{"id":659,"date":"2011-11-15T11:12:26","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T17:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellevanloon.com\/?p=659"},"modified":"2011-11-15T11:12:26","modified_gmt":"2011-11-15T17:12:26","slug":"backed-into-a-corner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pilgrimsroadtrip\/2011\/11\/backed-into-a-corner\/","title":{"rendered":"Backed into a corner?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Being backed into a corner brings clarity.<\/p>\n

When you are fighting for your life, that punch list of Thursday afternoon errands (Grocery store: Eggs, toilet paper, broccoli; Dry cleaners: pick up winter coat; Office Max: Business envelopes; Make dentist appointment)<\/em> is nothing more than ephemera tumbled into a northwesterly breeze. The corner \u2013 no visible exits, no trap doors, no possible way out \u2013 strips life down to its essence. Who are you? Who is your God\/god?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In the last week, two people that mean a lot to me have received a cancer diagnosis. Both are still learning what their course of treatment will look like. The word \u201ccancer\u201d is certainly not a death sentence, but it is a teletransporter that moves people from the blessed ordinariness of Thursday afternoon errand runs into a corner-shaped place.<\/p>\n

I remember getting a Saturday morning (!) call a few years ago from a doctor who told me he strongly suspected cancer after reviewing some test results, and having that stunning sense of clarity about what mattered (God, my family) and what didn\u2019t (pretty much everything else I was planning to do that day). Turns out I didn\u2019t have cancer, and I segued out of the corner and back into the tchotchke-filled busyness of family, work and church task-doing. But I do live with the awareness that many of us will find ourselves in the corner at some point as we journey through our broken world.<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s Bible reading<\/a> showed me a way to pray for those who find themselves in the corner today. King Jehosaphat lived more than 800 years before Christ\u2019s birth, and learned that his people were about to be attacked by a numerically-superior army. Desperate for deliverance, the people fasted and assembled themselves before Jehosaphat in Jerusalem. There was no military strategy that could save them. They faced annhiliation.<\/p>\n

Pinned in that impossible corner, Jehosaphat prayed. He cried out, reminding both God and his people of God\u2019s promises and character. His prayer ended with these words:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.\u201d (2 Chron. 20:12)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can almost hear a pin drop in the next verse:<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD.\u201d (2 Chron. 20:13)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In Jehosaphat\u2019s case, God then sent his word through the voice of a prophet. On the surface, nothing had changed. The people were still in a corner. God\u2019s solution, in the form of some logic-defying directions from the mouth of a man, may have seemed impossible. But they responded in worship and obedience, convinced that they were not alone. God was with them in their corner.<\/p>\n

So as I ache for these two who\u2019ve received a cancer diagnosis \u2013 and for all of us who may find ourselves in the corner five minutes or five years from now \u2013 I pray for God\u2019s healing and comfort, and I remember Jehosaphat\u2019s words of trust and surrender from a place with no easy way out.<\/p>\n

God in their corner.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being backed into a corner brings clarity. When you are fighting for your life, that punch list of Thursday afternoon errands (Grocery store: Eggs, toilet paper, broccoli; Dry cleaners: pick up winter coat; Office Max: Business envelopes; Make dentist appointment) is nothing more than ephemera tumbled into a northwesterly breeze. The corner \u2013 no visible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1449,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-life"],"yoast_head":"\nBacked into a corner? - Pilgrim's Road Trip<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Being backed into a corner brings clarity. 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