From the June Newsletter

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

As some of you may have noticed, I am walking with a limp, and most recently have started using a cane.  The reason is bad arthritis, but I don’t want to talk to you about that.  I actually want to talk about the cane, or a crutch.  A lot of people don’t know the proper way to use a cane or a single crutch.  Let’s say your bad leg is your left leg.  The temptation is to use the cane on your left side.  But you are actually supposed to use the cane on your right side.  This way you can support the bad leg and have a more stable base as you walk.  The same is true with using a single crutch.  

If you choose not to lean on the cane, you are taking a risk.  Sometimes the pain can be great enough that it feels like the leg is giving out.  You could fall and end up with an injury.  You just might be better off using the cane in tandem with the left or bad leg.  Using it on the good side it offers support, and you might even walk without a limp.  

So it is in our daily lives.  We all have a weak spot and Satan doesn’t play fair.  That is where he will target you, he will attack and tempt you where you are weakest.  If you try to stand all on your own, you will fall.  

Fortunately you don’t have to stand alone.  In fact you shouldn’t.  Let the Lord be your spiritual cane or crutch.  As it says in 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”  When you feel weak and anxious, let the Lord be your strength.  Or as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9a, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’”  When is God at his strongest?  When we are at our weakest.  

You have heard it said that God will not give you more than you can handle.  Well that is not quite true.  There is a passage in 1 Corinthians 10 that says, “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.”  But this is talking about being tempted and falling into sin, not about trials and tribulations.  In fact, we are often faced with more than we can handle, but it is never more than the Lord can handle.  

The Lord may allow all our spiritual canes and crutches to get knocked out from under us so we have no choice but to lean on him.  Let the Lord be your cane.  He will never let you down.  

Your Brother in Christ,

Pastor Scott Muske

St. Matthew and St. John Lutheran Churches  

989-573-8456