But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.
Psalm 103:17-18
Following the sober reflection that life in our mortal bodies is temporary, the psalmist presents a contrast to our dying flesh with the love of the Lord, which is unending. His love is gloriously revealed to His children and will remain without ceasing. There are two conditions to receive this love: one must fear Him and keep His covenant. God loves His adopted children with this love because we belong to Him forever. He promises to never leave us or forsake us (Deut. 31:8), and even after we die, we will be resurrected to join God, the saints, and the heavenly hosts forever (Jn. 11:25, Jn. 5:24, 2 Cor. 5:8). Our duty is to live faithfully in obedience to the Lord’s commands, which is not a burden but our blessing.
Not only does God receive honor and glory for being our Lord and Savior, but the psalmist indicates that the generations which follow us will be blessed and loved by God because of our faithfulness. Each person must receive Christ personally, but my own life is a testimony of God’s grace toward three generations of Christians in my family, who have blessed me with their prayers for my salvation. Their faithful walk with the Lord while facing difficult circumstances such as war and familial abandonment have inspired me to also trust God fully even in the midst of hardship. Their joy in living for God displayed Christianity as a beautiful life, and God filled them and revealed Himself to them, supplying them with an ardent trust in Him when they could easily have despaired or even been angry with God for their predicament. Their testimony passed the test of time because of what God has done, and we marvel at these family members whose love is a continued blessing to contemplate today.
In the Old Testament, the Lord continually repeats the command to remember. We are prone to forget, and we must be reminded of God’s faithfulness to those who have gone before us. God’s faithfulness to us and our faithfulness to Him will also bless the generations after us. And when our children ask us why we obey or we believe as we do, may it be because they see a sincere follower of Christ by our conduct. May we be ready to share the Gospel and our testimony, that they may hear and God open their hearts to receive Him as their Lord and Savior. God does it all, and yet He gives us the privilege to share our joy and delight in Him with others.
His commandments may discourage sinners to feel unworthy or may repel the hard-hearted, but they are for our good. He knows our frame (v. 14) and he loves us (vv. 4, 8, 11, 17) so we can trust that His commands are suitable and beneficial. Indeed, they are life-giving. I want to love them and give my life as an expression of love to God: “For I find my delight in your commandments, which I love” (Ps.119:47). I am not obeying in my own strength, but God gives us the power and the desire to live this way by the power of the Holy Spirit, who seals our redemption in Christ. The Bible is full of great promises that we can declare to a frightened and despairing world with full assurance, and it is my desire to be faithful in proclaiming these words of God in my generation.
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In verse 14, the psalmist reminds us that we are made of dust, and when we die our bodies will return to dust again. In verses 15 and 16, the thought continues with another metaphor expressing the flow of life on this earth and its brevity. Man lives and flourishes for a time and then dies, and the world no longer remembers him. Life on earth as a mortal will come to an end. This is a universal truth, and no one is exempt from this reality. That which comes upon death will be determined by whether or not we are members of the family of God. Heavenly life is the destination of the believer, and there life with God will never end. No sin, sickness, or anything else can disrupt the perfect bliss we experience in the eternal presence of God.
In light of this, Jesus commands his followers to refrain from the consuming desire to store up earthly treasures that will rust, decay, or be stolen. Instead, they should store up treasures in heaven (Matt 6:19-20). This reminds us that this present world under the curse is not our eternal home. However, while we are here, we are on assignment from God to share the Gospel and serve others. Leading people to God blesses His Name and adds another saint to the richness of heaven.
In contrast to our present bodies which will pass away after a short time, another promise given in Scripture is that we will receive a new heavenly body. Christ will transform our lowly body into a glorious body like his (Phil 3:21). I am looking forward to having a body loosened from disability. With my mouth healed, I will be able to sing out my praise to God in worship. I stand with the apostle Paul, who accepted his thorn in the flesh while looking forward to being away from his earthly body and at home with the Lord, including a perfect body in the eternal state (2 Cor 5:6).
The psalmist is not trying to arouse melancholy and break up this psalm of praise. The believer lives on this earth for Christ, but when we die—and we will die—it will be gain. We will leave behind sickness, weakness, and sin. We will gain everlasting life without sin or the consequences of sin. The prospect of death should sober us while we are living. Yet, do we live with joy daily in grand anticipation of the life to come? As we have learned, we worship a loving, compassionate Father (v. 13), who forgives iniquity (v. 3) and satisfies us with good (v. 5). He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (v. 8). Death no longer has its sting, because God no longer deals with us according to our sins nor does He repay us for our iniquities (v. 10). In Christ we have a blessed hope for the future, and we have assurance because of God’s faithfulness throughout all generations (v. 7). May you trust Him and His promises today.
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Part of the reason God shows compassion and forgives sin is due to what the psalmist identifies in verse 14, namely His knowledge of us and our weakness. The story of man’s beginning is told by Moses in the creation narrative (Gen. 1:27). God spoke everything into creation and made it out of nothing, but He formed man from the dust of the earth (Gen. 2:7). We are composed by an incredible combination: the power of God and the dirt of the earth. Therefore, He knows our frame because He made us, and He dignified us by making us in His image (Gen. 1:27). The prophet Isaiah penned the metaphor that God is the potter, and we are the clay (Is. 64:8). This portrayal helps elevate God to His rightful place of honor as our Maker, and we are reminded that humans rely on God for everything to maintain life. Instead of thinking more of ourselves than we ought, we join the psalmist in expressing gratitude and wonder, for “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Ps. 8:4).
We are sadly living in an era when man is not struck with awe and wonder when it comes to how we are made. The sanctity of life is not cherished when unborn babies are killed by elective abortions. The development of movements such as transhumanism and other ideologies demonstrate a growing dissatisfaction with the nature of humanity. The believer has a ministry to the world, and a significant part of this ministry begins by affirming how God designed each of us individually, each with a unique fingerprint, and with the responsibility to live for His glory. Our very breath is from God. When we breathe our last, Scripture reminds us that our earthly bodies will disintegrate back to dust (Gen. 3:19). Today, I rejoice that, as an adopted child of God, although my fleshly body turns back to dust, my spirit, upon death, ascends directly to heaven to be in the presence of God. Even greater, I go to the grave with the hope of future bodily resurrection just as Christ was raised from the dead.
Our frailty reminds us that we are not God—we are not unchanging. Moses’ prayer reiterates this, “Before the mountains were born or you gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You turn man back into dust” (Psalm 90:2-3). Even though God designed us for better things than what we have chosen, He still has compassion and love for us because He knows our origin and frailty. In Christ, this reality is richly developed. Jesus took on our flesh, yet without sin. In Him, God knows our frame in experience, and He can sympathize with us in our weakness (Heb. 4:12).
We are not without worth even though our origin is dust and our remains return to dust. It is my hope that all who read this would know the God whose hand made you and sustains you. He alone gives meaning and purpose to our life and to our death.
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so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
Psalm 103:13
In this verse, the psalmist makes a personal offering of praise. From the beginning of the psalm, the LORD has been magnified and praised for who He is and for His magnificent works on our behalf. These include forgiveness, healing, redemption, satisfaction with good and love, mercy, justice, and grace. Now, for the first time in this psalm, the psalmist describes God as a father. The God of the universe is everyone’s Father by creation, but He becomes our Father with respect to redemption when He is our savior. This psalm reminds us that praise is family business because we have been adopted by God. Paul would later write, “He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Eph. 1:5).
God also designed the process of human fruitfulness through the union of a man and a woman. With the birth of their child, their title and mission changes to “father” and “mother.” Because we are made in the image of God, we learn from His example to be a loving parent. Although God is a perfect parent, this verse compares an earthly father’s compassion toward his children with the compassion of the believer’s Heavenly Father. I think of my own father who loves me by showing me compassion. I am named after him, and I am blessed to be born to him and my mom. I am sure it was not his dream or expectation that his firstborn son would have special needs and require so many therapies, medical appointments, procedures, and medicines. He has not spared any expense to help me learn and accomplish things many thought were impossible. His daily encouragement has spurred me on to not give up when many have misunderstood or underestimated me. I cannot give God enough praise and thanksgiving for His love and care for me through my earthly father who loves God with his heart, mind, soul, and strength. My dad’s outward obedience and love for his Heavenly Father was and continues to be instrumental in influencing my desire to walk in obedience to God’s commands.
It is significant that God commands the believer to honor their earthly father and mother (Exod. 20:12). This honor acknowledges that they are God’s gift to us, and this command directs us to honor our Heavenly Father as well. There are no perfect earthly parents, and the commandment does not hinge on their performance. Yet, we can rejoice and be glad that our Heavenly Father, full of endless compassion, will never disappoint us and promises to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Luke 11:13).
My grandfather, Opa, did not experience the love of an earthly father. When he heard the Gospel for the first time in the Marine Corps, he was astonished by the magnificent love of Christ, who gave himself to die for my Opa’s sin. Opa lived worthy of his call, always proclaiming how grateful he was that God chose to be his father. Although Opa had been abandoned by his biological father, God more than made up for the loss, and now Opa’s faith has become sight, for which we express thanks.
Happy Father’s Day, Dad! Happy Father’s Day to the other fathers as well!
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The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:8-12
In the book of Exodus, we find an example of God’s patience when He appeared to Moses in order to call him as His servant to free the Israelites from slavery. Moses complained that he lacked the aptitude for what God was asking him to do, and wondered if they would believe and listen to him. God reassured him that He would go with him, and He would give him the words to say and the ability to perform the miracles He had planned. After all, God is the creator of man’s mouth and the author of miracles. Nothing was needed from Moses but his obedience. Nevertheless, Moses asked God to choose someone else, and “then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses” (Ex. 4:14). God did not kill Moses on the spot for challenging Him and not obeying Him. Instead, God shows Moses great love and patience by listening to his excuses and pleas, answering his request by giving Aaron as a partner to be his voice. God still uses Moses to perform the miracles. God will not have His plans thwarted, and despite man’s depravity, God gives man the inestimable privilege of being the instruments of His will. The mercy and grace of God praised in the psalm and displayed in history gives me the conviction to always be ready and willing to patiently share the hope of Christ in the gospel message according to my commission (1 Pet. 3:15, Mark 16:15).
This promise of grace and forgiveness is only given to God’s adopted sons and daughters—to “those who fear Him.” Those for whom Christ died on the cross receive the call to salvation and regeneration by the Spirit. Jesus died for the sins of all those given to him by the Father (Jn. 17). He promises to cleanse those who come to Him in faith as white as snow (Is. 1:18). He removes our sin and shame. It is the most glorious gift that we have been given, and it is truly a gift, having nothing to do with our merit. Those who are not in Christ will be judged for their sins and iniquities that continue to mount. Without forgiveness, sins are a burden for life (Jn 3:18-21, Matt. 13:42). What freedom for God’s children! They not only escape eternal wrath in hell, but they enjoy life on earth with a peaceful, forgiven conscience and an eternity where sin and death will be no more.
The prophet Isaiah states, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God” (Is. 59:2). Iniquity denies the sovereign rule of God and therefore condemns us under God’s righteous judgment. The psalmist praises God for forgiving us comprehensively and wiping the slate clean—remembering these transgressions no more. He will never bring them up again, hold them against us, or use them against us. Whenever the Accuser tries to bring us back under the weight of our sins, our justifying God removes the burden and pronounces, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
In the meantime, however, God’s children must receive discipline from their loving Father. God blesses us when His Word and the Spirit chide, or rebuke, the heart of the transgressor to stop and repent rather than continue in sin. To be “free” to sin ends in death, but God wants us to live rightly with Him as we begin to enjoy heavenly fellowship (Rom. 6:23). The chiding activity of God will not last forever, but it will sweeten our experience forever as God shapes us for eternity.
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:5-11
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Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the to the people of Israel.
Psalm 103:1-7
Those who are children of God have been adopted by a loving heavenly Father, and the psalmist writes of the beautiful ongoing benefits of this status. The verb tense signifies not only what He has done, but what He is actively continuing to do. In verse six, God gives a promise to the oppressed—those who especially need the comfort of their Father. It is not that we will never experience oppression in this world, but God sees those who are oppressed, and the oppressor will not go unpunished. There will ultimately be justice for the situation, and God can even turn it for the good of His people and His glory.
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
Exodus 2:23-25
When reading this psalm I think of Joseph’s story and the subsequent history of Israel, which was drastically changed when Joseph was afflicted by his jealous brothers. But what they meant for evil God blessed for good, and the nations of Israel and Egypt survived the famine under Joseph’s leadership. After Joseph and his close descendants died, the new king of Egypt did not value what God had done through Joseph. He could only see how great and mighty the Israelites had become, and he feared the consequences of any future hostility from this growing nation. The pharaoh reacted in defense by turning the Israelites into his slaves. But God saw this persecution and heard the people’s cries. In verse seven, the Psalmist recounts how God raised up Moses to be the leader to enact justice and righteousness, the instrument God would use to rescue his people from slavery.
God made known his acts to Moses after speaking directly to him from a burning bush, giving him explicit instructions for how to approach the pharaoh. When the pharaoh’s heart was hardened, God gave Moses the power to perform miracles and sent the Egyptians plagues to verify the message He spoke through his servant Moses. All the Egyptians and Israelites knew these plagues were a punishment from God, however, God protected the Israelites from the impact of the plagues in the land of Goshen. When the Israelites finally left, the Egyptians even gave them their silver and gold! The Israelites had a front row seat to God’s display of love by answering their cries for help and releasing them from slavery, even taking them out of Egypt by parting a sea so they could cross on dry land and providing a leader to lead according to God’s instruction and under God’s protection.
In any circumstance we face, the psalmist reminds us of the encouraging truth that God works all things for the good for those who walk with him for his glory.
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who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.
Psalm 103:3-5
The psalmist puts us in the right posture of worship as we put our eyes on our Savior and thank Him for all that He has done, is now doing, and will do for His children into eternity. These are benefits only available to the Christian, since God is a loving Father who desires the best for His children. We initially come to Christ in repentance for our sins, acknowledging in humility that only God can forgive us because the Son died in our place. There is no greater way for the Father to show us how much He loves us than to give up His Son for us. For the reconciled believer, we are grateful for the Holy Spirit’s conviction, which leads to confession in our battle against the flesh, the world, and the devil. But thanks be to God, it is always His will to answer our prayer of confession and cleanse us. There is no better feeling than the cleansing from God to make us renewed.
Salvation heals our diseased hearts, and when we receive our glorified body at Christ’s return, we will be like Him—without sin or disease. I look forward to complete healing, but in the meantime, Scripture shows examples that earthly healing is not always in God’s will. God can be glorified in the healing or in the sustaining of those with earthly bodies afflicted with disease.
Despite our iniquities, He loves us with steadfast love and mercy. Nothing separates us from His love. We do not earn it or deserve it, nor can we repay Him. It is all due to His mercy in the first place, and it remains so continually. Oh the satisfied heart that is loved by the Lord! My thankful heart cannot help but be more than satisfied—filled and overflowing as this life is only a beautiful taste of what God has in store for us.
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Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
Psalm 103:1-2
I too want to praise the LORD with all that is within me, and I believe this means with all my heart, soul, and strength. How can we ever fully thank God or adequately show appreciation for all that God has done for His children? He sent His Son to pay for our sins in our place. He held nothing back to redeem us, though we did nothing to earn His favor. I can only thank Him by joining the psalmist in worship and praise to my God, LORD, and redeemer. “Blessing Him” means glorifying Him with honor as we acknowledge Him as the giver of all good gifts. To live in such a manner, I believe, is heavenly living. We will kneel before God’s throne and sing of the holiness of the LORD God almighty. We are starting the song in our hearts now by thankful worship, and my heart overflows with exuberance that He loves me and has chosen me for a relationship with Him now and into eternity, a reality sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Maui, HI
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Note: This is an adapted essay from a course I took this past summer on the subject of pilgrimages. Used with permission.
My great-grandmother Margaret Mohr
We do not always have the power to choose and control our pilgrimage in this life, but Christians are unified in their desire to travel as Christian pilgrims. Christians understand that God has sovereign control over our plans, and as the Proverbs explain, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps” (Prov. 16:9). The one who has surrendered their life to God and His Lordship acknowledges God in all things, remembering that God “will make straight your paths” (Prov. 3:6). When I received Christ as my Savior as a child, although it came from a simple act of faith given to me by God, the consequences are eternal. As the psalmist wrote, “For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life” (Ps. 56:13). I have no fear in this life’s journey because God is with me. The psalmist describes my experience when he writes, “You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me” (Ps. 139:5). The key question for each of us is whether we are on a journey with or without God. There is only one way of salvation, and God has given mankind all we need to know to cast ourselves upon the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation. He has given us Scripture as His instruction, and we confess, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105). For the Christian, the pilgrimage in this world gives us the opportunity to know as much of God and His attributes as we can through the ups and downs of life, until our faith becomes sight and we are resurrected to be in His presence (2 Cor. 5:6-8).
On this earth, the Christian walks their pilgrimage by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). When God calls us and we respond in faith, we experience a miracle where our sinful hearts of stone are softened such that we desire a life with Him (Ezekiel 36:26). God provided me a blessing early in my life by ordaining that I begin my life in a godly, joyful home. My rebirth was not guaranteed because my parents are Christians, but in this beautiful atmosphere of love for God, I was introduced early to the Christian life that honors God. My physical hindrances and mental ability did not keep me from understanding my sinfulness and seeking forgiveness in order to submit to God as Lord of my life. God made my young heart open to Him, and I look back with gratitude because He knew what the future would be for me and for my parents. God knew we would need Him in order to walk the unknown road of autism in front of us. Brilliant doctors and therapists are doing their best, but they are confounded by autism—how it is triggered and whether it can be healed or prevented. Hours of daily therapies filled my schedule until I reached middle school. We were trying all available earthly methods to help me speak and progress in learning. We thank God for His provision of funding through insurance, and we thank Him for the patient help of teachers and therapists. At various points in my life, I have been hooked up to audio machines for hearing level testing, EEG machines that revealed petit mal seizures, and had surgery to remove my gallbladder. All of this is new territory for us to experience and understand, but not too hard for God to bring us through. We have prayed and will continue to pray for healing. We are certain from Scripture that God can and does heal. We pray for His will to be done, and to date He has not chosen to take this cup from me. In the meantime, I rejoice that He has healed me spiritually, and this is far grander than physical healing because it is an everlasting healing of my soul with God’s promise of a perfect body one day.
My pilgrimage continues to be full of unknowns, yet no matter where God takes me, I am thankful for the opportunities my pilgrimage has brought me. What encourages my heart is to look back over the more than twenty years of my spiritual journey and attest to the fact that God has never disappointed me, and He has never left me stranded. He is Lord over everything in my life, and as I recall His blessings, I marvel at how He has used autism in my life to bring me in direct contact and association with the special needs community. At each appointment, activity or time in the waiting room, I have the opportunity to show my experience of God’s peace and share God’s joy in living with those suffering in this arena. When my kindergarten teacher was heading to a court case, she asked me to pray with her because she witnessed me praying aloud, with only a few words that I could speak, faithfully each day before I would eat. I was only seven years old, but she knew I would pray and hoped God would hear my prayer for her. By the time I graduated from my public high school, I was typing to communicate and was able to share my thoughts about life and God with my classmates and teachers. Usually, a pastor would be chosen as speaker for a school Baccalaureate, but because it was known through my writing that I love God my high school administration asked if I would be the speaker. There was no hesitation on my part, because God was giving me the opportunity to thank Him publicly in front of an audience of one thousand students and their parents. How unlikely is it that a student would be chosen as a class representative—along with two students who would go on to attend Stanford University—whose voice can only be heard through a computer? However, as in all cases, God has His own designs and I can trust Him to use me for His purposes.
It is easy to assume that those who have special needs are incapable. Although we are hindered from being able to do a great many things, we are people full of thoughts and emotions that an all-powerful, omniscient God can and does use. Like everyone else, we long to have meaningful, honest dealings with people. I am a good listener and am fervent in prayer, and people might be more open to hear from a person in my situation who depends on God and believes every word of Scripture. It is impossible to listen to a non-verbal voice; but God, in His providential timing, allowed me to live in the era of technological innovation that has produced the iPad. All day long, people who can speak verbally still read and write tweets, emails, blogs, etc. to receive and share their news and thoughts. This is no accident. This is God’s provision for me to have a mode to speak to others in order to share the Gospel and what God is teaching me. Last summer, I started this blog with my brother’s help. This is another means God has provided to give me access to communication with the broader world and other Christians. I pray I will use it to honor Him and bless others. The pilgrimage I am on is full of medical issues and appointments, but I see this natural means as God’s way to connect me with others. The purpose of pilgrimage is to glorify God, and I am grateful my special needs do not hinder my ability to do this or to enjoy God fully.
We choose to trust God in this journey as a family. My parents have no medical background, and neither autism nor apraxia are identified in our family tree. Their acceptance and trust in God in spite of this hardship has been a wonderful influence on my trust in God even as I trust them to continually seek God’s wisdom. Although autism is new to our family, hardship is not, and hardship is not uncommon to the Christian experience; in fact, it is supposed to be expected (Jn. 16:33). Even as I examine my own spiritual pilgrimage, I find comfort and strength when I walk through the valleys of difficulty and consider my own family’s perseverance and the examples I find in the lives of other saints in the family of God. The reason I share this is because my life has been so influenced by the legacy of Margaret Mohr, my great-grandmother.
As I look back in my family history, I can see from my vantage point that God has given a clear view of His work in our family to cause spiritual growth to flourish across generations. Although I have not met her personally, my maternal great-grandmother, Margaret Mohr, has blessed me indirectly as the first Christian convert in her family. In 1929, she and her husband lived in a section of Poland occupied by the Germans called Galicia. When a new pastor joined the farming community, over twelve hundred congregants from the six villages, though they were religious, heard the Gospel preached for the first time. Margaret was the first woman there to commit her life to Christ and begin her Christian pilgrimage. Her newfound joy and zeal for God was suspicious to her family at first. Her husband warned her that if she went back to another meeting, she would find the house door locked. She did go, and she did have to sleep in the barn that evening. From that point of conversion, Margaret was known for her beautiful smile that radiated the glory of the Holy Spirit filling her life. Her husband and brother-in-law came to Christ not too long thereafter. In September of 1939, their faith was tested when the German government instructed them to leave their farm within a few hours, along with their three children and in-laws, and pack up as much as they could carry before being stuffed in the cattle car of a train headed to Warthegau, a Polish territory just annexed by the Nazi regime in 1938. They were now refugees on their pilgrim way, trusting completely in God’s provision in uncharted territory, knowing they most likely would never return. Once they arrived at the refugee camp in Warthegau they were assigned a farm house. The government provided them with a house and farmland that included cows, pigs, and birds. They had fruit and vegetable gardens and beehives from which my great-grandpa was able to produce honey. My Oma was four years old when they arrived, and they stayed there for the next six years.
In January 1945, their years of plenty would end. Hitler ordered all German families living in the Polish area where my family lived to cross the Oder River into Berlin. The Russians were advancing into the territory, and they had to pack up everything they could manage in two hours. My Oma was nearly 10 years old, and she remembers the bitter cold as they traveled by foot and buggy. This time, they had a baby on the journey: Oma’s five-month-old sister. They were a day’s journey short of making it over the Oder River. Each night they chose to stop in a home on their route to have warm shelter for the family to sleep in and to change and nurse the baby. This time the unknown was intensified by the additional fear of those who traveled alongside them and of those in whose homes they stayed. They heard many people were committing suicide rather than be taken advantage of or shot by the Russian soldiers. On the day the Russians caught them, my grandfather found that the woman of the house had taken her life. My Oma and her family were taken captive by the Russians and lived in an area they referred to as the “Russian Zone” for two years. This part of their pilgrimage was both volatile and dangerous, as they were required to serve the drunk Russian soldiers. My great-grandfather was taken away from his family and put into forced labor under the Russians. During this time, Margaret had sole care of the children and was forced to work in the Russian kitchen where she cooked for the soldiers. When the stories are recounted for us, it is not with terror or bitterness. God demonstrated His power to the family by giving Margaret favor with the enemy. They gave her their leftover food, which allowed her to feed her children. When she milked the cows and made the butter, she was allowed to give some to her children. This was a blessing from God to augment the ivy leaves she cooked to create a spinach for them. Even in the dark hours of her pilgrimage, God provided for Margaret and her children even as He has provided for His children throughout history.
My Oma was old enough to understand that the Russian soldiers who entered their barracks drunk at night were abusing the German women. God provided protection for Margaret in the form of her baby’s cry, which deterred the soldiers from hurting her. Another poignant memory during this captivity was the day a drunk Russian soldier was agitated by Margaret’s smile. He asked her why a captive would be happy. She proclaimed boldly that she was a child of God, and that God was with her. The soldier demanded she dig her own grave as he held a gun to her. Margaret said that although she knew she was going to heaven when she died, she did want to live to take care of her family. My Oma was at her side and cried out over and over “My Mama” in Russian. Like God closed the mouths of the lions, He caused the Russian soldier to shoot the nearby German Shepherd instead, and he ordered Margaret to bury it in the grave she had just dug. God spared her life, and to this day, Margaret’s and Oma’s courage and trust in God serve as a witness that God can and does provide for His children.
Margaret’s faith was tested again as she continued to care for not only her own four children, but also for four other children whose mother had died from Typhoid fever. Margaret, against all caution because of how deadly and contagious the disease is, served this woman in the camp until she died. Margaret did not get sick, but her children would later admit that it was challenging to accept how graciously their mother loved and shared their food with these orphans. They were God’s children, and she could do no less. They lived two years in these conditions under the Russians. Change came again at the end of 1946 when they were released. Oma remembers watching her mom fight to make sure the other four children would be allowed to leave with them. The Polish, now in charge, were not going to let that happen. Margaret said that if they were not released, she and her family would stay as well. She did not know where they were being taken, but she could not leave those children behind. Eventually, the Polish leaders honored her request and allowed the other children to join her. Since they could not see out of the train’s cattle car, they thought they were headed to Siberia. Their endpoint was not Siberia, but a refugee camp in West Germany. They waited for seven weeks until housing was found for them. Margaret enlisted the help of the Red Cross to help find any relatives of her four “adopted” children. God, in His providence, allowed them to be reunited with their grandparents and later their father, who was released from a Russian concentration camp. Those children never forgot Margaret and sent her gifts and cards for the rest of her life, and they even attended her funeral. They attested to the fact that God blessed them and saved them through the love and care of Margaret. Though she already had a lot to think about and deal with to ensure her own safety and that of her children, like the Good Samaritan commended by her Lord, Margaret cared for the needy she came across in her difficult pilgrimage—a trait she would carry for the rest of her life.
Margaret served God with unconditional, selfless love to her family, the Body of Christ, and the strangers she encountered. Her husband became permanently ill after the war, and Margaret, with no bitterness or discouragement, worked and served the Lord gladly. It would not be until 1960 that they would have enough money to buy a house again with the help of their son. Money was never the prize, and yet from her hard work and thrift, there was always food on the table and guests were always welcomed in their home. My mom loved seeing Margaret in action when she would visit her in Germany during summer vacations. Many of the relatives have told my brother and me that she is like Margaret in many ways. I cannot think of a higher compliment. Both my mom and Oma have Margaret’s big smile and joy serving the Lord. Indeed, God impacts us through the faithful lives of those who have gone before us and walk this journey with us now.
Reflecting back on my pilgrimage and the influence of Margaret’s pilgrimage on my life, I see God’s hand in the details of our lives. This gives me comfort and confidence to continue walking faithfully in obedience to God, knowing that He is sovereign over all and trustworthy. Being a pilgrim is not enough; it matters for eternity whether or not you are a Christian pilgrim, trusting in God for everything you encounter on the way. The road is not smooth, and I cannot expect it to be easy, but I am grateful for those who have been faithful pilgrims in their journey to show that it is possible, and I am grateful for those who are now walking with me on the path of life and continually encourage me. These examples of provision help me to walk by faith even when difficult questions remain unanswered. Margaret’s life exuded the marks of true Christian love even when some others might choose bitterness or anger. Her actions backed up the Gospel that saved her. She was an example of living Paul’s exhortation, “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” (Rom. 12:11-13). These goals would otherwise be impossible if not for God saving us and being Lord of our life. Margaret did not just endure the journey. She was a steadfast pilgrim who never grew weary in doing good because her hope looked beyond this life to eternal life in the presence of God, and she contributed what little she had when any opportunity presented itself in a way characteristic of a Christian pilgrim who stores up treasure in heaven.
Margaret died alone on the sidewalk a few blocks from her home. She had not felt well that day, but that afternoon was the women’s prayer meeting for the church missionaries, and she did not want to miss it. On the way, she suffered a massive heart attack and remained collapsed on a fence until strangers stopped to help and drive her to the hospital. It is a sorrow that her family was unable to be by her side in this moment of need. And yet, God was with her and provided strangers to help in the final moments of her pilgrimage, just as she had been generous to strangers throughout her life. I thank God that even in her death she was being faithful to Him, desiring to pray with a group of women for missionaries. We cannot know when or how we will die. I want to be found faithful to God in everything so that others might look to my example in their desire to honor God. This is not because I think myself important, but because pilgrims need to look to other pilgrims for strength and comfort on their journey, even as I have looked to Margaret and others. Margaret had many near-death experiences, but God chose to take her after 69 years. I have the blessing of being influenced by all of the family that she led to the Lord and influenced to live a godly lifestyle. I thank God for the blessing of giving me the faith to see this example, learn from it, and desire to practice what I have learned as I continue on my journey as a Christian pilgrim.
Affliction is God’s flail to thresh off our husks; not to consume, but to refine.
Augustine
During the past year or so, though it was filled with turmoil, I have tried to take each new experience as an opportunity to freshly entrust myself to God. We have had fears from the unknown cause of the virus and its rapid transmission, the possibility of a painful and lonely death for us or for our loved ones, the changes that have come as a result of these events, and the potential that we may never experience “normal” again.
Perhaps you, like me, have made this a time to check your own heart. How much do I rely on things of this world and interactions with others to give me joy in everyday living? These are lovely gifts, and I appreciate them more now that they have been threatened or non-existent for a brief time. While I have been away from the blog, I have been conquering my fears by feeding my soul with God’s words in the Bible and its exposition and explanation in supplemental reading. Drawing from this well of wisdom, I would like to share some of my thoughts on friendship and the promises of God.
In isolation, our perception of reality can be skewed. The thoughts in our head can be manipulated by loneliness. We can evaluate our friendships based on mistaken ideas and be disappointed by a lack of contact with each other. Consequently, we can easily lose the gift of giving each other the benefit of the doubt and the benefit of believing the best of each other. While there can be disappointments in our human friendships, we can be sure that we will never be disappointed by God, since He is never-changing and always faithful to love His children. I hope you know Him personally. God the Son took on flesh and laid His life down for us, that we might be forgiven and made righteous in the sight of God. He is the eternal friend of those who repent and receive the salvation He offers by faith. As Jesus told His disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). He offers us the greatest love. In response, Jesus calls us to love each other sacrificially, putting others’ needs ahead of our own as we serve, encourage, and give them our best. It is lovely to have dear friends on this earth who love and care for us in God’s love and power, but I am especially grateful for salvation and the unconditional friendship with Jesus, who does not discriminate or hold my inabilities against me. He knows my heart and the joy I have when I contemplate who He is. I desire to be eternally grateful to Him for His enduring love for me.
At the beginning of this year, I read Dane Ortlund’s book Gentle and Lowly, which encourages us to look at the love Christ has for sinners and sufferers who come to Him. Chapter 12 focuses on the wonderful truth that Jesus is the friend of sinners. Ortlund describes a good friend as someone with whom “you don’t need to constantly fill in all gaps of silence with words. You can just be warmly present together, quietly relishing each other’s company” (116). It is a precious gift from the Lord that He understands me when I don’t fill in those “silent gaps” with spoken words. He hears my contemplations, and the desires of my heart are clear to Him. This allows me to live without resentment for my special needs. Although I can easily be misunderstood or devalued for my lack of verbal input, this weakness does not detract from my relationship with Christ. In fact, in my solitude, I am able to allow my mind and heart to praise and thank Him more regularly. And Christ in turn fills my heart with His blessed joy and peace. Ortlund confirms my thoughts and experience when he writes that Christ “offers the enticing intrigue of fresh hope” (115). Not only are we given fresh hopes, but they are lasting ones since, “In Jesus Christ, we are given a friend who will always enjoy rather than refuse our presence. The friendliness of his heart for us subjectively is as fixed and stable as the declaration of his justification of us objectively” (115). Because He took on flesh, He relates to us according to our humanity, which is a wonderful gift of grace: “Jesus is not the idea of friendship, abstractly; he is an actual friend” (120). I am amazed by the condescension of the glorious God who is “our never-failing friend…who gets underneath the pain of our loneliness…and when pain does not go away, its sting is made fully bearable by the far deeper friendship of Jesus” (120). Judas betrayed Jesus; God will never betray us. We will disappoint each other; God will never disappoint us when we trust Him to work all things for our good as He has promised.
How can we cope with fear? The remedy is having a personal, intimate friendship with the only Sovereign, Almighty God of the universe. While He holds all things together, He desires to redeem and befriend the creature He made from the dirt. We do not come to Christ with everything perfect and all figured out, for Christ comes to repentant and trusting sinners as the Companion whose “embrace of us does not strengthen or weaken depending on how clean or unclean, how attractive or revolting, how faithful or fickle, we presently are” (115). We come before Him in prayer and submit to Him just as we are, and He cleanses us from all of our sin that we might have a beautiful relationship with Him eternally without any fear.
Part of the joy of reading this book was that the author is the grandson of Raymond C. Ortlund Sr., who was my mom’s pastor and family friend. Image Credit: Amazon.com
Keys for the Kingdom 