A Spectacle Of Glory #100

Read: Psalm 18:35-36

Last Sunday after church, I wheeled up front to ask for prayer. Sometimes quadriplegia coupled with pain becomes simply too much to bear. After prayer, I left church surprised by a strange, wonderful feeling of detachment from my hardships. I thought, I can do this. It reminded me of Patricia St. John’s words:

Stooping very low engraves with care
His Name, indelible, upon our dust;
And from the ashes of our self-despair,
Kindles a flame of hope and humble trust.
He seeks no second site on which to build,
But on the old foundation, stone by stone,
Cementing sad experience with grace,
Fashions a stronger temple of His own.^a

As discouraging as pain can be—so discouraging you can feel your face on the cold, unyielding floor—God has His face on the floor next to you. It’s what Immanuel means: God with us. God with you.

Lord, I pray with David, “You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.”^b How moving, how humbling, to know You stoop down to be near me in my need.