A
My brother called when I slept. (Insomnia again, so he called late in the morning while I slept.) I have to call him back. He is not the hand of the terrible, but he is delivering news of the terrible.
He's calling me to tell me when Dad will be taken away -- forced against his will -- to be put into a hospital for evaluation and detoxification. (The drinking has become worse in the last few months due to the disease taking him away.) And when that happens, he will be placed in a care faculty to live the rest of his life. This is how the current laws in America work now for those mentally unable to take care of themselves and mentally unaware they cannot take care of themselves.
Dad has dementia. Probably Alzheimer, but there are varying forms of dementia, and no one can tell exactly which kind it is until an autopsy.
I woke up to my brother's message to call him back. I needed strength before I did. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening gave this entrance for this evening.
I never thought of "the hand of the terrible" as anything less than the captors. Sometimes it's not.
I was tempted to post this on the Family Forum, because the last time I posted something from Spurgeon it became more important to dispute each other than to appreciate the words.
And... as I wrote this, my brother called me. Dad's being taken to the hospital on Monday.
The hand of the terrible. There is no good hand in this. Not for this one. The two choices are to let him stay at home or protect him from himself through healthcare. In the time that he's been alone too long at home, he was picked up by the cops after driving around for 13.5 hours for an appointment to get his haircut on a day that the place he goes was closed, set his woodpile on fire and watched it until a neighbor was concerned with the smoke (and the woodpile was all but gone by then), and he fell down some steps, bled, and didn't have the sense to notice. The only reason we know this is because one of my siblings visited him the next day and he was wearing the same clothes, his bed had blood all over it, as did the steps. (Just to give you some idea why it's not safe for him to stay home either.)
At the end of Spurgeon's devotional he said the world will devour the church. If a person can't bring up what is personal on here -- what they think about God. What is in their heart about God -- without being attacked every time. Isn't that the world devouring the church and we're helping it?
How about remembering we're supposed to be in this together for a change? If we don't, we are the hand of the terrible.
(Today I have an agenda!)
He's calling me to tell me when Dad will be taken away -- forced against his will -- to be put into a hospital for evaluation and detoxification. (The drinking has become worse in the last few months due to the disease taking him away.) And when that happens, he will be placed in a care faculty to live the rest of his life. This is how the current laws in America work now for those mentally unable to take care of themselves and mentally unaware they cannot take care of themselves.
Dad has dementia. Probably Alzheimer, but there are varying forms of dementia, and no one can tell exactly which kind it is until an autopsy.
I woke up to my brother's message to call him back. I needed strength before I did. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening gave this entrance for this evening.
Evening
“And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.”
- Jer_15:21
Note the glorious personality of the promise. I will, I will. The Lord Jehovah himself interposes to deliver and redeem his people. He pledges himself personally to rescue them. His own arm shall do it, that he may have the glory. Here is not a word said of any effort of our own which may be needed to assist the Lord. Neither our strength nor our weakness is taken into the account, but the lone I, like the sun in the heavens, shines out resplendent in all-sufficience. Why then do we calculate our forces, and consult with flesh and blood to our grievous wounding? Jehovah has power enough without borrowing from our puny arm. Peace, ye unbelieving thoughts, be still, and know that the Lord reigneth. Nor is there a hint concerning secondary means and causes. The Lord says nothing of friends and helpers: he undertakes the work alone, and feels no need of human arms to aid him. Vain are all our lookings around to companions and relatives; they are broken reeds if we lean upon them-often unwilling when able, and unable when they are willing. Since the promise comes alone from God, it would be well to wait only upon him; and when we do so, our expectation never fails us. Who are the wicked that we should fear them? The Lord will utterly consume them; they are to be pitied rather than feared. As for terrible ones, they are only terrors to those who have no God to fly to, for when the Lord is on our side, whom shall we fear? If we run into sin to please the wicked, we have cause to be alarmed, but if we hold fast our integrity, the rage of tyrants shall be overruled for our good. When the fish swallowed Jonah, he found him a morsel which he could not digest; and when the world devours the church, it is glad to be rid of it again. In all times of fiery trial, in patience let us possess our souls.
“And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.”
- Jer_15:21
Note the glorious personality of the promise. I will, I will. The Lord Jehovah himself interposes to deliver and redeem his people. He pledges himself personally to rescue them. His own arm shall do it, that he may have the glory. Here is not a word said of any effort of our own which may be needed to assist the Lord. Neither our strength nor our weakness is taken into the account, but the lone I, like the sun in the heavens, shines out resplendent in all-sufficience. Why then do we calculate our forces, and consult with flesh and blood to our grievous wounding? Jehovah has power enough without borrowing from our puny arm. Peace, ye unbelieving thoughts, be still, and know that the Lord reigneth. Nor is there a hint concerning secondary means and causes. The Lord says nothing of friends and helpers: he undertakes the work alone, and feels no need of human arms to aid him. Vain are all our lookings around to companions and relatives; they are broken reeds if we lean upon them-often unwilling when able, and unable when they are willing. Since the promise comes alone from God, it would be well to wait only upon him; and when we do so, our expectation never fails us. Who are the wicked that we should fear them? The Lord will utterly consume them; they are to be pitied rather than feared. As for terrible ones, they are only terrors to those who have no God to fly to, for when the Lord is on our side, whom shall we fear? If we run into sin to please the wicked, we have cause to be alarmed, but if we hold fast our integrity, the rage of tyrants shall be overruled for our good. When the fish swallowed Jonah, he found him a morsel which he could not digest; and when the world devours the church, it is glad to be rid of it again. In all times of fiery trial, in patience let us possess our souls.
I was tempted to post this on the Family Forum, because the last time I posted something from Spurgeon it became more important to dispute each other than to appreciate the words.
And... as I wrote this, my brother called me. Dad's being taken to the hospital on Monday.
The hand of the terrible. There is no good hand in this. Not for this one. The two choices are to let him stay at home or protect him from himself through healthcare. In the time that he's been alone too long at home, he was picked up by the cops after driving around for 13.5 hours for an appointment to get his haircut on a day that the place he goes was closed, set his woodpile on fire and watched it until a neighbor was concerned with the smoke (and the woodpile was all but gone by then), and he fell down some steps, bled, and didn't have the sense to notice. The only reason we know this is because one of my siblings visited him the next day and he was wearing the same clothes, his bed had blood all over it, as did the steps. (Just to give you some idea why it's not safe for him to stay home either.)
At the end of Spurgeon's devotional he said the world will devour the church. If a person can't bring up what is personal on here -- what they think about God. What is in their heart about God -- without being attacked every time. Isn't that the world devouring the church and we're helping it?
How about remembering we're supposed to be in this together for a change? If we don't, we are the hand of the terrible.
(Today I have an agenda!)