A Haunting Question!

Our medical bible study is gleaning nuggets of truth from the Book of Daniel.  Last night we discussed how Daniel and his friends responded when faced with the decision to maintain their personal integrity or bow to the idol constructed by Nebuchadnezzar.

 The discussion soon turned to personal application.  At least 98% of Ukrainian physicians  work for the government and are paid an average monthly salary of $300.   At least 60% of the doctors take additional payments from patients either as bribes for more prompt or attentive service or as gifts of appreciation for services rendered.

 Now the question came.  Should doctors accept these payments knowing that if they don’t they will not earn enough to support their families?  Does God hear those in need?  Why do the wicked prosper?  Where is the justice?  Should we not expect God to bless His children?  The silence for a moment was almost deafening.

As we discussed the issues we did come to some conclusions.  We needed to clearly define what is right and what is wrong.  We needed to decide in advance to do the right thing.  We needed to help each other be accountable.  And we needed to ask God daily for His assistance.

This morning the question was still haunting me.  My daily scripture reading led me to examine Psalm 73 which revealed God’s response.

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart, Ps 73:1.  God does care about His people.  May we seek each day to examine the motives of our hearts and seek the purity only He can provide through Christ.

My feet had almost slipped.  For I envied the arrogant for their prosperity, health, strong bodies, free of common cares and human ills, (Ps 73:2-5).  Who are we to judge because we too are sinners, with the same idolatrous concerns.  Are we truly more righteous.  Is it right to ask God for our reward now?

The arrogant are filled with pride and clothed in violence.  Their evil knows no limits.  They threaten oppression.  They lay claim to heaven and take possession of the earth.  Ultimately, they say “How can God know and ask does the Most High have knowledge.” (Ps 73:6-11)  These people deceive others and deny the power of God.

Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure.  What do I earn for having steadfast belief in God, being plagued all day long, punished, oppressed. (Ps 73:13-16)  God will not care.  My needs are obvious.  I must survive.

How far will I go to satisfy my own desires?  I would have betrayed your children. (Ps 73:16)

But when I seek God, I find understanding.  The destiny of the arrogant is made clear.  They are on slippery ground.  They are cast down to ruin, destroyed and swept away. (Ps 73:17-19)

I also understand my position before God.  I too am senseless, ignorant and a brute beast leading to grieving heart and embittered spirit. (Ps 73:21,22)

But how shall we proceed?  With humbleness that comes from knowing God, we acknowledge His constant presence.  He takes me by the hand as a father with his son.  He guides me with His counsel.  His counsel is found in His word.  He assures us that His final reward awaits us and will be everlasting.  He is the strength of my heart.  How wonderful we do not need to rely upon our own strength.  We need to go to Him and He will be our refuge.  Nearness to God is spending time with Him every day and enables us to do what is right in His eyes.  We only need to tell of His work in our lives.  

Willingness AND Looking

Are you willing to do whatever God has prepared for you to do on any given day?  Better yet are you looking for what He has planned for your life moment by moment to glorify Him?

 Yesterday, I accompanied by wife to the hospital she has been faithfully serving the past several years (to get view of the day click on her blog, The Heart of the Matter, on the right).  She ministers to the children who have been diagnosed or waiting to receive the diagnosis of HIV infection usually through no fault of their own.  Their mothers, whose hearts have been deadened by drugs, abandoned them at birth.  She visits them, holding, hugging, tickling, mothering them.

I must admit my “to do” list contained more items than I could accomplish in a day.  In fact, I have things on my list towards the bottom that are important but have been on the list for at least six months.  They keep their lowly position not because they unimportant but because they are suppressed by the urgencies and sometimes mundane things of life.

Two days ago I was alerted via my assistant, Maya, that I might be asked to be a fill in puppeteer for my wife’s evangelistic puppet show.  Her plan was to recruit students from Kyiv Christian Academy as puppeteers.  They are required to perform twenty hours of community service each year.  The day of the performance was a day off from school and many families were making the most of this  opportunity to do something together.  After checking earlier in the week with the head nurse at this hospital for 400 children we were advised there would be as many as 150 children parents and staff in attendance.  Too late to back out now even if we did not have any assistants.  The show must go on.  We did have one faithful recruit, Nat, who we have known since we first moved to Ukraine.

We all gathered on the morning of the “Really Big Show” at our flat, two hours before, for our one and only rehearsal.  We could not find a copy of the script after a frantic search and for a moment thought the tape might be erased.  I am still amazed that we were able to pull this adventure off, but then again I was relying upon my own strength and desires.

We certainly were not professional.  But hearing the giggles coming form our audience and their spontaneous clapping with the music encouraged the puppeteers greatly.  Simply, the audience and the team were having fun together sharing God’s love and enjoying His presence together!

After the show two older patients from the audience who assisted in holding our curtain announced they were Christians and were very excited to see us.  We invited them to church and they promised they would come.  Another woman approached me with her son Valdic who has a kidney problem and needs an operation.  She is also a believer and wanted some reassurance that this surgery was really needed.  She was hoping and praying God would heal her son without this procedure.  Somewhat disappointed in God’s response, I asked her to think and pray more about God’s attributes and His purposes than the immediate problem she was facing.  Our God is so much greater than we can imagine.  He does not let anything go to waste even our illnesses.  We prayed.  She cried.  We hugged.

Was I a willing participant yesterday?  Was I looking for God’s purpose and plan for me when the day began?  Somewhat reluctantly, I followed God’s lead and He graciously allowed me to be His instrument to share His love and faithfulness.  What are your plans for today?