In Felix Bartholdy-Mendelssohn’s oratorio The Elijah, is a plaintive (of course!) soprano-and-alto duet, “I Waited for the Lord,” taken from Psalm 4:1, 4 — “I waited for the LORD; He inclined unto me. He heard my complaint, He heard my complaint. O, blessed are they that hope and trust in Him!”
Sometimes we are in a fix where we do not have time to verbalize to God our cry for help. Even in such a situation, our all-compassionate, ever-merciful God sees our problem or dilemma, how our body “complains,” and promptly moves to send the needed help. Indeed, as another song encourages, “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.” Jesus assures that we humans are of much greater value in God’s eyes than the birds of the air (Matthew 6:25-27; 10:29-31; Luke 12:6-7, 22-25).
I had previously written an article on this website, in which I recalled a Peter-like situation in my early childhood where I was in no condition to verbally cry out to God, “Lord, save me!” as the apostle Peter did when he began to sink in the waters of the Sea of Galilee while walking with Christ on the water but he suddenly lost faith when he looked at the turbulent waves (Matthew 14::22-31). But God saved me just the same! [See: “Just Like Peter – Part 1.”]
In this present article, I recount another episode in my younger days which sheds light on Psalm 4:1, 4.
I was then in my late elementary school or early high school days in my home town, Cagayan, Misamis Oriental (now Cagayan de Oro City|), the northern gateway to the country’s southern island, Mindanao. Our Boy Scouts troop decided to go on a hiking and camping weekend. That night, my buddies set up our tent by the Cagayan River. I had only a thin tarpaulin-like sheet to lie on (plastic was not yet the vogue), and only a thin blanket to cover me. Then it happened!
In the morning, I was utterly shocked when I awoke and I could not move my body; I felt like I was a stiff sheet of plywood! The cold of the damp ground must have gotten into my back and my whole body, rendering it paralyzed!
It was then that a sudden thought came to my mind, to ask my tent-mates to fetch water from the river, boil it, and give me a cup or glass of the warm water to drink.
I had never, ever thought about what this would do to me, but at the moment it seemed to me the right thing to do, to fight cold with heat. As soon as the warm water reached my tummy, I felt my abdomen suddenly perk up, and I could then move my body and my arms! I learned later that this part of my abdomen is where the “solar plexus” is, a sensitive network of nerves that control the visceral organs, and is connected to the spinal cord, a network of nerves directly connected to the brain, and controls the muscles of the body.
I fully believe it was God who placed the thought in my mind, to ask my tent-mates to do as they did. He heard my body’s complaint! And I am still alive today, (now 84, going on 85) to tell you about it, after it happened some 70 years ago!
This illustrates what the “sweet psalmist,” Israel’s King David, wrote in Psalm 139:1-6 (NKJV, emphasis added):
O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down.
And are acquainted with all my ways;
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But, behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
You have judged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
A more recent episode, in February 2018, shows the same power of God to help as my body “complains,” without me uttering or just thinking a prayer.
It happened one sweltering, hot afternoon in our now 29-year home here in Angono, Rizal. At that time, I was still feeling very strong, even at my age then (I had just turned 76), for I could still climb the large guava tree outside the northeast corner of our perimeter wall, to harvest ripe fruits or prune branches, and do other vigorous chores, like doing carpentry or cleaning our water tank. [Over the years that tree was attacked by some blight, withered and has been cut down.] We had just bought a truckload of sand for some concreting project here, and it was dumped on the street, near the edge of the sidewalk. I decided that, rather than hiring an extra hand, I myself would do the task of hauling the pile of sand to a free space in our garage, which is up on an elevation of less than a meter from street level, since our duplex house sits on a hilltop.
So, there I was, carrying a bucket of sand about 10 kilos with my left hand, and another 20 kilos with my right hand. I had just negotiated the some 25-degree incline ramp to the garage, when I suddenly felt a popping or snapping sensation on the right side of my brain! “I just had a stroke!” I thought to myself, although I didn’t know exactly what happened to me. But I was aware that I had issues with an elevated blood pressure, which I had left unaddressed medically because of a residual Worldwide Church of God ( WCG) tradition of divine healing (James 5:14-15).
As I was slowly falling on my left side, just behind our parked car, a thought came to me – call it human instinct, or God’s unspoken word – to brace the left side of my head with my right hand, so as not to bang my head on the concrete pavement, thereby avoiding possible further damage to my brain.
I called out to my wife Paz, who was lying on our living room sofa, to come and help me get up on my feet and walk to the house. I then asked her to call our next-door neighbor, Medardo Maninang — a former co-employee in our WCG office – to request him to bring me in their van to the nearest hospital for my immediate medical attention. God knew I would need my neighbor’s help, so He made sure he was available! But when we reached the local medical center, it could not take me in because they had no Intensive Care Unit (ICU), nor a CT-scanner. I was referred to the neighboring town’s tertiary Binangonan Lakeview Hospital (BLH) and rushed there.
At the BLH I underwent intensive care plus physical and speech therapy for some two weeks, after which I was well enough to be brought home to recover further. Our three daughters and their husbands pooled their resources together to augment my Phil-Health subsidy, senior citizen’s discount, and my late sister Mimi’s contribution, for us to be able to pay the hefty hospital bills and be allowed to check out.
At my request, my now late pastor friend in Davao City, in Mindanao, Edmond Macaraeg, sent me an anointed “prayer cloth” for my healing. God knows well the complaints of my body, and our pocket books, as a result of my stroke — what with the considerable cost of medications, food supplements, caregivers, medical consultations and laboratory tests, etc. And I still look to Him, in faith, to complete my healing – if not in my lifetime, then certainly in the resurrection to immortal (sickness-free) life at Christ’s return in glory (1 Corinthians 15:50-54).
God surely knows the complaint of the fingers in my left hand, which has lost its former skills in playing the musical keyboard, and “touch-typing” (using all fingers systematically) on the computer or laptop keyboard.
I long to be able again to “play skillfully upon the strings” as God encourages or commands in Psalm 33:2-3 (Scottish Psalter version). Before my stroke, I was already playing advanced-level classical piano pieces such as Elgar’s “Salut d’Amour,” Lecuona’s “Malaguena” and Grieg’s “Notturno” and was essaying Debussy’s “Arabesque #1.” I used this skill to render special music during our WCG festivals and our family gatherings. Hopefully our neighbors in our subdivision miss the tinkling of our Wurlitzer bantam piano when I used to give them free classical piano “recitals” – or, maybe, they thank me for no longer “torturing” them with my playing of Hanon’s “scales!”
I also used to be able to “touch-type” at an average of about 70 words per minute on an electric typewriter or a computer/laptop keyboard, with about 95% accuracy. I used this skill to advantage as the WCG’s mainstay “personal correspondent,” answering the questions about the Bible and other matters sent in by WCG literature readers or TV/radio audience. Using fresh research or our office’s stock answers, I could type more than a dozen ready-to-mail letters each working day. After I retired from employment at WCG, my writing and typing skills were put to use in starting and maintaining this website you are now logged on to.
Now, since my stroke, I have regressed to the primitive “hunt-and-peck” system of typing, using mostly my right middle finger to type the keyboard letters and figures plus the functions [tab, return, enter, cap lock, direction arrows, etc.], and my right thumb to press the space bar. About the only thing my left middle finger is able to contribute to the whole business is to hold the shift key on either side whenever I need to use the capital keys, and the Control (Ctl) key for uploading data. With this handicap I commit a lot of errors, which take time and patience to edit and correct.
Despite everything, I thank God that I am still able to crank out at least one new article each month for this website. I would appreciate your prayers for my complete healing and the effectiveness of this website ministry. Many thanks!
My point here is not to minimize or forget about regular, daily prayers to God and periodic fasting — to praise and thank Him for Who He is and what He has done for us and all of mankind, to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness, and to pray for the needs of others and ourselves. It is also important to read, study, and meditate on God’s word, the Holy Scriptures. This continual communion or “contact” with God makes us so close to Him like a Friend who knows our complaints, that even though we are not able to verbalize them, He hears and intervenes in His own time and way. What an awesome God we serve!
I trust that, through this my testimony, you, my dear readers, will also “see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD” (Psalm 40:3), and be blessed (Verse 4)!
Pedro R. Meléndez, Jr.
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