Today is Monday. I have been thinking lately about all the heartache in the various lives around me. In the past couple of years, friends and family have experienced so many tragedies: death, bankruptcy, divorce, family severances, abandonment, and financial disasters. God has been teaching me about what it really means to comfort those in need with the comfort I myself have received. I haven't experienced all of these things exactly the way my friends and family have experienced them, and in each circumstance, there is an ability to relate but even more so there is one over-riding lesson for me to learn: humility.
I can relate in various ways to each person's pain and certainly I have zeal for helping to comfort the one in such pain. Yet, so many times, I am driven to my knees because I realize just how overwhelmingly inadequate I am. I have nothing of great value to offer these suffering individuals, but my own bleeding heart. Sometimes that is of comfort, but how I long to do more than that. How I long to see their heartache and suffering turn to peace and joy and a smile on their faces! How I wish I had a check big enough to cover financial woes...how I wish I had prayers big enough to move their mountains of relationship woes...how I wish I knew God's plan so that I could be absolutely certain in pointing them down the right path....how I wish I had wisdom enough to make sense of their tragedies...how I wish I had words and persuasion enough to change hardened hearts and closed minds.
But I am not God.
I realize so often lately, that my inadequacy is actually a very good thing. It is a realization that keeps me humble and from ever believing too much in myself and not enough in the Lord whom I serve. He does use me in so many ways to touch hearts and lives beyond my comprehension. He has graced me with wisdom and discernment and continues to develop a heart of compassion and tenderness within me that is amazing. But ultimately, suffering people need Him. My inadequacy leaves me in just the right place...a place of offering personal touch and a hand to walk them to the One whom they really need - their Creator! How inadequate I am...and glad for it!
Lord, search my heart and reveal any pride within me that seeks to take glory for your work in the lives of those around me. Forgive me and cleanse me of such sin. I am not worthy of your glory and pray that I would be wise to the temptation of my flesh to usurp your glory. Use me as you see fit, and may my heart always praise you for all that you do. I am so grateful that you would not only save me, but also use me - to have a plan for my life, one of purpose and care. In the lives of those around me...those suffering...please Lord be their everything - their Alpha and Omega. Walk them through these valleys and transforms their lives. In the end, may their suffering be purposeful and fruitful toward your endeavors and plan!
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