The Thing I Feared the Most
In Job 3:25, Job says that what he feared the most came upon him, and I suppose that if we are honest, most of us could say that at some point in our lives. I said it yesterday. I went to the dentist hoping to save a tooth, only to find out that I have to have four pulled. I have always dreaded the dentist, and I have a lot of "natural" reasons for that stemming from my youth, but those reasons are not necessary to know. I looked back in an old journal entry and I asked God to keep the pain at bay from a tooth I knew was bad. I wrote that five years ago, and for five years He did keep the pain at bay. I felt no pain, but the tooth next to that one grew worse without my knowing it. As a result, I have to have all those back teeth pulled; farewell to my grinders! Out of fear I lost four teeth instead of one. Pretty silly of me.
There is so much to praise God for in all this. First He kept these teeth from infection which is remarkable. Next, yesterday the dental assistant was only going to x-ray the tooth that I thought the filling had fallen from, but as she was about to finish, she decided to go ahead and x-ray the whole mouth and especially the tooth I was having pulled. It was this x-ray that showed the dentist that all those teeth were quite bad and had to be pulled. The one whose filling fell out, could only be saved with extensive root canal work, which I declined, so that became the fourth tooth to go. Another blessing was that if I had waited until the April 21st to have that tooth pulled, I wouldn't have been sufficiently recovered to attend Joseph's Master recital. God does indeed work all things for good. Even what Satan means for evil, God uses for good. What comfort!
I also learned a valuable lesson. Fear says, "There is no God." I had a lot of fear which removed my trust in God. Another foolish thing I did. I will have to be put under to have this surgery, for it will 40 minutes to remove all the teeth, because there is a bridge that will have to go. Right now, I am not afraid. I pray that I trust God and not fear. I am just now starting to get some pain, and I wonder if that is because between the x-rays and the exam there was a lot of pushing on those teeth, but I am determined not to fear as I wait on the Lord. April 12th is the time that was chosen for me to have this surgery, and I trust God to help me with the pain. In fact the pain does make look forward to the surgery day, and I will be glad to have them gone. So even in that there has come blessing.
Spiritual growth I see is a daily growth, and sometimes you don't recognize that you have grown until you have the trials. I planted a mountain laurel from a seed quite some time ago, and I forgot about it. The other day as I watered the plants I noticed this mountain laurel had really grown more than I expected. The Lord reminded me that spiritual growth is similar. We move along with our activities and then comes a trial, and we see that we can manage the trial we thought we never could, because God is there at our side. He brings scripture to our remembrance, He reminds us that we are only strangers in this world, and He has prepared us for a better home, an eternal home with Him forever. It took a bad tooth to remind me of these things. Complacency takes hold too easily.
I don't want to take anything for granted. I am humbled because I know that I could fall into fear at any moment, so my moments must be filled with the Lord. Reading His word, leaning on Him, trusting Him. Fear says, "There is no God." Faith says, "Behold I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
There is so much to praise God for in all this. First He kept these teeth from infection which is remarkable. Next, yesterday the dental assistant was only going to x-ray the tooth that I thought the filling had fallen from, but as she was about to finish, she decided to go ahead and x-ray the whole mouth and especially the tooth I was having pulled. It was this x-ray that showed the dentist that all those teeth were quite bad and had to be pulled. The one whose filling fell out, could only be saved with extensive root canal work, which I declined, so that became the fourth tooth to go. Another blessing was that if I had waited until the April 21st to have that tooth pulled, I wouldn't have been sufficiently recovered to attend Joseph's Master recital. God does indeed work all things for good. Even what Satan means for evil, God uses for good. What comfort!
I also learned a valuable lesson. Fear says, "There is no God." I had a lot of fear which removed my trust in God. Another foolish thing I did. I will have to be put under to have this surgery, for it will 40 minutes to remove all the teeth, because there is a bridge that will have to go. Right now, I am not afraid. I pray that I trust God and not fear. I am just now starting to get some pain, and I wonder if that is because between the x-rays and the exam there was a lot of pushing on those teeth, but I am determined not to fear as I wait on the Lord. April 12th is the time that was chosen for me to have this surgery, and I trust God to help me with the pain. In fact the pain does make look forward to the surgery day, and I will be glad to have them gone. So even in that there has come blessing.
Spiritual growth I see is a daily growth, and sometimes you don't recognize that you have grown until you have the trials. I planted a mountain laurel from a seed quite some time ago, and I forgot about it. The other day as I watered the plants I noticed this mountain laurel had really grown more than I expected. The Lord reminded me that spiritual growth is similar. We move along with our activities and then comes a trial, and we see that we can manage the trial we thought we never could, because God is there at our side. He brings scripture to our remembrance, He reminds us that we are only strangers in this world, and He has prepared us for a better home, an eternal home with Him forever. It took a bad tooth to remind me of these things. Complacency takes hold too easily.
I don't want to take anything for granted. I am humbled because I know that I could fall into fear at any moment, so my moments must be filled with the Lord. Reading His word, leaning on Him, trusting Him. Fear says, "There is no God." Faith says, "Behold I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
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