No Trifling Hardship in His Eyes

When my old friend from the Nursing home answered the phone, his speech was slurred and he sounded awful.
"Comer! How are you?"
"Awful!"
"You don't sound so good!"
"No, it is the flu. The whole building is quarantined."
"So I guess our lunch outing is off this week? I am so sorry! Next week you will be better and we will go then."
"That would be good," he said, "I really need a milkshake with all the weight I have lost."
"Well I will call you at the end of the week and see how you are doing."
I got off the phone and hurried to get Asherel to her volunteer work at the horse farm. Driving home, I thought how happy it would make Comer for me to bring him and his dear wife Evelyn a milkshake. That is the favorite part of their outings with me. They suck down milkshakes as though cows were about to be extinct.

I pulled into the Chickfila that was on my way towards Comer's home. Giant news trucks were on every corner. Reporters were being filmed shivering in the cold, with a cordoned off  Chickfila behind them. Police vans and cars littered the parking lot, along with an ambulance. Crime scene tape completely encircled the building and adjoining lots.
"Hmmm," I thought, "Chickfila does not look open for business."
I rounded the corner to Wendys, bought the milkshakes, and asked, "What's going on at Chickfila?"
The two young men at the register exchanged glances, "It's closed for renovation."
Now I may be naive, but I know renovations do not require crime scene tape, policemen, ambulances. Nor do they merit on the spot news reporting.
"What else is going on at Chickfila?" I asked.
They laughed, "Well, we heard they found a dead body in the parking lot."
"Oh! Well that is not the wisest renovation strategy," I said.

I drove on with my milkshakes to Comer's nursing home. A huge sign was plastered on the door:
"Quarantined by order of Mecklenburg Health Administration. If you enter, please report to receptionist for decontamination information."
I gathered the milkshakes, and took a deep breath of fresh air. Then I barreled to the receptionist.
"These are for Comer and Evelyn," I said, trying not to breathe. Then I scurried out.

Death and disease. What a day, I thought. Good thing my Bible reading is in such an optimistic book. I had highlighted and read Chapter 9 of Nehemiah twice. In that wonderful chapter, Nehemiah is recounting all that God has done, and how His people mess up time after time after time. And yet, the wonder and joy of God is that He is a God of mercy, and time after time after time, He forgives. Even more remarkably, He restores.

"Did I wash my hands after leaving the Nursing home?" I thought. EEEEk! I raced to the faucet and scrubbed for 10 minutes. God will restore, but it is always best to do our part too....

Nehemiah 9: 29-33

 ²⁹ “You warned them in order to turn them back to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said, ‘The person who obeys them will live by them.’ Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen. ³⁰ For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. ³¹ But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
 ³² “Now therefore, our God, the great God, mighty and awesome, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes—the hardship that has come on us, on our kings and leaders, on our priests and prophets, on our ancestors and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. ³³ In all that has happened to us, you have remained righteous; you have acted faithfully, while we acted wickedly.

Start Rebuilding

I am waiting for my wrists to heal. I can't work too long on the computer because it makes them hurt. Waiting to heal from any infirmity is not easy. Life goes on hold. What used to  be simple tasks, like unloading the dishwasher become unscalable walls. So I wear my double wrist braces and sometimes just sit, gazing into space. Most of what I do requires wrist movement, I have discovered.

I have a friend who is battling cancer. It has been a long process, and things are looking good right now, but it has not been easy. Today I noticed in her update about her radiation treatments, she closed asking if we would all pray for a friend of hers who has just been diagnosed with cancer. Here she is battling a horrific enemy, and she has the compassion and empathy to divert focus from herself to others who need help. That is a woman of God.

I am reading the book of Nehemiah right now. I love Nehemiah. He is someone who just ignores the enemy, keeps his focus on God, and keeps struggling through impossible odds. Nehemiah is not one of the well known heroes of the Bible, but he is one of my favorites. He was cupbearer to the King of Persia, during the exile of the Jews to Babylonia in the 5th century BC. He was in a position of influence and favoritism. But he was a Jew, and when he learned of the condition of his historic homeland, he asked the King's permission to return to Jerusalem, and rebuild the city and the crumbling walls surrounding it. The King grants permission. Nehemiah could have taxed the people to help with the repairs, or had special food and comfort for himself as an emissary of the King, but instead, he throws his lot in with his people and has no special favors for himself. He looks around at a ruined city, a devastated, ransacked, crumbling city and says, "Let us start building."

And then, the enemy comes while Nehemiah and his small ragtag remnant of Jews are rebuilding the walls. The enemy taunts them from just outside the wall; tries to undermine the people's faith in Nehemiah and his God. The enemy includes the armies of Samaria, and they threaten attack, urging the Jews to stop rebuilding, join the enemy, and leave this crazy leader asking help from a deity everyone knows will never rise out of their imagination to be of any true service. The people are weary, and poor, and the work seems impossible from the get go. The enemy is wearing them down. But Nehemiah then utters the rallying cry that I find myself calling out in my soul over and over when life bears down a little too violently:
The God of heaven will give us success.


The people rally, the wall is rebuilt, in an impossible 52 days. The Jews begin to trickle back to Jerusalem. The lagging faith of a beleaguered people is fanned into flame, and hope begins to rekindle in the hearts of the exiled Jews when they learn Jerusalem is rebuilt!

Meanwhile, I look at my braced wrists, and realize one thing I can do without my wrists. I can pray.

Nehemiah 2:20
I answered them by saying, "The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding,