From One We Can Judge The Rest

Drew,
Be strong in the Lord! Hope fully in Him. Fight fear. My family is too under a severe cross right now. My wife is very ill, I am on stress leave from work as a result. It's as if there is only darkness all around at times. Read Lam.3 and hope in those passages in v.21-26, 31-33, and 55-58. Grace be with you.

Hi Drew,

My concern and prayers are surely with you. As a great comfort and encouragement to our faith, Luther reminds us that it is not really our bread that sustains us anyway, but rather the Word of God alone. He writes, "All this one may indeed learn from his own daily experiences. For it is held, and I almost believe it, that there are not as many sheaves of wheat grown as there are people living on the earth; but God daily blesses and increases the wheat in the sack, the flour in the tray, the bread on the table and in the mouth, as Christ did (John 6:12ff.). It is also noticeable that as a rule poor people and their children are fatter and their food reaches farther and agrees with them better than is the case among the rich with all their provisions. In other ways we see that in all things it is not the food, but the Word of God that nourishes every human being."

"Now that God (seems to) sustain all mankind by bread, and not by the Word alone, without bread, is done to the end, that He conceals His work in the world in order to exercise believers; just as He commanded the children of Israel to arm themselves and to fight, and yet it was not His pleasure that victory should come through their own sword and deeds; but He Himself was to slay their enemies and triumph with their swords and through their deeds. Here it might also be said: The warrior was not victorious through his sword alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God, as David sings, Ps. 44:6: "For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me."

"Thus He does also with the bread; since it is at hand, He nourishes us through it and by means of it, … but where it is not at hand, there He nourishes us without the bread, only through the Word. If bread is at hand, that we do not therefore trust the more; or if there is no bread present, that we do not therefore despair the more; but use it when it is at hand, and do without it, when there is none; being assured that we shall still live and be sustained at both times by God's Word, whether there be bread or no bread. With such faith one overcomes avarice and temporal care for daily bread in the right way." (Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. II, pp. 140, 141).

What a blessing to be a Christian, and to have God's Holy Word.

Your Friend in Christ,

Stuart

Drew,

My prayers are with you and your family. All three of our boys are speech delayed, and one of them has other pronounced challenges. Our first born did not speak until he was three years old, but today he is a healthy eight year old who holds his own in school.

A good resource to read are articles and books by Thomas Sowell, an African American conservtive columnist, whose son was a "late talker". These children speak late, but are often high IQ. So consider doing a search on the net for "Late Talkers" and for "Thomas Sowell". Possibly your child fits into this category.

Also email me anytime at dch1993@live.com

Fr. Daniel Hackney
Fr. Daniel Hackney

Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement that only Christians can find and offer one another in Christ and His Gospel.

Fr. Hackney, I am familiar with Thomas Sowell as I respect his views on economic and political matters and agree with most of what he says in general. I was also vaguely aware that his children had some developmental problems, yet, was unaware as to what it was. I found a free preview of his book on google books called; The Einstein Syndrome, this regards the phenomenon of late talkers. After reading some of the parents testimonials about the search for a CORRECT diagnosis in relation to their child, it sounds almost identical to the things my wife and I are experiencing now. (One group says one thing, while another says something else, etc.; both contradictory, and both at odds with each other due to academic pride in their disciplines, and absolute, dogmatic certainty that my son is this thing or another.) It's driving my wife and myself crazy at the moment.

But, this is definitely something to bring to the developmental neurologist we are seeing right now to see if it applies to our son or not.

Pr. Wood, thank you for this quote from Luther's sermon, very apt for this situation, and apt for this Thanksgiving holiday in general, especially:

"If bread is at hand, that we do not therefore trust the more; or if there is no bread present, that we do not therefore despair the more; but use it when it is at hand, and do without it, when there is none; being assured that we shall still live and be sustained at both times by God's Word, whether there be bread or no bread."

Once more, thank you kind friend.

Canadian, I'm so sorry to hear that your wife is not well, and your family is in my prayers. I thank you for your words of encouragement, and Lamentations is one of my favorite books of the Bible. And, while it is filled with much law, the instances of Gospel are made much the sweeter such as the ones you've referred to, that bare witness to this Gospel reality quite well. You too, stand strong in the Lord, He will see us through this no matter where the destination leads us.

God bless you all,
Drew