Care


Deu 29:29  GOD, our God, will take care of the hidden things but the revealed things are 

	our business. It's up to us and our children to attend to all the terms in this 

	Revelation. 


	One of my favorite family pictures is one that was taken when I gave our son, 

Haydn, his first bath. It was such an incredible thing to, under Kim's careful 

direction, provide for this little child that really didn't even know he needed 

provision. For many months he had been safely in the care of his mother's womb 

until the day he had to make his way out of the birth canal into the world, and now, 

there he was, totally needing to be cared for in every way. Partly what made this so 

special for me was that, up until that point, I really didn't have much interest in 

holding babies, feeding them, changing their diapers, or taking care of them at all. 

There I was, though, totally enjoying every moment of this task, talking to him the 

whole time while carefully applying the necessary soaps and oils and attempting to 

avoid the spray from his little fountain. For some reason the fact that he was mine 

and that he required my care changed my perspective completely about caring for 

babies- at least for my own. 

	There were things that Haydn as a baby could not do for himself and for those 

things we provided the care he needed. Most of them were things that he didn't even 

know he needed. He could tell there was something wrong when his stomach told 

him he was hungry or the discomfort of his wet diaper told him he needed to be 

changed, but he could do nothing to provide for himself as he lacked strength, skill 

and understanding. As we continued to provide for his needs, though, he began to 

grow and his little muscles began to develop along with his mind as he was 

compelled by revelations of the world around him to touch things and transport 

himself around the room. Slowly he began to do things for himself and the need for 

our care changed. I remember the first time he got a drink for himself on his own. 

Kim and I from our bedroom one evening heard him get out of bed and go into the 

kitchen, get a cup out of the dishwasher and then water from the dispenser in the 

refrigerator door. As he became capable, through strength, knowledge and 

responsibility our care for him diminished greatly, although I'm sure it will never 

cease altogether. There are certain things that we will never again do for him. They 

are things, such as bathing and brushing his teeth that are very necessary for him to 

do, but if they don't get done it is no longer because we failed in our responsibilities. 

Those things are now up to him. 

	There will always be things that are beyond our level of understanding or 

revelation, things in the future, things to which we have not yet been exposed, that 

will always need to be cared for beyond our capability. From the time of our new 

birth in Christ, though, we have progressed from just knowing that we liked getting 

fed and cleaned to actually getting our own food and drinking from the well 

ourselves. We have acquired the ability to be spiritually perceptive and make wise 

decisions based upon our understanding of the Word as it is revealed to us. In our 

gaining ability to do these things we've also gained an ability to care for the needs of 

others who are in need of things they might not yet know they need. In acquiring the 

ability to care for ourselves, however, we also acquire the responsibility to do many 

things ourselves. If we don't apply discipline to our lives in ordering our words and 

actions as they are revealed to us, there will be no excuse when there is a lack of 

health or abundance in any aspect of our lives. For the things of which we have no 

knowledge or ability there will ever be a constant provision and flow of care from our 

Father, but as things are imparted to us they become our responsibility, requiring 

our care. 

	It's such a wonderful thing that we no longer have to bathe Haydn or change 

his diaper and we're so thankful when he takes care of himself. We will always be 

there for him in anything that we can do for him that is beyond his capability, but for 

him to successfully make it through life he will need to do many things himself. 

Likewise, God is there for us at every juncture, ready to care for us where we're 

lacking understanding or ability. There are certain things as we grow, though, that 

will be our responsibility. We will not be able to just sit back and expect God to do all 

the things for us that we are able to do ourselves. As He is faithful in His care, so 

must we be in ours. 




4/10/04