" 'What is the chief end of man?'
'Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.' "
'Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.' "
Actually, make that four:
First off, I don't like to spill my heart on the internet. Secondly, I don't want an excessively wordy blog. Thirdly, I'm just the little sister in this whole business. Should it really matter what I'm feeling? (Not all that much, in the chain of importance.) And therefore finally, I feel that to write a bunch about my heart in this whole issue would be to take the focus off of Car and Nate, and that's the farthest thing from what I want.
But today, I feel like the Lord gave me a verse and a thought that I wanted to share on here.
It applies to all of us, weather or not we've got cancer.
Today has been a rough day in the Hobbs home. An emotional day. When people are hurting together, to see the other hurting alongside you brings comfort... but also a deeper twinge of pain. The sadness is exacerbated when you know that someone you love is feeling it with you. This afternoon Carlee and the kids took a nap, and I grabbed my Bible, a notebook, and a chai and headed down to the rocks on the Bering Sea to sit a pray for a while. I prayed that Jesus would go down before me, like He did for the Samaritan woman at the well, and be waiting there to talk with me. :) (He was!)
He reminded me of what we've all been feeling ever since we heard the news of Carlee's cancer:
This is about God's glory.
He showed me this incredible verse in Isaiah 59:19- "So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When then enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." The second part of the verse is great, because it promises God's protection against the worst Satan can throw at Carlee. But the part that most captured my heart was the first part. Nome is as far west as you can get, in America. (Which is one of the reasons they gave Wesley his name: it means "from the West"!) :) I pray that somehow God's doings in this tiny little town in the western Alaskan bush will spread His glory throughout the world. I know it's a big order, and a bit of an audacious request, but I think He's pleased with it.
So my thinking went on and I wondered what my roll is to play in all this. Again, I'm not trying to get attention through Car's cancer or anything, but if God wants to get glory from it, I want to have a part in that! He's mercifully placed me with the Hobbs, at least for now, and I'm so happy to be here. So I prayed that whether He keeps me here in Alaska where I can work on the front lines in this cancer battle or sends me back to Ohio where I can pray on my knees by my bed, I would somehow be able to assist Carlee and Nathan in glorifying God through Carlee's cancer.
And not only glorifying God, but learning to ENJOY Him. The Westminster Catechism says that's our chief end, and I SO wholeheartedly agree! Read this:
"The Reformed conception is not fully or fairly stated if it be so stated that it may seem to be satisfied with conceiving man merely as the object on which God manifests His glory—possibly even the passive object in and through which the Divine glory is secured. It conceives man also as the subject in which the gloriousness of God is perceived and delighted in. No man is truly Reformed in his thought, then, unless he conceives of men, not merely as destined to be the instrument of the Divine glory, but also as destined to reflect the glory of God in his own consciousness, to exalt in God: nay, unless he himself delights in God as the all-glorious one. "
-B.B. Warefield
So I turn the question around to you, as I did to myself today. What is YOUR chief end? You can determine the answer by searching your heart and discovering for yourself what your days are spent doing; what your time, and energy, and thought-power is devoted to. We can say that our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, but it's really not our chief end at all if it's not the consuming focus of our lives. How it must rejoice the heart of God when His child says to Him "Father, I want you to be glorified to the utmost through my life and through my death! And in being glorified, help me to delight in You as you ought to be delighted in!"
So that is Carlee's prayer as she takes a deep breath and ventures into the scary unkown of cancer, and that is my prayer as I walk along behind her. And I desire that anyone who reads this wordy post will be challenged to pray that prayer as well.
I read every word, dear Dani... can you hear my "AMEN" from here to there?!!! And may it be so... the gates of hell cannot even prevail against God's kingdom and He will be exalted over the whole earth. This is a small piece in a much bigger puzzle that's all about HIM. Thank you for sharing... praying MUCH for all of you there and for God to be on display in a big way. Much love you all and hugs for all my Alaskan friends (even the ones who haven't YET seen a bear!) ;) ~ Danelle
ReplyDeleteHello. This is Weston’s mom (Diana). I’ve been following your blog since you left for Alaska. I was edified by your post on June 13 about living for God’s glory. There are so many thoughts I’d love to share with you about what God is teaching me about this reality! Because I find it difficult to write my heart-felt thoughts succinctly, I hope you don’t mind if I share a portion of text from a Bible Study that Keith and I are enjoying entitled, “Created for His Glory”. It is rather lengthy – but I hope you enjoy it!
ReplyDelete“The glory of God is that unique excellence that makes Him supreme – towering over everything else. He is uniquely the Source and Sustainer of everything else; He alone is the Creator-God. He is unique in His external existence; He alone has neither beginning nor end. He always has been and forever will be. He is unique in His infinitude; He alone cannot be measured or contained. His unblemished purity is unique; He alone has no moral deficit. His infinite knowledge and wisdom are unique; He alone knows everything intuitively and perfectly. His infinite power is unique; no one else can stay His hand or stop His works. What He purposes to do comes to pass without fail. He alone accomplishes everything He purposes to do.”
“Every one of His glories – these unsurpassed attributes – towers infinitely above the landscape of the rest of His creation, both celestial and terrestrial. He is not like Mt. Everest, which while it is the highest of all mountains, still has its conquerors – Edmund Hillary being the first. God has no peer and no conqueror. He is alone in this position as Lord of all. It is this uniqueness in His infinite attributes that is the glory of God; it is His unique boast. This uniqueness of God as first is the most important consideration of all existence.” . . . . . . . .
“Several times in Ephesians Paul enunciates that God’s overarching purpose for His redemptive acts is so that His glory would be displayed. He said the reason the Father chose us was ‘to the praise of the glory of his grace.’ The reason Christ redeemed us was ‘that we should be to the praise of his glory.’ And the reason the Spirit sealed us was ‘unto the praise of his glory.’ Paul even winds up his three-chapter discussion of God’s great works on our behalf with the statement, ‘Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.’” [Ephesians 1-3]
“So you see, the glory of God is not something we can ignore. Glorifying God must become the heartbeat of every believer. Ask yourself, ‘What part does a concern for the glory of God play in my daily choices?’ It is the most fundamental question of your Christian life, and your answer will be the difference between spiritual mediocrity and fullness of joy and peace.”
Kindly,
Diana Skaggs
Hi, Mrs. Skaggs!
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much for your thoughts. I'm so glad you copied the text you did; like you said, it's really pertinent to what I've been thinking about lately. I think I'm going to look up that study.
Tell Wes I said "hey" and I miss him! I've been a little homesick the past few days. :)
God bless!
~Dani
dear dani...this is the first time i have been able to be on your blog since getting to indonesia. i just want you to know that my heart swelled with emotion and intense reality in God's overwhelming care for our individual hearts (every little part of our aching hearts) as i read your last blog post. i am praying for you and THANK you for sharing your feelings. so important. my family has prayed for your family so much since being on java. i have loved sitting here looking at all your posts and pictures. beautiful. i especially love the ones that include you and carlee together... i love you!
ReplyDeleteDani,
ReplyDeleteI am overwhelmed with thoughts racing concerning your blog on the 13th. Thank you so much for sharing. What an insight you have given us and something I will definatley be striving for im my prayers and everyday living.
Your mom mentioned the other day in our class that cancer is not changing the fact that Carlee (and all of us) are here to bring glory to God. Your blog and this is meaningfull to me. Thank you for ALL your words. Love you all and continually praying for direction, wisdom, and strength for your whole family.
Kari Margo