God’s will accomplish His plan…

 

When puzzled by what is happening around me, or in the lives of others, I need to remember the important truth behind all of God’s dealings with us. Nothing is random. Nothing escapes His notice and nothing can thwart His purposes. The worst I can do is prolong His goal for me. The best I can do is see it and cooperate with it.

This is HIs goal:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:1–3)

The end result of what happens to me and to all God’s people is that we will be like Jesus. The process can be hastened by cooperation, by making that my goal also. But I cannot fake it, put on a show of having arrived, or even think that is true. I need to keep growing and changing.

I also have to remember that this isn’t just about me. It is about the witness of God’s people to a world that needs to know Him.

Today’s reading begins with: “All the dealings of God with the soul of the believer are in order to bring it into oneness with himself that the prayer of our Lord may be fulfilled.” In this prayer Jesus asks that the Father works:

“That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (John 17:21–23)

This glorious purpose has been the heart of God for His people from before the foundation of the world. It is called a mystery yet was accomplished in the death of Christ and made known by the Scriptures. It is also an actual experience by many of God’s people, but not all. This goal is not hidden it nor is it impossible. However, as the reading says, the eyes of many are too dim and their hearts too unbelieving for them to grasp it.

This goal is behind many events in life as the Lord works to open eyes and shake up how we think and live. He wants me to realize my sin, my weakness, all areas of resistance to Him so I will think and act more like the One who lives in me and desires my perfection.

Everything in my life is supposed to lead to union with Christ and this amazing transformation that reflects His image to an unbelieving and needy world. When something happens that upsets my hopes and plans, trying to fix it instead of letting it do what God intends only slows the process. If I resist and keep on resisting Him, the change will eventually happen but too late to have value in this world. Not only that, I will not experience the rest and peace that He died to give me, His abundant life in this life.

PRAY: Jesus, I realize that many Christians are not into this kind of radical surrender. Sometimes they pray as if You are a genie in a bottle giving wishes out for comfort and prosperity and all good, but temporary things. Forgive us for wanting You to be our servant instead of surrendering ourselves to Your purposes. How often do I need “your peace in my storms” to realize that being like You IS the abundant life You want for me.