NESTOR SARMIENTO

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UNWELCOMED SURPRISES

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion.

-Isaiah 30:18

The world is full of surprises – some of which are not welcomed. A position opens up in your company, and you express an interest in it. But when your boss interviews you, he says management has decided to no longer fill that position, but to eliminate your job as well!

Your phone rings one evening after you have retired. “Who could be calling at this hour?” you wonder. It is a friend telling of a death in the family.

How do you handle unwelcomed surprises? Psychologists call it “Coping.” Others say with resignation, “That’s life!” When unexpected surprises come our way, we fight them and become bitter, or we reach out for the grace of God and become better because of what we have endured.

What is this gift called “grace?” It is God’s help that enables you to cope with unwelcomed surprises of life.

Long ago, the Apostle Paul faced many unwanted surprises, yet he welcomed them. In responding to what he called “A thorn in the flesh” Paul said, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

When unwelcomed surprises confront you, learn about God’s grace and you will also find strength to cope. It’s worth discovering.

GROWING OLD GRACIOUSLY

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom

-Psalm 90:12

“Dear Dr.Sala, would you have any suggestions to help people who have reached their 80s and feel very useless at times? I am 82, in a wheelchair and have little energy.”

One: Come to grips with the fact that you are here by the will of God. God makes no mistakes, “In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.” –Ephesians 1:11

Two: Realize that your true value as a person is dependent on your character and not your productivity. As we age, we tend to think that we are worth little unless we are producing. The Bible tells us that you are valuable not because of what you do, but because of what you are. Paintings and fine books become more valuable with age, and so it is with people.

Three: Accept your lessening strength with grace. “I greet each day as a gift,” says Beatrice Cole, at age 90. She says that the last decade, from age 80 to 90, has been the best gift of her life although she has been alone most of the time.

Four: Force yourself to get out and mix with people. “After I lost Ethel,” says Frank Emery, “I forced myself to get out, to travel, to play golf, to be with people. It was the only way I could beat the loneliness.”

Five: Refuse to accept defeat at your own hand. Loneliness never leaves us where it finds us. We either greet it as a friend or as an enemy. As a friend, loneliness can cause us to reach out and make new friendships and enrich our lives.

WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS

“Keep your lives free from the love of money because God has said, Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

-Hebrews 13:5

Long ago, Jesus said, “Do not store up yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

It seems to me that our generation has its value system upside down. We aren’t willing to wait for anything tomorrow; it must be ours today. So much of our time is spent in the pursuit of “things” that we have lost sight of what really counts. It often takes a tragedy to understand this.

When a friend and I were finishing on the end of a pier, we noticed smoke coming out of a nearby house. We raced for the humble little cottage but it was too late. Flames were coming out the doors and had turned into a raging inferno. We learned that an oil furnace had exploded, and the house had almost instantly been enveloped in fire.

Outside stood the young father and mother and a little girl of about seven. The mother was crying and the dad was wringing his hands as in anguish he cried, “My God, all is lost.” The little girl reached up and took her daddy’s hand saying, “All’s not lost, Daddy, you got Mommy and Me!”

Houses can be rebuilt, but relationships endure long after the taste of material success has turned to ashes. What’s gone wrong that causes us to place greater value on things than people; that considers gold and glitter more important than love and friendship?

Jesus said, “Lay up treasures in heaven for where your treasure is your heart will be also.” The treasures that really count can’t be measured in gold and silver. Think about it.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will never pass away.”

-Matthew 24:35

It has finally happened: the long-awaited Dead Sea scrolls are now available for scholarly translation. We will soon learn why Israeli officials have withheld releasing the translation of these very important documents.

The whole controversy centers around some 800 different fragments or scrolls which were written between the year 200 B.C. and A.D. 67. The scrolls which had been meticulously copied by members of the Qumran Community (an ascetic, monastic group) had been hidden in caves. In their wildest nightmare, monks never thought that for almost 2000 years the scrolls would remain hidden until they were discovered in the twentieth century. Dr.William F. Albright, an authority on biblical antiquities, called the Isaiah scroll, “The most important discovery ever made in Old Testament manuscripts.”

Of the 800 documents of the collection, about 127 are biblical texts including portions of every Old Testament writings, there have been no known New Testament fragments found on public record.

Why are the scrolls important? If the text of the Bible had been corrupted or altered, comparing these very old copies of scripture with modern ones would indicate that quickly. Are they different? The answer is no! Analyzing the most important one, the Isaiah scroll, scholars conclude there are no doctrinal differences at all, only minor differences in spelling and the syntax of sentences. That is extremely significant.

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED

“People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have Him touch them.”

-Luke 18:15

When writer Elisabeth Elliot visited Dohnavur Fellowship in South India to do research for a book on the life of Amy Carmichael, she met Pungaja, a remarkable woman working with the mentally incompetent. Pungaja herself was handicapped by the loss of one eye.

When asked how she had become involve in such a work, Pungaja explained that one day, tremendously burdened by life, she went to Amy Carmichael who was affectionately called Amma by nationals of India. “When she hugged me,” she said, “All of my burdens went away!” The Indian men and women who followed Amy Carmichael’s footsteps in serving others have been witnessed to her life.

Have you ever considered the impact of a loving touch? There were times when Jesus healed sickness with a command. But there were other occasions when He reached out and touched someone. He touched the leper who went through life crying, “Unclean, unclean!” He touched the blind man by the gate of Jericho and He still touches those who are neglected by society today.

People respond to the loving touch. A family counselor says that most unwanted teenage pregnancies could be prevented if a father only hugged his teenage daughter everyday.

“Is any sick among you?” wrote James to the infant church almost 2000 years ago, “Let him call for the elders of the Church; and let them pray over him, anointing him in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14). There is healing in the touch of love and faith.

GOOD NEWS

“For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit”

-Hebrews 4:12

Crucial debate in the Russian parliament came to a halt as legislators, policemen, cooks, secretaries, and bureaucrats rushed into the main hall. Had a fire alarm sounded? Was another coup in progress? No, the Moscow Bible Society was giving away Bibles, New Testaments and a special edition of a Children’s Bible – an unprecedented event in the 70-year communist government. Some 6,000 volumes were given away, and as the supply dwindlend, “clamor gave way to near chaos,” an official reported.

In the same month that Bibles were being distributed in Russia, individuals inside China were being arrested for receiving them. Chinese officials learned of a pipeline of Bibles being carried from HongKong to individuals inside China. Local authorities informed believers that Bibles were being brought in, and asked them to meet a certain train. Local believers came but they were met by the arresting officers.

A very limited numbers of Bibles are available for purchase in China today through government-approved sources. These demand to know details about the buyer, information which many people are reluctant to disclose, with the arrests and imprisonment of the Cultural Revolution still fresh in their minds.

The Bible continues to be the world’s best-loved and most widely distributed book. Books of the Bible have been printed in 1,646 languages and dialects, according to the United Bible Society. Complete Bibles have been published in 318 languages as of the end of 1990.