My Hope is In You

Aaron Shust's newest release is amazing!  The following devotion comes from this cd and is based on the second cut, "My Hope Is In You".  Listen to the song on his video.   Worship through this devotion. 

As I’m typing this, the states of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi are dealing with the repercussions of the most severe tornadic activity in our nation’s history. Entire towns were flattened; the death toll was already in the hundreds after 24 hours with hundreds more missing. I read this morning that University of Alabama students are asking for prayer as they pull bodies out from the wreckage on campus.

Earthquakes have recently devastated Japan and Chile, the repercussions of which will last a lifetime for those who have lost loved ones.

Death is a part of every life. And that fact in no way diminishes the gravity, difficulty and emotional pain it can bring to those of us who remain.

When my 2-year-old boy, Nicky, was diagnosed with Eosinaphilic Esophogitis (EE), a rare, painful and, thus far, incurable disease, it rocked my family to our core. It dropped us to our knees, face-planted us in prayer. I wept like I’ve never wept before. He spent months in Children’s hospital and on December 6th, two days after his 2nd birthday, we found out that he had Septic Shock, his organs had dropped, a 104 degree fever hadn’t broken for days and he was admitted into what we accidentally discovered was called "the bereavement wing" of the PICU; where children don’t normally get discharged.

When the ground on which you are standing begins to shake, you will naturally reach for the closest thing you believe to be the most stable or secure. David says in Psalm 62,
"Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from Him. Truly He is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Fortress, I will not be shaken."

My wife, Sarah, and I have always believed that God has a plan. More than a plan: a Perfect plan, the end result of which is His increased glory! Its the kind of perfect plan that would make all of mankind spontaneously shout out loud for joy if we understood the half of it! So even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil, He is with us! He’s promised He will never leave us or forsake us: even through the droughts and the storms. Before we were even blessed to become parents, Sarah and I spoke of the reality that if God graces us with children one day, we will simply be their caretakers, they will belong to Him and whether they live for 90 years or 9 days, He holds the measure of their days. Who are we to say how long anyone is supposed to live? Can we improve on God’s perfect plan?

The foundation on which we stood was rock solid. We were not the solid ones. He is. Our hope is in Him alone. The peace that passes understanding was our song. Multiple nurses would spend their downtime in Nicky’s room and tell Sarah, "There’s such a peace in here!" Then Sarah would tell them why.

And on one glorious day, a befuddled doctor told us that the most severe case of EE they had ever witnessed, was no longer remotely present in Nicky’s little body.