Eyewitnesses of His Majesty

2 Peter 1:16 “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”

After an emotionally draining few weeks, I read this verse yesterday morning and asked God to make me an “eyewitness of His majesty”, to delight me with His presence, WOW me with His power, to let me know He is still near. He did! It had to do with my personal Bible study and it’s not the first time this has happened. About 6 months ago when finishing my reading through the book of Nehemiah, the book about how the Israelites rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem in 52 days while fighting off the enemy, I wondered if anything significant had happened 52 days prior in our own life, maybe something concerning the property we had recently purchased (acceptance of the offer, the closing, laying of rock, etc..). What I discovered in counting back 52 days on the calendar and looking in my journal was that it was the very day I began my daily study of the book. It took me exactly 52 days to read it. This was even more reassuring than an event related to the property. The numbers matched up with something in my spiritual journey (the beginning of a study of a book about spiritual warfare). It reminded me that God is very much alive and more concerned with my heart and with my desire to grow and know Him through the study of His word rather than the specifics concerning a visible ministry. I love how He used these details to convey that to me!

It happened again yesterday, just after I asked Him to reveal His power. His answer came immediately from His word through the following verses:

Acts 26:16-18 “…to appoint you (Paul) a minister and witness not only to the things which you have seen but also to the things which I will appear to you…”

Mark 3:14 “The sower sows the word.”

Mark 16:20 “And they (disciples) went out and preached the word everywhere, while the LORD worked with them and confirmed the word by signs that followed.”

Acts 8:4 “Therefore those (early Christians) who had been scattered went about preaching the word.”

1 Timothy 4:6 “In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus.”

 It didn’t seem to make sense. When I asked Him to speak to me, His answer seemed to be, “You speak about Me.”  I knew immediately, however, what He was asking me to do. It’s a heart-breaking story, one I’d decided not to share because it has just been too hard to find words. I am trusting though that this is not one of those “cleverly devised tales” mentioned in 2 Peter 1:16 but rather a story that displays “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So here it is … the story:

A few weeks ago we finished a process to become part of a program called Safe Families. It is a wonderful way to minister to families by temporarily caring for kids whose parents need support. Soon after we completed our application process, we got a call from the coordinator asking us to pray about a situation. “There is a mother with cancer who needs a place for her child to stay while undergoing treatment,” she shared.  We began to pray, trusting that God would work things out according to His will. A couple weeks later we were excited about getting to meet with this mother in person. It was a meeting we will not soon forget. As Tim and I sat by her hospital bed, we were amazed by her strength and bravery to speak with us about keeping her child while she fought for her life. We were touched by the love she displayed as she lit up describing her child’s personality. We were grateful to have been given the chance to meet this beautiful individual who smiled when listening to us go on and on about our own kids while she was clearly in physical pain. Tim and I left the meeting feeling such a peace about the situation, very excited about how God might use us to demonstrate His love by temporarily caring for her child.

Three days later, however, she passed away.

We were shocked, sad and confused. Why did it happen like this? Why couldn’t we have met her sooner? Why does another child now have to live apart from her mother? Why…

I’ve been reading through Job recently. I’m always amazed at how God has us in the right place of His word at the right time. Job asked those same questions. His friends had all the answers, or so they thought.  “Of course he has done something wrong,” they argued. “There must be some unconfessed sin Job is hiding... God is just, blessing those who are good and cursing those who are not.” Job knew they were putting God in a box with this “health and wealth” philosophy. He knew that for some reason, God had allowed this to happen to him, “Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this,” (Job 12:9). He argued with his friends that God's ways were higher than his, “Were He to snatch away who could restrain Him? Who could say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’” (Job 9:12)  And Job was right. God affirmed it in the last chapter. Job 42:7 says, ”the LORD said to Job’s friend, 'My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.'” Seeing all of this in the study of Job enabled peace to overrule in the shock, confusion and sadness surrounding this death of our new friend. 

Of course in hindsight, we wish we had said or done more.  We wished we had asked if she knew Jesus as her personal Savior, asked her if she truly believed that He died for her just over 2000 years ago so that she could not only have peace, fulfillment and joy in this life but live eternally with Him after death. We hope and pray that although not discussed openly with her when we met, God used something or someone in those last days of her life to cause her to make the decision to believe in Him and place her trust in Him if she hadn’t already done so.

In praying for comfort for the family and friends left behind, God has given us comfort by already allowing us to see that He “causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28). Soon after hearing the horrible news, we discovered that as a result of our meeting with this mother, word had spread about the Safe Families program and there is now a new interest in participation from individuals who knew about the situation. Although we would have liked for God to answer our prayers for a complete healing of this precious mother, we are comforted in knowing that in spite of this tragedy, He is calling others to this great need of caring for orphans and widows in our area. It gives us motivation and belief to pray fervently for the child left now without a mother because we know “God’s plans are not to harm her but rather give her a hope and a future.”(Jeremiah 29:11)

I began by telling you how I asked God yesterday to make me an “eyewitness of His majesty.” He did that as I sat down to tell you this story. I began by asking God how I should start- a verse, a promise, a question? All I could think of was the book of Job. Realizing I had finished reading it the very day our sweet friend died, I became curious about when I began the study. I looked back in my journal to find something pretty amazing. Like the timing of my reading of Nehemiah, God had worked it out so that my study of Job was perfectly timed so that I would not only read about His sovereignty but experience it in my own life. My reading of this book began back in August as I sat next to my 91 year old grandmother’s hospital bed on the day she passed away. It ended on the very day our much younger friend died. My personal study of God’s sovereignty in the midst of death and suffering had been framed by two deaths of individuals close to my heart, but the lives of each of these individuals were used to make others “eyewitnesses of His majesty.”  Oh, praise Him!

My prayer is that in reading this you will be inspired to seek God daily as you look to His word for clarity and purpose in your life. I can confidently claim the promise in Matthew 7:7 “when we seek Him, we find Him.” I'm also praying that God will use this story to raise up more individuals to participate in the Safe Families program . If you would like to find out more about how you can get involved with this program please visit their website  http://orphancarealliance.org/safe-families-for-children/

or contact:

Chesson Hazlewood

Safe Family for Children Coordinator

Office - (502) 498-4765