40 Days of Praise - Day 38

Day 38

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:5

I can’t say that my next statement is true for everyone, but I have gathered that it’s true for many Christians: There are some things in us that have been broken and until we are made new, those things won’t be fixed. We create workarounds. God gives grace. But those things won’t go away.

The Apostle Paul knew about these kinds of things. He talks about the "thorn in the flesh," the "messenger of Satan" to buffet him. Three times he asked God to take it away. God did not. Instead, He told Paul that His grace would be sufficient for Paul, that God‘s strength would be made perfect in Paul’s weakness.

We are never told exactly what that thorn in the flesh was. We know that Paul suffered with some type of eye affliction. In Galatians 4:15, he mentioned that the Galatians were so moved with love toward him that they would’ve been willing to gouge out their eyes and give them to him. In the 6th chapter he mentions how he writes with such large letters when he writes for himself, which suggests that he couldn’t see well. And he said that he bore the marks of Jesus in his body. I have often wondered if the thorn in the flesh was something that resulted from Paul being stoned at Lystra.

The question is not whether God could heal. We know that He can. But our afflictions serve a purpose in our lives. God often uses them to keep our pride in check, or to help our hearts stay responsive to him. They also shape our testimony. When others here of the burdens or the wounds that we carry and see the grace of God active in our lives, they are encouraged that God can give them grace also.

But, truth be told, burdens get wearisome and wounds get old. We want to be done with them. Joni Eareckson Tada has said on more than one occasion that when she gets to heaven, she will thank God for her wheelchair and for the many ways that needing that chair caused her to trust God and lean on him as she never would have otherwise. But she said that once she had her new body, she would tell God that He could toss that chair into the fire.

Dysfunctional families of origin, violence perpetrated against us, mistakes that we have made and the wear and tear of life take a toll, some of which doesn’t get removed at salvation or which we don’t “grow out of” or get delivered from. I’ve got some things in that category. Maybe you do too. But one day, we will be done with those things. One day, we will stand before Jesus and He will fix everything that’s broken and wipe every tear. He’s making all things new, including me and you. “These words, Jesus said, “are trustworthy and true.”

So take hope and press on a little while longer. Change is coming — the kind of change that only Jesus can do. He will make us new.

Charles M. Butler