Everything-Proof Ron DeBoer 10/5/2013 (If you read my articles regularly, you’ll know that I usually end my pieces with a link to a song that is connected to the topic. For this article, I encourage you to watch/listen to Hillsong’s With Everything before you read on.) When we were little boys, my younger brother and I used to make up adventures in which the two of us were stranded on an island or floating in the middle of the sea, adrift in a broken-down boat. We had to fight off sharks, monsters, and evil warriors who shot poison darts and threw sharp spears. Inevitably we would find ourselves cornered with no place to turn, sure to meet our imminent death . . . until we took our “everything-proof” pills. When we were everything-proofed, wounds healed, poison left our bodies, and hatchets bounced off the invisible shield that formed around us. We were thus invincible and always fell asleep safe and sound in the bed we shared in the cold upstairs of our farmhouse. Now in my late forties, I sent my brother a text recently: “Remember ‘everything-proof’?” It took a while before I got a reply: “Yes! I need everything-proof right now!” I replied: “There is everything-proof, a protective shield that is all around you.” Then I texted him this poem: Christ in front of us. Christ behind us. Christ on our left Christ on our right. Christ beneath us. Christ above you. Christ in you. At the time I didn’t know where the words came from. My thumbs just tapped them out on my Blackberry. (The prayer is commonly attributed to St. Patrick.) They came to me as clear as prophecy that day. My brother needed those words. He was about to go into his first radiation session. That was in mid-August, a mere six weeks ago as I write this article. My brother has been diagnosed with stage four cancer, which was found in several places in his body, including his kidneys, lymph nodes, and spine. My brother, with whom I shared a bedroom and many fine adventures, is on the journey of his life with attackers coming from all sides. At times like this, you want to open the Bible and find answers. Why does a healthy, 47-year-old guy with two teenage daughters have to get cancer and face an uncertain future? There are, of course, no neatly outlined answers. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord.” But how can cancer be part of the plan? Psalm 139:13 says, “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.” But what about when those inner parts become diseased? At times like these you go to the Bible for comfort. As I was reading through the Bible and praying for my brother, asking God to give me a passage to write about today, I landed, unexpectedly, on Psalm 45. It’s a praise song about an everything-proof Lord and eternity, which gave me great comfort about my brother. Here are the first six verses: Beautiful words stir my heart. I will recite a lovely poem about the king, for my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet. You are the most handsome of all. Gracious words stream from your lips. God himself has blessed you forever. Put on your sword, O mighty warrior! You are so glorious, so majestic! In your majesty, ride out to victory, defending truth, humility, and justice. Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds! Your arrows are sharp, piercing your enemies’ hearts. The nations fall beneath your feet. Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. The notes in my Life Application Study Bible say this poem was written about King Solomon but is also seen as a prophecy about Christ. When I read the first five verses I see an everything-proof Lord, “glorious” and “majestic”, a performer of “awe-inspiring deeds.” This same Christ defeated death when he rose from the grave. This same Christ lives in my brother. I got a text from my brother just this morning as he prepared for the massive surgery to remove the cancer and parts of his innermost being: “I need everything-proof today.” The text came in the middle of my work day, and I cried for him. My brother knows he is facing difficult odds. But as a believer in Christ he knows that he will live forever because no matter what happens to his body, his soul will endure just as certainly as God’s throne will—forever and ever.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 10:46:43 +0000
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