Platform Shield

In my seminary, there was a healing school where students learned how to pray for healing for others. One day, one of them asked if they could pray that I for healing from my migraines, and I answered no. The student was taken aback and didn’t know what to say. Over the years, God and I have been on a long journey so that I could pray for others’ healing, knowing that he had chosen not to heal me in this life.

It’s not for us to understand why God heals some and not others, but God wastes nothing in life. Our devotion says:
God doesn’t waste suffering. If He leads us into impossible spots, He will deliver us in His own time, in His own way, and for His name’s sake. Our job amid the difficulty is to learn our Lord’s simple but submissive prayer: What shall I say? Save me from this hour? No, Father, glorify Your name. –The Red Sea Rules, by Robert J. Morgan (Rule 2)

This idea is why I love to pray the Psalms so much. When I have times that I feel my physical self is working against me, I connect with the way the Psalmists express suffering. I ask God to be my strength and to give me what I need. Passages like Psalm 115:
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness. O Israel, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield.” –Psalms 115:1, 9 NLT

God has never let me down. In the weeks I’ve preached with a horrible headache, I’ve spent the morning asking God to carry me through, and he does. The pain will be gone while I am on the platform, like a shield for 30 minutes. When I step off, it comes back. Often, I’m not even entirely sure what I said, but I usually get so many comments from people on the message. Those are the weeks I am forced to rely on God entirely.

Questions to Ponder:

  • What forces you to rely on God entirely?
  • How has he guided you when you were in an impossible spot?
  • Where can you find glory today?
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