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Chapter 24 Stranded in the Mountains

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 30, 2021
 
This year there was no trip to the outside for New Year’s because BIA funds were low. I had bought a used ski-do, so on a school break I took my own trip to Gambell with an Eskimo friend.
 
Hunting had been slow in Savoonga, so we each pulled an empty dog sled in order to bring some walrus meat back from Gambell.
As we were passing through the mountains, my companion stopped and pointed back. “If you ever come through here alone, just go past these four little mountains, , then veer left for fifteen minutes and you will see the village.” It was very unusual to get such tips, and I was soon to find out why the Lord orchestrated that.
 
Near the end of our eight hour trip, we paused for a break. “Look here,” my friend said. I went over to him. He pointed at the snow. “See, there has been a polar bear here recently. They are also probably having trouble hunting and are coming inland. They will hunt and eat anything, so be careful.” I was glad I had my rifle with me.
In Gambell I visited with the Bible translator, Dave Shinen, who had become my spiritual father. He took me with him when he went out in the cold wind to fire up his little generator. It didn’t want to start, so he was squatting over it, trying to coax it into life.
 
Suddenly he stood up, looked me in the eye and said, “If you want to know the will of God, tell Him what you want, then tell Him you will also accept the exact opposite if that’s His will. That will leave open the whole spectrum of possibilities between those two points for the Lord to do what He knows is best.”
 
Then he squatted back down to work more on the generator.
What caused him to say that out of the blue? I didn’t know at that moment, but am sure that God prompted him, for ever since then I have lived by that principle of surrender to God’s wisdom! This was a significant reason God had for my making this visit.
 
The next day, Sunday, the other Eskimos from Savoonga left Gambell in the morning to return home, but I wanted to stay for church and for lunch with Doug, the nurse.
 
“I can easily follow the tracks of the Eskimos to get back home,” I thought. “No problem.”
 
At about 3 pm I was all packed up and my sled loaded with walrus meat. The trail the others had left was plain and easy to follow. It was getting dark, but my ski-doo had a good headlight.
As I began to go up into the mountains, however, the wind picked up. Soon it became a ground blizzard, the snow blowing hard across the tracks, making it difficult to follow them. I went slowly, squinting into the growing darkness and snow.
Suddenly I shot out of the snow onto black ice. A pond! There was no trail to follow across the clean, wind- swept ice. I turned to the left and followed the shoreline around the pond until I could see where the Eskimos had exited the ice. I breathed a sigh of relief.
 
The wind got stronger, making it even harder to follow the trail. As I went further up into the mountains, the trail got steeper, harder to navigate, especially with the heavy load of walrus meat holding me back. I came to a point where I couldn’t go further.I decided to dump the meat so I could go on. “Better to lose the meat than die with it,” I thought.
 
After off loading the meat, I gunned the engine and was able to make it up the steep slope to a flat place, but then the engine stalled. I pulled the starter rope and it came off in my hand!
 
Here I was, in the middle of nowhere, with polar bears looking for food, a pile of walrus meat nearby, no one knew where I was and my ski-doo was broken.
 
I knew I had to have some shelter or I would freeze. It was only about ten below zero, but with the powerful wind, the chill factor made it feel much colder.
 
I turned the sled with its handle at the back towards the wind. Then I took the hood off the ski-doo and propped it up against the handles of the sled. The strong wind held it there and if I sat on the sled, it would shelter me some.
 
I turned to get my bag of supplies, but the strong wind ripped it from my hand and the contents spilled out, skittering across the snow. I opted to chase and catch the sleeping bag. My food was gone, but I could live for a while without it. The sleeping bag was much more vital.
 
I took my rifle scabbard off my back, climbed into the sleeping bag, and sat down on the sled with my back towards the hood, shielding myself from the brunt of the storm. Then I set my rifle on my lap so I could be ready if a bear came during the night.

This was one of those times when there was no guarantee I’d survive, but I was calm in the Lord. More than one Eskimo had died when caught in similar situations. If I died, I go to him. If I lived he had more for me to do.

It was a long night. I tried to sit so that my body had minimum contact with the sled to keep heat loss low, just touching my heels and my bottom to it and the back of my head to the handle on the back of the sled. Even so, several times in the night I had to get up and run about, jumping up and down to warm myself up a bit. It was good I had on sealskin pants and boots along with a good parka.
 
Morning came with a cobalt blue sky and a strong sun shining red and gold in the frosty air. I got out my toolbox, took the cover off the starter mechanism and was able to get the rope reattached. The motor started on the third pull.
 
I put the hood back on the ski-doo, tied my sleeping bag to the sled and took off. The trail was now partially covered by the blowing snow, but enough was left to follow it until I got up among the last mountains where the snow had covered it completely. There I followed my friend’s directions: go past these four little mountains, turn left and go for 15 minutes.
 
Sure enough, there, down in the distance was the village, a tiny smudge on the edge of the shore ice. I turned my ski-doo towards it and raced home.
 
In my excitement I forgot to periodically warm my face with my hand to prevent frostbite, and arrived home with frozen cheeks and forehead.
 
When I reached my little house, I was looking forward to warming up, but found that the kerosene had run out while I was gone and it was just as cold inside as out. I went to find the janitor and he helped me fill that tank and get it started.
 
The Eskimos were both angry with me and amazed. They were angry because they’d been worried and had come out looking for me but to no avail. And they were amazed that a white man could survive out in such weather, fix his broken machine and come home by himself!
 
Of course it could only have happened with God’s intervention—He prepared the way, gave me the information I needed, and protected me in the night. It was an example of His care that I remembered often, a four star God sighting.

Picture:  My snow traveler and dog sled loaded with walrus meat

 
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saturday

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 30, 2021
Well, I’m having a hard time keeping up; we are so tired we are sleeping 16 to 18 hours a day! Today’s devotional is a good one for me. My brother Sam is somewhat better, out of danger, but the doctor said he has a very long road to recovery.
 
“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.”
Hebrews 13:15
 
Once upon a time there were two people living in a foreign land who got a package from Germany. When they went to the post office to pick it up, the customs official opened it and took out two packages of tea, the kind of tea that they really liked but wasn’t available locally. Smiling, he said, “You can’t have these; customs regulations!” And with that he put the tea into his desk drawer.
 
Now, how should these two people react to such random injustice? There are only two basic possibilities: to complain or to praise, and we all know which is correct. These two people took a moment to pray, “Lord, thank you for all the times tea did come to us and customs let it through. Thank you that this time you chose to have it otherwise.” Then those two left the post office with light hearts and good thoughts and had a really good day.
 
Praise is a wonderful responsibility that God has given us. It keeps us dwelling in the Truth, and, as you know, Jesus said in John 8:32, “…the truth will set you free.” Praise sets us free from the nasty so we can dwell on the nice, as Paul pointed out in Philippians 4:8 (think on whatever is true, noble and right, whatever is pure, lovely and admirable).
 
Very often we seek God’s will in certain matters, but more often we forget God’s will for all matters: Praise. “…give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1Thes. 5:18).
 
Praise is commanded or demonstrated over 250 times in Scripture—that alone is a powerful indication of its importance in our lives. And in Revelation it is indicated that praise will be our primary occupation in the life to come.
 
Do you know why we can praise God in and for all things? It is because of His Character. He is light itself; He is clothed in light, shining in glory, resplendent in honor, great in truth and beautiful in holiness. In the light of His wisdom He sees all, understands all, does all that is best in the long run. The Son shines ultimate goodness into our lives. Praise itself directs our attention to the powerfully beautiful Character of our Lord Jesus Christ and releases into our lives a fragrance that will attract others to Him.
 
Prayer: “Lord, such praise is so unnatural for me. Help me to gaze upon your Character everyday so I will respond to the events in my life with praise rather than complaining. May I thus give you a continual stream of glory before all those around me and shine your light upon them. Amen.”
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beautiful paradoxes

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 28, 2021
I was so tired last night that I forgot to post. This one’s for the 28th and 29th
 
Thank you for your prayers; we are better. My brother, Sam, however, is hovering on the brink of death from his covid. Please pray for a miraculous recovery.
 
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.”
Psalm 84:11,12
 
Praise be to you, Lord God Almighty, Commander of the hosts of Heaven. To you we give glory and honor and praise, for you, King Jesus, Mighty Father, Holy Spirit, are the most High, the most Wise, the most Powerful, the most Good and the most Holy One.
 
You are without beginning, without end, without change, without lack, without evil, sin or darkness. You are all that is good, all that is right, all that is positive. You are perfect, you are present, you are powerful.
 
You are the junction point of opposites; your wisdom is on display as you combine what to us looks like oil and water, or square and circle. You join justice and mercy, truth and grace, holiness and redemption, sovereignty and man’s responsibility. You remain just while having mercy triumph over justice.
 
You speak the truth, hurtful and condemning as it may be (“…light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” John 3:19). At the same time you use this truth to open us to the grace of your gospel (“But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God” John 3:21).
 
You, Lord Jesus, remained holy while becoming sin for us. Only you in your eternal infiniteness could combine such qualities which to us are so different as to be mutually exclusive.
 
Truly, only you are worthy of obedience in total surrender. It is right to bow down to you in worship, it is right to rise up before you in obedience. Praise be to you, Lord God, King of Glory and Lord of all.
 
Prayer: “Lord, I so often rely on my own understanding of things, forgetting that you have a much fuller, deeper, longer, higher view of the situation. Help me to rely on you, not my own weak logic. Help me to submit my intellect to your Word. May I value and obey your Word above all. Amen.”
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(Untitled)

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 26, 2021

Summer

W

With the walrus and whale hunting over, Okfagit and his family prepared to move to their summer camp, loading their tent and other supplies into the boat. Early in the morning they all climbed aboard and after paddling away from the shore, raised the sail. The heavily loaded boat cruised slowly through the water, thanks to the good design the Eskimos had developed.

Ayit looked around him as he sat in the bow. The sun sparkled on the water, the small waves with their whitecaps were running before the wind. He looked at the mountains rising from the land, tree covered and fresh in their new springtime greens. “What a wonderful place we live in,” he said to himself. “The good creator God certainly does love beautiful things. I think He must be very nice.”

When Okfagit’s family arrived at their summer camp site, they unloaded a pile of skins from the boat and with them set up their tent. Then Ayit and his brothers set to work cleaning the food storage cave, a hole dug down to the permafrost.  This was a natural freezer for the meat they would harvest which they didn’t want to dry or smoke.

With summer came numerous sources of food: birds and eggs on the cliffs, large fish in both river and sea, wild plants on the tundra, and strange “fruit” from the sea along with seals. If the Eskimos were to survive, now was the time to gather in preparation for the coming winter.

The first birds to come were the snow buntings which were not edible but were the harbingers of others. Then came geese, ducks, cormorants and puffins, all of them tasty and desired. The men shot the birds and the women gutted, skinned and prepared them. Sometimes a hunter would bring home as many as 50 ducks in day. This kept his wife and daughters very busy.

After camp was set up, Okfagit immediately took his sons fishing. With the run of salmon and other fish going on, they had to take as many as they could while it was happening.

Okfagit led the way to the river carrying two poles while his older sons carried a net and Ayit carried several skin bags to put the fish in.

“Here,” said Okfagit, “this is where we will put in the net.” At this point the river narrowed some and ran smoothly over a bottom of sand and rock.

The two sons holding the net walked into the water, stretching it out. Their father and Ayit each carried in a pole which they lodged in the bottom and tied the net to it, stretching it to the river bottom. Ayit looked down at the clear, clean water rushing past his waterproof sealskin mukluks. He could see the strong, sleek bodies of the pacific salmon as they pushed themselves forward with powerful thrusts of their tails. More beauty, he thought. He gave thanks to the fish for coming and he thanked Apa for sending them.

One of his brothers worked with Okfagit at the net, stooping to pull the slippery bodies of the fish out of the net and tossing them onto the shore where Ayit and his brother cleaned the fish and put them into seal pokes.

When the pokes were full, the boys carried them back to camp where the women flayed them and put them up on drying racks. Then they went back to the river where there was another stack of fish awaiting cleaning. They worked well into the evening, it being light until almost midnight. After carrying the last pokes full of fish back to camp, they had a quick supper and slept. Their mother and sisters worked a bit longer, hanging the last of the fish to dry. The next few days passed in the same way. Then the run of salmon slacked off.

“Tomorrow we will go seal hunting,” said Okfagit.

“And we,” said his wife to her daughters, “will go to collect greens.” They all went to bed satisfied with the good start they had.

After breakfast, Nisana and her daughters took seal skin bags and set out on the tundra in search of the greens Eskimos love so much. First, they found willow roots and collected a whole bag full. Then Nisana show the girls another type of green, almost like spinach. These also filled a bag. Some of these they would eat fresh, the rest would be dried for use in the winter.

Okfagit took his two older sons with him in the boat for seal hunting while Ayit went with his other brother to the cliffs. First, they collected eggs, bracing themselves against the constant wind. They knew that strong gusts could come, sending the unwary egg hunter plunging as much as a hundred feet to his death.

After they had collected two pokes full of eggs, they took a net and used it to catch some of the smaller birds. These they took home for their mother who would stuff them whole—beaks, feet and feathers—into a freshly killed seal skin poke, which Okfagit would hopefully bring home today. She would then leave them to “ripen” for months while the seal oil worked through the birds. In the winter, the stuffed poke would be cut into thin slices and eaten whole. Everything would have dissolved and jelled into what they considered a delicious treat.

Okfagit and his sons came back with three seals, two ring seals and one large bearded seal. After offering the dead seals fresh water to honor their spirits, the women cut up the ring seals, while the men cut up the bearded seal. This was traditional division of labor.

The family continued their harvesting of food until the weather cooled in early August and then moved back to their home in the village

picture: summer skin tent

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Psalm 30:4-6

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 25, 2021
Psalm 30:4 “Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name.”
 
[YES! This must be our response to you, Lord, singing and praising you for your marvelous character, which is displayed in your holy name, Yahweh. You are sinless, separate, and strong; you are glorious, gracious, and great; you are worthy of worship, worthy of praise, worthy of our surrender, love and obedience. To you be honor in song, glory in praise, exaltation in thanksgiving.]
 
Psalm 30:5 “For his anger lasts only a moment,”
 
[Praise you that you are angry with sin, that you move to justly judge and properly punish, that you don’t draw back from chastening us. And that your anger ends when your desire is accomplished.]
 
“but his favor lasts a lifetime;”
 
[You are the God of forgiveness, of grace and of goodness, pouring out your undeserved favor on us forever. As it says in Psalm 18:19, “He brought me out into a spacious place. He rescued me because he delighted in me.”
 
Praise be to you that you can delight in your redeemed but still crooked children. We rejoice in your favor, we exalt in your goodness, we revel in your love, we bask in your grace. You are wonderful, you are marvelous, you are incredibly, unbelievably, beyond-conception-good!]
 
“weeping may remain for a night,”
 
[You do take us through loss, disappointment, difficulty and heartbreak, but for good and wise reasons. Some of them are to mature us, to shape us, to deepen us that we may be more useful for you, share more in your glory and earn a greater reward in heaven.]
 
“but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
 
[Weeping in the night, especially the weeping of repentance, is followed by joy in the morning as we see what you have done, how you have forgiven, how you embrace, accept and love us. As we move out of the darkness of our limited understanding into the light of your deep and broad wisdom, we are able to comprehend more of your great and marvelous mind.
 
To you be glory, O Lord, to you be honor, to you be trust, praise and thanksgiving, for you are worthy of worship at all times, in all circumstances, in all outcomes. May you be honored today in my heart, my mind, my soul and my strength. Amen.
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Psalm 30:2-3

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 24, 2021
Psalm 30:2 “O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.” (This for me is quite relevant as I was pronounced positive for Covid 19 yesterday!)
[You, O Triune God, are revealed in your names: you, Yahweh, are the final authority; you, Elohim, are the infinitely Powerful One; you, Adonai, are the absolutely Faithful One.
To you I can call in my distress, for I know that in your authority, power and faithfulness you answer in wisdom, goodness, and grace. Although I don’t deserve it, in your wisdom you answer, you act, you help, you heal—immediately, or in time, or in eternity. Praise you that you are real, you are loving, you are present and you are powerful. I can trust you in all.]
Psalm 30:3 “O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.”
[You can heal when all hope is lost, you can restore when no possibility remains, you can give life when death is imminent. I praise you for your grace in preserving with us when we deserve destruction. And you can take us to be with you when the right time comes.
To know you is to have a rich life, a full life, eternal life; to trust you is freedom from worry, fear and anxiety; to rest in you brings true, lasting and powerful peace.
I give you glory for your goodness to me, Lord, for the certainty of your activity in my life, and for the joy of a future with you. I am so blessed, so filled with your goodness, so gifted with joy and knowledge and experience with you, so privileged to be able to join you through prayer in what you are doing.
To know you, Father God, King of Glory, Lord of the Universe, to be your child, to be given a place at your table, in your family, in your Kingdom, to have instant access to your heart and attention, to be called to join you in your work—these are great and powerful privileges, undeserved, totally from grace, wonderfully bestowed, gratefully received.
Lord Jesus, may you be exalted in my life today; Heavenly Father, may you be pleased with my life today; Holy Spirit, may you be honored through obedience in my life today.
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(Untitled)

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 24, 2021
I’m a bit late with this post because both Barbara and I have the corona virus. It doesn’t seem to be too serious, but we both certainly lack energy. So here at 11 am on Sunday I’ll make this post.
 
Chapter 23 Revival on the Island
Both villages on St. Lawrence Island had a Presbyterian Church. My friend Sig was the pastor of both, and divided his time between the two villages.
 
Sig had a vibrant spiritual life himself and the Lord used him to bring a revival to the Island. Eskimos who were growing believers shot ahead in their spiritual lives, while those who had been weak made new commitments and unbelievers were swept into the Kingdom.
 
Although alcohol was banned on the island, it was easily smuggled in and drinking was a big problem as the Eskimos were quickly and powerfully affected by liquor. The revival helped some who were caught in the habit to stay sober.
 
Edward, the husband of Ora, the kindergarten teacher, began to compose original hymns. He had taught himself to play a small organ, and now pecked out new tunes to go with the words he’d written in Eskimo. He was prolific in this ministry, encouraging the believers in their revitalized faith.
 
I was sad to hear some years later that Edward had frozen to death on the trail when his ski-do broke down during a big storm.
 
The island actually had had a reasonably long history of spiritual input, starting in the early 1900s, so the majority of Eskimos were church attenders, if not believers. The shamanistic practices continued, but were followed by only a small minority.
 
One Eskimo who was born in 1890 told me of how he had come to the Lord. “I was raised in Siberia,” he related. “It was a beautiful land with high mountains, great forests, and many animals.
 
“Our leaders there were the shamans who had great power and could do miraculous things. They could stab themselves, put their hand over the cut and when they took it away, the place was healed. They could play a drum and cause a tiny fox to appear which would run around the rim. They could fly and they could put curses on people.
 
“They were the ones who communicated with the spirits–now we know that those spirits were demons. They told us that they had created the world, but even as a young person, I could not believe that.
 
“Many of the things the demons did and told the shamans to do were ugly and cruel. How could such ugly beings have created such a beautiful world? I thought that there must be a good creator God who is as beautiful as the world he has made.
 
“Then when I was in my late teens, I went with a hunting party to this island. Here I met a believer who opened his Bible and told me about the God who had revealed himself to us.
 
“As he told me more about God, I said to myself, ’Aha, this is the true and good Creator God I have been looking for,’ and I became a follower of Jesus Christ.” And here, in his 78th year he was still faithfully following Christ.
 
God is at work everywhere to bring the message of life to those who are searching. We later found out that many Eskimos in Siberia were being drawn to Christ during the time when I was on the island. The Christian radio station in Nome, KICY, had an Eskimo program which was beamed towards the island, but it also went beyond to the coast of Siberia.
 
On this program the Eskimos sang songs about Jesus in Yupik, explaining the gospel in a way which the Soviet Communists could not understand and therefore they did not jam these broadcasts.
 
After the fall of communism in the 90s some of the Eskimos, along with Dave Shinen, went over to Siberia and found the Eskimos there ripe for the gospel. God is faithful to reach those who want to know.I went trapping with Edward for white foxes; it was 50 below zero

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Psalm 30:1b

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 22, 2021
A good word for today.
 
Psalm 30:1b You “did not let my enemies gloat over me.”
[I praise you, Lord Jesus, that you do not want my enemies–primarily Satan and his forces–to gloat over me, so you are consistently at work to deliver me at the right moment. You will, at times, allow me to suffer enough to learn the lessons I need, but it will certainly be far less suffering than I deserve!
You, Lord Jesus, are the Great and Powerful One, the Mighty and Wise One, my Rock, my Fortress and my Defender. You persistently reach down into this world of sin and evil to protect your children. I praise you that in the day of trouble you will keep me safe in your dwelling, you will set me high upon a rock and exalt my head above the enemies that surround me (Ps. 27).
I praise you that as I commit my way to you and trust also in you, you will bring the best to pass, you will bring forth the righteousness you’ve given me as the light and my judgment in your forgiveness as the noon day sun (Ps. 37).
I praise you that you give us your Shield of Victory, that you support us with your Powerful Right Arm, that you stoop down from your Throne to make us great as your children (Ps. 18).
To you be glory and honor and praise, O Lord God, the Triune One, the Perfect One, the Powerful One, the Most High Ruler of all. To you I bow down today, for you I rise up to live in obedience so that you may be honored. Give me the direction and wisdom you know I need for this day, O Lord, and I praise you now for what you will do.
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Psalm 30:1

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 21, 2021
Psalm 30:1 A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David.
“I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths….”
You, O Triune God, have lifted us out of the deep depths of the dominion of darkness where despair, depression and discouragement reign, out of death, out of the dungeon of our evil desires and selfish rebellion.
 
You have brought us out into your Light, into your Love and into your rich, eternal Life where we will live forever. You have made us your children, your partners, your friends.
So I exalt you, Lord Jesus, for you are a majestic marvel, a magnificent wonder–too good to be true, yet you are Truth itself. I exalt you for cleansing us in your blood, washing us with the water of the Word and lifting us above the waters of the nations, setting us high upon the Rock.
You are worthy of praise for bringing us out from the shadow of sin into the light of your love, into the warmth of your delight, the acceptance of your grace and the wonder of your goodness.
You brought us out into a spacious place because you delighted in us, even before we believed in you; you did this because of your great love that works against all reason, against all odds, against all human idea of justice.
You are worthy of exaltation, Jesus, for you are the LORD Yahweh, the King of glory, the Savior of the world, the Shepherd of the redeemed and Leader of all who will follow.
Help us this day, this week, this month, this year, Lord, to live in the light of your goodness, to be your disciples by denying our natural selfishness so we can live in otherness. And by obeying your Word, taking up our cross daily and following you with all our hearts. May we run with endurance the race you have set before us, looking to you so that you may finish our faith and glorify yourself in the process.
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Being Weak

Published by S.M. Wibberley on January 20, 2021
Here’s an entry in my worship journal from several years ago during a difficult time of my life and it is relevant to today.
Lord, we are weak; in ourselves we are defenseless against the wiles of the enemy. You are the only One to whom we turn, for you are our Rock, our Fortress, our Defender. You are our Shelter, our Shield, our Strength and our Stronghold. Help us to quickly seek refuge in you when trouble comes, to trust you, to join you in what you are doing and to be more than conquerors in you.
Lord, there are a number of difficult situations going on around me now that weigh on my heart:
–A previously successful team has been torn apart by internal conflicts
–A newly married wife has left her husband.
–A leader is under great pressure personally, in his work and in his leading.
–A disciple is being hit with multiple disappointments and injustice.
I pray for each one with these thoughts from Psalm 37 and 2 Corinthians 12:9,10
–May each person involved hear what God is saying and heed Him.
–May they “trust in the Lord and do good.”
–May they “delight themselves in God” so that He may place proper desires in their hearts and then “give them the desires of their hearts.”
–May they “commit their ways to the Lord and trust in Him.”
–May He “bring forth their righteousness as the light, their judgment as the noon day sun.”
–May they delight in their weaknesses so Christ’s power can come on them.
–May they willingly be broken (learning to trust in God, not in themselves).
–May God thwart the plans of Satan in each person’s life.
–May there be repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation on every level.
–May God be glorified rather than shamed by the outcomes.
I praise you, Father, that in each case you are there, at work, chastening and protecting, shaping and guiding, exposing and shielding. Lord, help each one to turn to you, to follow hard after you, to embrace their suffering, disappointment and pressure, to take up and use your grace.
I praise you that our eyes must be on you, for we know not what to do. To be weak is unpleasant, but it is good when we are driven into your arms, into your truth, into your goodness, into prayer and into your Word. May that be my response and that of each one involved in these difficulties.
I praise you now, Lord, for your gracious provision before I see it worked out. You have a plan in each of these problems, and will bring it to pass. Thank you, that you are the Almighty One who breathed the stars, who holds every atom together, who loves your children and answers prayer. To you be glory for what you are doing in each of these people–and in me.
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