We should chalk it up to God...

"If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

- 2 Chronicles 7:14

 

 

I have slept well the past two nights. Not that I don't usually sleep well. I think the trick is that I have gone to bed earlier the past two nights, and it has really made a difference in my day. It's nice to wake up and be the normal amount of sleepy versus dragging myself out of bed. The more sleep I get, the less groggy I feel. I'm definitely not a morning person, but mornings aren't near as rough when you've had a good 8 hours of sleep to prepare for them.

 

I drove to work this morning and I prayed for the world. With all that is going on in the news right now, there are certainly many people in desperate need of prayer. I often wonder what the world would be like if God's people weren't interceding. Anyway, I never quite know how all of my prayers are answered, but I certainly believe they are. I may not see it, but I'm trusting that they make a difference. Tonight, Aaron and I got into a discussion about Ebola and I wondered if the fact that Ebola hasn't spread like wildfire, as everyone anticipated it to, is because God's people have been praying for help. We've been praying for healing, for intervention, and for a cure, and I told Aaron that I felt like maybe we were overlooking God's compassion and grace in the whole situation. We pray for healing, and unless something is eradicated, we don't feel our prayers have been answered. But who is not to say that because of our prayers, people have been healed and the disease hasn't spread so quickly as some thought it would? I'm sure we could chalk it up to all sorts of medicine and science, but really, I think we should probably chalk it up to God.

 

It's funny how we're all or nothing people. It's like God has to answer with one extreme or the other for us to see His mercy and goodness and for us to count it as an answered prayer. Sure, God's in the business of absolute miracles, but God is also in the business of answering in other ways than we expect. Do you find it ironic that God would allow a man who is bold in his faith to be the first American to contract the disease? Who better than to be healed from something than someone who will give credit to the Healer? He did have good care, I won't argue that. He won't argue that, either. But at the end of the day, there is one great physician. One who gives life and takes it away. What a testament to the power of prayer and the healing hand of God.

 

Our land needs healing. Our world needs healing. We need forgiveness. We need help. We need God, and we need to recognize God's mercy, grace, and goodness in all things. Because things may be bad, but God is good. And when we seek God's goodness, we find it. It's there, it exists. We don't deserve it, but He is faithful to show it.

 

Thank you, Lord, for your goodness.