Nothing, No One But God

Sure, a billionaire can arrange an unprecedented flight into space. But some things his money can’t buy, like health, or loyal friends. True, the government can hand out stimulus checks to help the economy but it can’t stop the ravages of heat and drought or COVID. Loving friends can sympathize with you and pray for you, but they can’t cure a troubled mind. And no matter the great strides made in medicine, and no matter my doctor’s skills, training, and resources, she can’t guarantee my healing.

I’ve been laid up this week with a nasty, persistent bug, so I have been reminded that only God can fix the unfixables of my life-and I thank God it is so! (And yes, I’m feeling better. Thanks for asking!)

When King Solomon built a beautiful temple for God in Jerusalem, he prayed a prayer of dedication. (You’ll find it in 2 Chronicles chapter 6.) In it, he named all the things human beings have no control over. It sounds eerily like our own country’s deep needs. King Solomon prayed,

“If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy . . .
“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain . . .
“When there is famine in the land,
pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers . . .
“When their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities;
whatever plague or whatever sickness there is . . .”
It’s a pretty complete list of the terrible threats our own country faces today, with no sure answers!
King Solomon, after listing these things unchangeable by human effort, then prays:
“Whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone,
or by all Your people Israel,
When each one knows his own burden and his own grief,
and spreads out his hands to this temple:
Then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive,
and give to everyone according to all his ways,
Whose heart You know
(for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men),
That they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live.”

King Solomon asks for God’s help for you and me, just as he asked it for the Israelites (“whatever prayer is made by anyone”). Surely each one of us knows our “own burden and grief.” And it is God’s loving intent to hear our desperate prayers and give us what we need.

Did God answer King Solomon’s urgent prayer for you and me? Oh, yes! 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 tells us the rest of the story. When Solomon finished praying, the glory of the LORD filled the temple. “And they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying:

For He is good, for His mercy endures forever.

2 Chronicles 7:1-3

That problem in your life you fear is unfixable? Trust your loving Creator who made you so He could shower on you all the treasures of His love.

A Word of Comfort from Elizabeth Rice Handford