that first of all Psalm 34:20 is a prophecy referring to the Lord Jesus Christ specifically, but in a metaphorical sense the Lord will keep all the bones of His children from breaking always.

What are bones? They are the foundation of our body. And God in this verse is promising to hold together my very foundation no matter what adversity I might have to face from any trial He puts me through. Jesus Christ God’s Son, holds all things together, even the very foundation of my being.

“Christ is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.”
Colossians 1:17 HCSB

No matter if everything seems like it is going to fall apart, Christ is still here, ever present, holding all things together. His word promises “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word…” Hebrews 1:3 HCSB

Peter wrote:

“You are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith —more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
1 Peter 1:5-7 HCSB

Whatever challenge we may find ourselves in right now, it is a good idea to look back over the trials we have faced in the past and write down how God has brought us through those hard times.

Rehearse how faithful the Lord has been to you and give Him thanks. This practice will strengthen your faith.

I know He has never failed our family or anyone I can think of who has trusted in Him. So many people I know have amazing stories to tell of His awesome faithfulness.

We might be tempted to think that if the Hebrew children had taken the time to review God’s amazing miracles with each trial they faced during their forty year sojourn, perhaps faith would have overcome doubt and fear.

However, no one can judge them. For it must have been very hard for those people. Whenever I put myself in their shoes I shudder and thank our merciful God for sending His Son Jesus Christ to be the propitiation for our sins, He is our Mercy Seat.

Personally I know from some of the testings the Lord has put me through that I am certainly no better than His precious Hebrew children were. And I am so grateful for His mercy and grace expressed in the sacrifice of His Son. For we turn the chapter and the writer of Hebrews offers us hope:

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens —Jesus the Son of God —let us hold fast to the confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.”
Hebrews 4:14-16 HCSB

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Your only Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins that we may be forgiven and made Yours forever. Help us to review the ways in which You have come through for us in the past and trust that You will never fail us no matter what is going on now to challenge our faith. Thank You, Lord, we love You, In Jesus holy name, amen.

Come Boldly

Peaceangelsong, “Rehearsing God’s Faithfulness in Troubling Times,” Copyright © 2022, Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved. Original Scripture Paintings (Images) Copyright © Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved. All Creative Work by Suzanne Is Accomplished Through The Indwelling Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Inspired by His Holy Spirit, To The Glory of God The Father, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture Quotations taken From

The HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible) Holman Christian Standard Bible®
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.

The Easy English Bible www.easyenglish.bible

The King James Version Bible (Public Domain)

Prayer For Wisdom

Featured ~ Suzanne Davis Harden

“Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God — who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly — and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.”
‭‭
James‬ ‭1:5-8‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Father, Let Thy Will Be Done, Not Mine

Peaceangelsong, Father Give Me Wisdom, Illustrated Prayer Poem, (Image & Poem) Copyright © 2022 by Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved. Scripture Quotation from the Christian Standard Bible, Copyright 2017, by Holman Bible Publishers

Two Chances

Featured ~ Suzanne Davis Harden

When I first fell about three weeks ago, my whole body was screaming with the worst pain I’d ever felt. I wanted more than anything to die. Throughout my agony in the hospital I cried and prayed for Jesus to please come take me Home and rescue me from this ordeal. Having already fallen flat on my face from a dead faint onto a hardwood floor back in November and miraculously only suffering painful bruising, a black eye, and bloody nose, then losing Mama and my precious sister Nancy, enduring vicious migraines every day, and fierce tension knots, I felt like this new affliction was the last straw. No way did I want to face this new trial.

~~Unlike King David, the man after God’s own heart, who, when God put through a dark trial, he faithfully prayed,

“Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain.Then You turned away from me, and I was shattered.I cried out to You, O Lord. I begged the Lord for mercy, saying, “What will You gain if I die, if I sink into the grave? Can my dust praise You? Can it tell of Your faithfulness? Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me. Help me, O Lord.””
Psalms 30:7-10 NLT

No, I was not good like David, for the very last thing I thought of was praising the Lord in my pain, alas. I screamed in bitter agony.

The Bible says that the dead praise not the living God, however He seeks a people who will praise and glorify Him despite their trials.

“The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord, for they have gone into the silence of the grave. But we can praise the Lord both now and forever! Praise the Lord!” Psalms
115:17-18 NLT

I learned that if I truly love the Lord I would endure despite the pain and continue to trust Him believing He will come through in the end. By His Almighty grace, I have determined to seek for ways that I can praise Him during this trial.

For His Word tells us that God’s mercies are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

One thing I will praise the Lord for is giving me such a wonderful husband. Ever since I fractured my humerus I’ve had to rely on Mark for assistance in doing everything ~~even doing my hair. Mark finds this task quite difficult and I must admit he has a gift for making really bad hairstyles. They are so awful that they are hilarious and make me laugh. I wish I had been documenting these crazy styles. Even JJ, our Yorkie, noticed him fixing my hair one day. Her little black eyes seemed to pop as she suddenly halted and hopped fast backwards out of the room, We both wish we could’ve documented her reaction on video.

Well, the night he made my hair look like I was wearing an ice bag, I could not stop laughing. I then said, “Honey, can’t you just manage a simple braid?”

I texted a friend about the issue. She told me that her daughter was really gifted at braiding hair and had her own website dedicated to braiding, and she gave me the URL.

I told Mark and sent him to the website. “Here is your chance, honey. Study her techniques and you will soon be braiding my hair!”

I was hopeful as I saw him intently studying two of the braiding videos. But when I noticed how complicated the braids were my heart sank.

Sure enough he soon gave up overwhelmed. Closing his laptop he looked at me and said, “You have two chances for me to ever braid your hair~ fat chance and no chance!”

I pouted. Why could he not have just chosen a video on how to do a simple braid?

Well, the next day the home health care nurse who comes to help me wash my hair and bathe said that she used to run her own hair braiding business on the side till she had her baby!

Would I like for her to braid my hair? She gave me two long beautiful French braids on either side of my head!

Here was my loving God giving me a chance to replace Mark’s fat chance and no chance!

How I praise Him for showing me His love and mercy in that special way!

And that wasn’t the end of the story either.

The next morning my Occupational Therapist came and wanted to braid my hair. She did a beautiful job. Once again, God demonstrated His love and mercy sending two people to braid my hair!

The dead praise not the living God but I will praise Him for these special ways He blessed me.

And the praising for His amazing blessings does not end there.

We went to the orthopedic doctor for a check up and while she did not see a great deal of improvement in the fracture as it was huge; she said it was going to take time and to be patient; after testing me she said I had no nerve damage!

This was very encouraging to me! She said with this kind of injury they sometimes see nerve damage in the hand so it was very good that I had none.

Glory to our wonderful God!

And today after Mark had graced me with another awful hairstyle last night that was truly hilarious, I went into the bathroom and prayed to be able to braid my own hair.

And God be praised~ He really helped me do it ~despite my broken arm!

God helped me braid my own hair despite my broken arm! Praise our awesome Lord Jesus Christ!

Fat chance and no chance are God’s chances in the eternal realms of the Almighty.

“Lord, You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever!”

Psalms 30:11-12 NLT