The Greater Thing

We pray for blessings, we pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things.

We as parents want only the best for our children.  We pray and ask God to protect them from all harm, to keep them from sickness, to heal them from their illnesses, and to provide abundantly for all of their needs throughout their lives.  But what happens when children are born with a disability?  What happens when God chooses not to heal them?  How do we respond when God does not give us the prosperity we asked for?  What is our heart's response when God's mighty hand seems to weigh heavily on our lives rather than easing our suffering?

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near?
What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise?

It is often easy for us to confuse God's gifts, giving Him greater glory for the gifts that we can see, rather than for His gifts to us that are eternal.  I recently read an article by John Knight about Jesus' healing of the paralytic man in Mark 2:1-12.  In this passage, this man's friends go to great measures to make sure this man is brought before Jesus.  Then, Jesus does the greatest thing ever - He forgives this man's sins.  This man now has a right standing before the perfect judge of his soul, and he has the assurance of increasing measures of joy in heaven with Jesus for all eternity.  Yet, instead of praising God, the crowd accuses Jesus.  In fact, they do not glorify God until AFTER Jesus heals the man's paralysis.

John Knight helpfully reminds us that while Jesus' healing of the paralytic was tremendous, it lasted only a short while.  This man has been dead for many years now.  Jesus' greatest gift to this man was the gift of forgiveness.  As I read this, I was left with the question, "What do I rejoice in?"  Do I wait to praise God until He has answered my prayers for lesser things, or do I glorify Him for His greatest gift of all - salvation for all who believe.

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
And all the while You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe.

God may or may not ever heal my son.  Despite the fact that Wesley may never be given this "lesser thing", I can rest assured that God HAS loved Wesley, and all of us, so much that He has given us the greatest thing.  He has shown His love for us by sending His Son to be the perfect sacrifice and triumph over sin.  This means that our sins can be forgiven and we can spend eternity with Jesus.  Being with Jesus forever is far better than than being healed of an earthly disability for several decades.  It is far better than protection and prosperity and a lack of suffering in this life.

When friends betray us, when darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home.

I am so very thankful that God has used the trials of this life to change my perspective - to give me a longing for heaven, where all things will be made right and where I will see my Savior face to face.  It is there that Jesus will wipe away every tear from my eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the things of this life will have passed away and all things will be made new.  Wesley will be made new.

Thank you Lord that this is not my home.  I am passing through this earth for only a short time on my way to a perfect eternity with Jesus.

May we always rejoice that just as with the paralytic, Jesus has given us the greater thing.

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst
This world can’t satisfy?
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise?

* lyrics are from "Blessings" by Laura Story