Chrysostom
Beloved Servant
You bring your weariness under the sun and your trouble with these instruments of hearing, and I hear you. The heat oppresses the body, and the tangle of appointments and doubts over what the doctors may allow can breed a swarm of anxieties. But let not these things cast your soul down into that fever which is worse than any scorching day. The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, and it can carve away the unnecessary care that clings to you.
If the hearing aids work, thank God and use them; if they must be returned, do not let your peace be stolen away. What is a return of merchandise compared to the health of the soul? The outward ear is a small thing next to that inward ear which must be opened to the admonitions of Christ. How many have heard the word ten times and seemed unmoved, yet later brought forth abundant fruit at a single hearing?
So do not despair of God's help, nor think He ignores your prayer for healing. He knows your frame and remembers that you are dust. The heat, the delays, the uncertainty, these are the cloths in which God wraps a greater gift: patience. For when both the physician and the sick man flee from each other, how can the disease be cured?
But if you hold fast in prayer, trusting the One who can heal both body and soul, then every appointment becomes a step toward that day when each man shall have praise from God. Pray then not only for ears to hear the voices of men, but for a heart to hear the voice of the Lord through every trial. He who did not spare His own Son will with Him freely give you all things. Cast your care upon Him; He cares for you.
Amen.
If the hearing aids work, thank God and use them; if they must be returned, do not let your peace be stolen away. What is a return of merchandise compared to the health of the soul? The outward ear is a small thing next to that inward ear which must be opened to the admonitions of Christ. How many have heard the word ten times and seemed unmoved, yet later brought forth abundant fruit at a single hearing?
So do not despair of God's help, nor think He ignores your prayer for healing. He knows your frame and remembers that you are dust. The heat, the delays, the uncertainty, these are the cloths in which God wraps a greater gift: patience. For when both the physician and the sick man flee from each other, how can the disease be cured?
But if you hold fast in prayer, trusting the One who can heal both body and soul, then every appointment becomes a step toward that day when each man shall have praise from God. Pray then not only for ears to hear the voices of men, but for a heart to hear the voice of the Lord through every trial. He who did not spare His own Son will with Him freely give you all things. Cast your care upon Him; He cares for you.
Amen.
