Who is on the throne?

An important thought entered my mind this week that I’ve shared several times. It is this: In great wisdom and power, our God rules the universe; therefore, we can trust Him with our problems.

One dear friend struggles concerning her work situation. In caring for needy people, some of them resent and abuse her. Besides that, her family struggles to make ends meet. She knows that God can  help but why does He remain silent?

Another suffers from mental problems. This person knows God can remove those problems. Why do they persist? How can trials such as these seem ignored by a God who loves us?

When the Lord saw the evil in the world, He had Noah build a boat. His family was saved and the rest drowned. Then, much later as He saw the sinfulness of humanity, He sent His Son to die — that sinners might be forgiven and transformed. Why not when Noah was alive? Who can understand the plan and will of God, or His timing?

A mother longed for the conversion of her son and prayed with tears that he would not go to an evil city. He went, and there God converted him. Sometimes what looks wrong to us is right in the mind of God.

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

Do I have any reason to question the wisdom of God? Does anyone? He rules the universe, makes seeds sprout and grow, fills the earth with food, teaches birds to fly south in winter, and a host of other amazing events happen because of His supreme power and grace. No child of His should worry about daily needs.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:30–33)

I read this morning how our enemy fills us with concerns to keep us from engaging in spiritual warfare to defeat his lies — lies that so easily cripple our minds and lives with worries about many things, all problems much smaller than ruling the world. Jesus conquered this “prince” who is already doomed when Jesus said, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” We get so tangled up in trying to rule our own lives that we too often ignore God or get frustrated with Him. Yet He is the One who has a better plan.

PRAY: Jesus, You are in charge. I often am mystified at the why of things, yet trusting You means that You are using all things, even those mysterious to me, for good in Your people, to transform our lives, to hopefully get us on our knees in total cooperation with Your plan to show a needy world this truth: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8) This is the work that corresponds to “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10) Forgive me and forgive all Your people who are so often side-tracked by our own will and desire to rule our own little kingdom, forgetting to listen and obey You, the Ruler of the universe. May Your will be done.

God’s Wisdom

 

I love the surprises of God. Sometimes they are little things like all the lights are green when I need to get somewhere on time, or I find a bargain that I’ve prayed to find, or someone calls that I needed to visit. Sometimes He surprises me with unpleasant news. I didn’t expect my sister to die so soon and so quickly. Or Sunday’s sermon ties in to a convicting devotional with both challenging me to unwelcome change.

The point is, I cannot predict what God will do, except those times when I pray with absolute assurance that He is going to answer the way I’m hoping. We once tried to rent a house only to be told it was taken, but I knew we were going to live in that house. The person who planned to changed his mind and we were given the house.

Another time I knew that I should call a store and confirm a sale price, even though it was printed in the newspaper. I did, went to the store, and was told the sale was over. I said, “But I called…” and the clerk said she remembered that call and gave me the item for the sale price.

More recently, I was praying for a prodigal and a song came to mind that he would soon be “coming home” and I was so certain of it that I just kept singing that song. Within a few days, he called to share he was again actively following Christ.

These things are wonderful when they happen, and when they do not, I feel like a starving person. When the devotional writer says we need to be careful that we are not worshiping the gifts more than the giver, I am convicted. Yet how can the two be separated? It is the same with our dearest friends. They give us reasons to consider them dear, and those reasons cannot be laid aside. They define who that person is.

The devotional writers says if we wiped every promise out of the Bible we would still have God left and God would be enough — but without the things that God does, how would we know that He is enough? If He just surprised me all the time, prayer for help in a crisis or guidance in making decisions would be pointless. I would have nothing to base my hope and confidence on if I didn’t know that God makes and keeps His promises.

It seems the devotional writer is saying I should not assume that God will do whatever I want Him to do or be presumptuous in any way. I can remember a plebiscite taken in a town we lived in and a Christian was certain the vote would go God’s way. I thought of sports pundits and news people who predict winners and are often wrong, but did not say anything. How can we mere mortals be certain what our God of surprises is going to do? In this case, the plebiscite was voted against what that person was so sure would happen and I learned something about God. Again, who can second-guess Him?

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8–9)

Still, God is enough, yet this is the gist of it — not that all that God does is missing or unseen, but  His way of thinking and dealing with the world, the mess in the world, and the sinners that seem happy and in control is beyond my way of thinking. I don’t need a specific promise nor do I need a more solid doctrine, or deeper understanding. I just need to remember that He is able and my inability to see or deal with any of it with insight and understanding will always fall short. God’s ways will always be beyond my comprehension and that is precisely why I can trust Him. My ignorance of what God is doing is actually a form of proof for His greater power.

PRAY: Jesus, You know how I want to be a know-it-all who can figure out the reason things happen and the possible solutions that You will bring to those things. That is sheer arrogance on my part. It shows up in my pouting when it becomes apparent that I really have no clue what You are doing. Forgive my pride and lack of letting go of my suppositions, even if they are based on Your prior revelations of Yourself. I should have learned by now that even though You are faithful and reliable, You are also not likely to do the same thing twice. You will always surprise me with Your answers to my perplexities.

Walk by faith, not by sight

Some say that the state of the world indicates that the return of Jesus Christ is eminent. I suppose that it could be, depending on a person’s view of the ‘last days’ or ‘end times’. Whether Jesus is coming soon or not, my mind has been preoccupied with those who are not yet saved, particularly family members and friends, but also the people who are experiencing floods, drought, earthquakes, hurricanes, terrorism, and other tragic events. Do they know Christ? Do they have assurance of eternal life? If they do, are the deaths from these events and from persecutions God’s way of taking them home?

Last night, I woke several times and prayed for some by name and others by circumstances. As my daughter said last week, the whole world is in a mess. If it is not adverse weather, it is adversity between people of different beliefs, or mindless terrorism from those who seem to delight in destroying others. I’m certain that I’m not the only one who has a knot in my gut when I turn on the news.

If my eternal destiny depended on my ability to believe, or on my faithful devotion and delight in God, then it would be okay those days when things go well, and not okay on other days when I feel unsure and unraveled. I know that God is true, yet so much of what is happening in family, friends, and the world around me feels like the devil is laughing in my face and mocking my assurance.

God must know that. He offers today’s devotional as a comfort in two ways. First, I am glad that the work of God applies to my own life. I am safe in His care. I’m also glad that it applies to all those who genuinely believe the Gospel. They are safe in His care too, and even if tragic events take their lives, they are forever with the Lord in a safe and glorious eternity. Here are some words from God that remind and encourage me that this is true.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27–30)

If this is not true, then Jesus is a liar and no one has any hope. However, no one or nothing could convince me that He is other than “the way, the truth, and the life!”

But what about those who walk away. They seemed to believe, but didn’t continue. Of these, the Bible says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19) This is a way of saying that anyone who belongs to God will continue with God. Walking away indicates that whoever does that was a phony in the first place. In the case of those I know who started a walk of faith and seem to have abandoned it, I’m not sure this is a comfort. However, it does assure me that those who believe will not be lost.

The devotional says, “If our salvation were in any measure dependent upon us, we would most certainly be lost and without hope. But salvation is entirely the work of God’s grace and power in Christ. And since it is the work of God, it cannot be destroyed.”

Solomon verifies this by saying, “I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14) No matter what is going on in this world or in the lives of individuals, the Lord God — who brings people to the saving knowledge of His Son — can keep them in that knowledge.

The New Testament says the same thing. God does not start something without finishing it:

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

 ^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus Christ, when I add up the promises and assurances in Your Word, I am encouraged for Your people, many of whom are experiencing traumatic and life-threatening dangers. You can bring them through or bring them to their eternal home. I am also encouraged that because You are strong and faithful to keep Your people from turning away, You are also able to save those who do not know You yet. I will keep praying, not in fear but in confidence. Salvation is Your doing. Nothing is too difficult for You, and nothing can undo what You have done.

Too hard for God?

Every year for a number of years, I’ve read through the Bible starting at Genesis and finishing at the end of Revelation. Sometimes I change the version, but no matter how often I read it, I’m amazed at how fresh and relevant it is, unchanging yet always revealing to me things I’d never noticed before.

Today my devotional guide pointed me to Jeremiah 32. As I read it, verse 27 encouraged me: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?”

My thoughts go to those I pray for. My last thoughts at night before dropping off to sleep are often prayers for unsaved family members. Every day they are on my heart. When I see no change in them, or a particular stubborn streak of resistance against God, I might get discouraged, but the Lord often gives me something to turn my eyes off their attitude or behavior and remember His ability to change people.

In Jeremiah, God talks to this prophet about what He is going to do. His people have been stubborn and disobedient; therefore, He is giving them over to their enemies. They will go into captivity in a foreign land because they have provoked Him to anger with their rebellion, idolatry, and abominable behavior. They “shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence” (verse 36).

This is where I see some of my family. They are in a constant struggle with life and within themselves. They are empty, but try to fill that blank space with things that do not satisfy their famine. They are in bondage to the enemy (Satan, the world and the flesh) and seem totally blind to their spiritual condition.

When I read what happened in history to God’s people, I see the parallels in my own life too. I’ve rebelled, been bound up in this sad state, and can look back and marvel at the patience of God my stubbornness. Yet here in Jeremiah His patience seems to run out. He is fed up with the apathy and refusal of His people to listen, trust, and obey Him. Then He says this:

“Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.” For thus says the Lord: “Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. . . .”

Everything that happened to them was under the power of God. While God did not cause their rebellion, He did drive them into bondage because of it. However, He had no intention of leaving them there. One day He would bring them home, give them the heart they needed to follow Him, and bless them with every promise He had ever made. That is incredible. What an amazing thing for God to do!

As I pray, I know that God has not changed. He holds the lives of every contemporary rebel in His hands. He can put them into a deep, yet soul-awakening bondage and He can bring them out of that into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

My devotional book uses phrases that talk of what God can do. He creates “the movements of godly fear in our hearts” and “all its tendencies are toward life and the Source of life; toward hatred of sin and love of holiness; toward a desire after the enjoyment of heavenly realities, and a deadness to the things of time and sense; toward a knowledge of Christ in the manifestation of Himself, and a longing to live more to His praise, to walk more in His footsteps, and to be more conformed to His suffering image.”

When I look at someone determined to go their own way and do their own thing, someone who is totally resistant to the Lord, I am discouraged. But when I listen to what God says, and remember what He has done in the past (even in my own life), my heart is not only encouraged, but I am motivated to continue in prayer, even to rejoice that no matter how bad things might look, He is able to turn things totally the other way. Nothing is too hard for Him.

And He never forgets. . .

I’ve been putting my devotional thoughts in a searchable database. Reading them again is a humbling process. I might be quick to pick up other skills but many spiritual lessons supposedly ‘learned’ even as recent as six years ago seen to have been completely forgotten, never mind applied to my life.

Today, I was going to write that after thirty plus years of being a Christian, some things are finally sinking in, but after remembering what I read yesterday from March 2001, I say everything tentatively. The following may have sunk in, but if need be, God will run me through those lessons again.

At the end of his little New Testament book, Jude wrote this benediction: “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.”

Amen indeed. If I’ve learned anything it is that I cannot keep myself from stumbling, stumbling into sin, stumbling into doubt, stumbling over others who have stumbled. He does it, and yet if stumbling happens, I am to blame. In failure, I find out again how much I need Him.

I’ve also learned that one day Jesus will joyfully present me faultless to Himself. The thought makes me feel like a bride walking down the aisle toward her perfect soul mate. I can see His radiant face as He watches me draw near. I’ve no words to express what that thought does to my spirit.

I’ve also learned that God alone is wise. His answers to my needs are always perfect, always timely, and never anything that I could have imagined. He knows exactly what I need and exactly what He is doing. He is worthy of glory, a majestic God who has dominion and eternal power over all, all the time.

So why do I forget wonderful things like that? I want to remember, and my family insist that I do not have Alzheimers, so there is no other explanation except that it is characteristic of my old nature to sinfully shove aside all that God breathes to me in a foolish effort to be my own keeper, filled with flaws and content to stay that way, and lacking the wisdom to even recognize that God wants to replace all that folly with His grace and glory.

I could vow to remember. This does not work; I cannot keep myself. Instead, He keeps me and saves me—even from that low-level of recall. When I need it, He reminds me of things temporarily forgotten, not so I have a database filled with good stuff, but to keep me from tripping and keep me walking toward Him. By His grace, I can glorify the One who does it all for me.

Winning our battle

I’m still thinking about the past, present and future aspects of salvation, and am blessed by this reading for today: “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

God saved me from the penalty of sin through faith in Christ (and that faith is also His gift), and makes me stand firm in Christ. Every day He is at work to deliver me from the power of sin so that it no longer governs what I do. He is Lord, not sin.

He also put the Holy Spirit in my heart as a deposit, or down-payment that guarantees I will be delivered eventually from the presence of sin.

But what about those people who make a profession of faith and then sit there? They don’t seem to grow in Christ-likeness or have any longing for that second and third deliverance, but are more interested in the pleasures of this life and this world. Everyone knows people like that. I have some in my family.

This questions plagues me. I look for God’s response. Why are these people seemingly unchanged? If their faith is genuine and they have been delivered from sin’s penalty, why is God not at work in them?

I get several answers from the Lord. Sometimes He repeats His words to Peter when he questioned Him about the destiny of another disciple; “That’s not your business; you follow Me.”

God also points to the verses that say, “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.” The Lord is the potter and can do whatever He wants with His clay. I’m not in charge here.

A third thing that He says to me is that I need to be patient and trust Him; He isn’t finished yet. While He says, “If anyone cleanses himself . . . he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work,” Paul also wrote that he was “confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

Clearly there is a human responsibility in this battle against the power of sin. However, I know that when I am unwilling to fight, God can work in my life to make me willing. Paul also wrote, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

This partnership in battle is a concept difficult to learn. Some people try to conquer their sin and bad habits without realizing they cannot do it by themselves. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. When ‘nothing’ works out, instead of humbly going to their Commander in Chief for help, they conclude that being a Christian is not working, go AWOL and drop from the war.

Personally, I’ve a great burden for side-lined soldiers. I feel pain when they are judged as fakes or worse, and simply written off. Those of us on the battlefield against sin suffer when one or more of our army is hurting, lame, and out of action. Yet far too often we are so engaged in our own battle, or in other things, that we forget our responsibility to bind up the wounded and restore those who have gone astray.

That verse that says “it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ” pulls me into partnership with Him in that too. He tells me that part of my battle is not merely for me. Everyone in His army is like I am; helpless. None of us can be saved from the power of sin by ourselves. We need the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but we also need one another.