WHEN OUR LOVING FATHER CALL US TO ORDER – A PERSONAL TESTIMONY
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “Wanneer ons liefdevolle Vader ons tot orde roep)
I want to share with you a great lesson I learned but it is also a great testimony because that is how I view it in reflection.
I then want to start with a passage from the Word that our Lord, firstly, in the midst of the refresher course He sent me through, brought back into my heart, only to make me realize again what I always have to keep in mind in the position in which He placed me.
The section reads as follows:
1COR 10:12-13
12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
13 No temptation (trials) has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation (trial) he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Another passage out of our Lord’s Word that is applicable in my circumstances and came clear to my mind is the following words of Jesus:
MAT 26:40-41
40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour?
41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Because it's going to look like I'm going to boast now, I want you to read on – because that, as you will see, is exactly what I want to warn you against.
While you are going to read the following, always remember the first part of the Word that I first shared with you in this writing, namely:
1 COR 10:12 AMP Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands (who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm), take heed lest he fall (into sin).
I now share with you the following:
When I turned 70 years old, and my wife, who is now with Jesus due to dementia, could do nothing for herself anymore and I think also could not recognize me anymore, I was on a very low point in my life and said to myself:
"I can now just as well ‘throw in the towel’ and decide that my life is no longer worth anything and to use the saying; ‘sit in a corner’ – Or I can decide to take on my life with new zeal.”
I then decided to take on life with new passion and as a motivation for myself, I decided that every year, until I am at least 80 years old and it is our Lord’s will and I live, I will run the Wally Hayward 10 km. Which I then also did every year, except for one in the middle of the Covid pandemic we experienced.
This year, 2022, with my 75th birthday, I decided that I was going to do the half marathon namely the 21.1 kilometres.
This race is usually just after my birthday on 1 or 2 May.
On the 23rd of April I ran to get ready for the 20 km race. On the 25th of April I ran 20 km again and on Wednesday the 27th of April I ran 16 km in the morning of my penultimate workout, so I thought.
About two hours after running the 16 km while relaxing, I think to myself and that is also – so I believe – why I had to learn such a great lesson.
I thought:
"I'm probably by far the fittest 75-year-old visually impaired athlete in at least the whole of Pretoria" –
And if I remember correctly, it was between 10 and 30 minutes later, I got a pain in my stomach that I can only describe as terrible.
The pain only got worse and worse.
I sweat from the pain.
I throw up from the pain.
I can no longer stand on my feet later because of this horrendous pain.
I end up in hospital in emergencies and I am operated on the next day for an obstruction in my intestinal system. That which the old people simply called ‘a knot in the gut’.
As I lay there waiting to be pushed into the theatre on Thursday the 28th of April, a day after I had run comfortable 16 km, I think to myself how quickly things can change in one's life.
Yesterday I could have run more than 20 kilometres if I wanted to and today, I am in great pain waiting to be operated on.
Then our Lord also told me in my heart why I was walking this path now and this is what our Lord said to me in my heart – and I share with you as I can remember how it came up in my heart and I experienced and understood it:
"You are called Pastor by people.
You are called Evangelist by people.
You are called by people their Pastor in their e-church.
You are told by people, that you explain to them with great wisdom something in a simple way according to the Word.
This is also how I gave you your ministry in 2004 to do for Me.
You ought to know better.
How do you proclaim that people should follow Jesus' example and then you take your God's glory upon yourself, that you are so fit and healthy?
It does not help you to preach to people about how to follow Jesus in humility and you who are a teacher begin to get an opinion of yourself and forget that it is My love and My grace that has brought you in your fitness to where you are.
You work for Me, and you must do it in Spirit and in Truth.
You must not preach one thing or even pretend to people and in your heart, you have an opinion of yourself.”
I also remembered our Lord's words again and I share with you how it came about that shaped my personal circumstances:
MAT 26:40-41
40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter (Sakkie), "So, could you not watch with me one hour? (In your life today as I bless you so much)
41 Watch and pray (always) that you may not enter into temptation.(as far as your ministry is concerned). The spirit indeed is willing, (yours and many others that are working for Me) but the flesh (in your case, your humanity) is weak."
Then I thought about wonderful workers of our Lord. People, to use the words of John the Baptist, whose shoes I am not even worth tying, have shattered themselves, concerning their ministries – because in human weakness they took their eyes, like myself, just for a moment from Jesus and like me, looked at themselves in the mirror and liked what they saw.
I would like to share the following with you and other people who work for our Lord in some capacity, which we must always be fully aware of and which I have learned again:
Remember, our Lord does not have one attribute that is greater, better, or stronger, or however you want to describe it, than the others.
For example, as far as this writing is concerned –
God's love and grace are no greater than His righteous judgment.
There are people who easily remember and proclaim, that God's love is infinitely great and of course it is the truth – but we must not forget to also bring it clearly to the attention of the same people, that our loving Lord's righteous judgment and hatred of the sin in our lives is just as infinitely great, especially when we are rebelliously and stubborn in our sinful life.
He Himself is saying of His children – that is you and I:
HEB 12:5-7 NLT
5 And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as His children? He said, “My child don’t make light of the LORD’s discipline, and don’t give up when He corrects you.
6 For the LORD disciplines those He loves, and He punishes each one He accepts as His child.” (Each one of His children who wilfully and knowingly disobeys and does not confess their sin in sincere repentance)
7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as His own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?
I, (who should know better) had to learn anew that my loving Father would call me to order – if I was, so to say, out of line in what he had given me to do.
I then conclude this great lesson, that I had to learn once more, with the following from the Word – which you and I as children of our Lord can remember with glorious peace in our hearts, when we stumble and what our Lord then expect of us:
1THS 5:6 So then let us not sleep, as others do (as I let myself be caught) but let us keep awake and be sober.
HEB 4:16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace (As I too wonderfully could do again), that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (As I was helped by Him)
For how absolutely wonderful of our loving merciful and just God and Saviour towards us – His children for whom He went to hang on the cross!
1JOHN 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (because He paid for them with His blood and His life) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Greetings,
Sakkie