Meeting Physical Force With Soul Force

Meeting physical force with soul force

Andrew and Lindsey left today.  As we said goodbye and watched them go, we prayed, committing them to God again, as always, trusting Him to go before, with, and behind them, enveloping them in His loving, sure embrace.  There is no place we would rather them be, and we know that it is time for them to leave this home and go to their new one, confident that God will use them in a mighty way as a testimony to His love, power, and faithfulness in all things.

God has taught us so many lessons in the last seven months, more perhaps than in all the years before.  But as I sit, praising Him for His goodness and manifold blessings, three in particular come to mind.

First, He has reminded us that His nature and His will are perfect and that He can be trusted in all circumstances.  We have been given the privilege of seeing in experience, anew, that His grace is sufficient and that strength is given from on high to those who reach for it in total weakness, inability, and dependence.  For when we are weak, then we are strong.

Secondly, He has shown us His grace, power, kindness, goodness, compassion, and love through the prayers, gifts, and hearts of so many people - people whom we will always remember as messengers and providers of mercy.  We hope and pray that we, with you as our example, will offer such help to others in need, as we were.

Words cannot express to all of you our appreciation for all that you have done on our behalf, most importantly the deeds and prayers of love that you offered to us, and to God.  We will never forget you and pray that God will richly bless you all with His salvation, joy, and peace.

Finally, we have been shown that God's ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.  It is sometimes very hard to understand the wisdom and purposes of God.  Very hard, as all of you know.  We are not alone in this experience.  God taught us that it is not unusual to be confused and not a sin to ask Him why.  In asking, we receive the answers He wants us to have, so that we can live our lives in light of His truth, knowing that we can and must trust Him, and not ourselves, always and forever.

The vicious assault that our Andrew endured and the unjust pain that he suffered was intended for evil, but God intended it for good and, when God intends, no power of man or Satan can stand.  God's intention, God's purposes, are never thwarted; and so, good has been magnified and evil has been diminished before our very eyes.  One act of hate certainly had it's impact - the power of sin is real and strong, but where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.  This we know, and in this we rest and rejoice.  

Thus, as one act of evil went forth, the Lord transformed it, as only the one true God can, into thousands of acts of love that have shown to many how great is our God and how worthy of praise!  There is no greater opportunity for the world to see the reality of God and the love of God than in His transforming power in the hearts and lives of men.  As Christians, we rejoice in that, but we also must pray that the blessing might not be just our own, but that even the evildoer might know it, that our God might be glorified and seen by all, always, high and lifted up in majesty.  That is our prayer.

On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the need for physical force to be met with soul force, that the world, while seeing the reality of injustice and sin to be sure, might see vividly juxtaposed against it, the reality of righteous, sacrificial love, and thus know, forever and always, that evil is defeated through the eternal victory of God's loving power.   

In this instance, evil has indeed been met by soul force, the power of God lived out through you, to us, and we will be forever profoundly grateful for the joy and victory we have through it, with you, in Christ.

May God continue to richly bless you all as you faithfully serve Him.

We love you all.