Before You Even Pray
Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.—Isaiah 65:24 (NIV)
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”—PSALM 16:2 ESV
Good? Is what I’m experiencing good, Lord? Verses like this make a caregiver question. If Jesus is Lord, how did I end up in this awful situation? How can illness be good? Or did I just miss out on the “good” this verse promises?
But this psalm doesn’t promise us an endless array of good things. It promises one good thing: God. All good comes from Him.
Despite our doubts and questions, as we caregivers trust God we experience good even in our most challenging situations. The disasters we fear may bypass us and unexpected joys find their ways into our lives. We might escape a trauma we’d feared we couldn’t elude. Our almost-forgotten sense of humor crops up when caregiving seems most grim. We find good, even in situations that have so much wrong with them.
As we turn to God in our need, He makes us living examples of this scripture. All the good in our lives comes directly from His hand—and if they watch carefully, others, even non-Christians, notice that.
Lord, even when good seems hard to come by, I have experienced it in You. Thank You for not bypassing me with Your blessing. I rejoice that You’re my God, and I place every situation in Your hands.
Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.—Isaiah 65:24 (NIV)
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowshp
is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.—1 John 1:3 (NIV)
Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.—Leviticus 19:15 (NIV)