God reveals His will — pay attention!

A friend soon faces surgery to fix a detached retina in his right eye. He had the same problem years ago in the left one. Why? I haven’t a clue. Another friend takes care of her husband as his mind changes daily due to dementia. What is God’s purpose in this? I haven’t a clue. Many families struggle as one or more children (or grandchildren) are prodigals running away from them and from God. Why? I’ve no idea why this is happening either, but I do know one thing:

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)

God uses all things, even trials, to transform my life. The Bible even says this about my trials:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

A difficulty or trial happens for at least two reasons. God may reveal great faith. When my husband fell in March, he sat dazed on a nearby bench and prayed that he didn’t know the why of this fall, but he accepted it as part of God’s plan for his life. One significant “good” thing is that he does not complain about his pain. He has a stress fracture and the pain goes away only when he is flat on his back, but he continues to take care of his responsibilities without moaning. This trial has resulted in steadfast trust in the Lord.

Trials can also expose sinfulness. Every time I have computer problems, my patience disappears. I am not only annoyed and frustrated, but lack peace and joy indicating the flesh is running things rather than the Holy Spirit. I also realize that this trial is exposing my sinful desire to be in control of things rather than trusting God and patiently dealing with that minor issue of life.

Today’s reading says that the story of Job is enacted in the lives of Christians. It says, “Mysterious providences darken and attempt to ruin the lives of those who have seemed too good to need such discipline. Even to ourselves come afflictions that we cannot understand, and Satan seems so busy in the matter that it is hard to trace the hand of the Lord in it at all. But His hand is in it nevertheless, and He overrules everything. No trial comes except by His permission and for some wise and loving purpose which perhaps only eternity will disclose.”

While most of us can identify with the puzzle of a trial and how easily we complain, I must not forget the rest of Job's story. Eventually God spoke to Job and this man realized that all his complaining and moaning about not knowing the reason for the trial was not an expression of his faith. In his troubles, he was to firmly hang on to the faith that he did have, expressed now and then, but not consistent. He did say:

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. (Job 23:10)

But he also complained that he didn’t know the why of it and God was not telling him. Then, at the end of the story, this man realized that he was not being true to his faith, and he confessed it saying:

I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted….  Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:2–6)

God did not bring that trial on Job to punish him for sins committed. Instead, He used it to show him that faith wins. In this trial and his encounter with God, Job needed to realize this and stick to it. He also needed to confess his failure to do that. In other words, Job was not kept in the dark about why he went through such a severe trial. At the end of his story, God showed Job his attitude so he could confess his doubts, repent, and be restored.

PRAY: Jesus, I know that Your treatment of me is only a mystery for a time, a test to reveal my reactions. Will I trust You? Or will my sin nature fly into action? Do I honor You in the trial? Or do I stop trusting and take a nosedive? If You are revealing sin, You always reveal it to me so I can repent and become more like You. I may not know the reasons for the trials of others, but by grace, You show me  the ‘why’ of my experiences — even if it is just the need to pay closer attention to Your revealed will.

What to do about sin

In a dream last night, I realized something I’d not seen (or admitted) in the daytime; I’ve a very bad attitude towards another person, even to the point of wishing that person would die. I woke up feeling terrible and not at all happy with myself.

Should I be shocked? I know what God says about sin, but had not recognized this particular sin was in my heart. The Lord drives home the truth of today’s verse:

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12)

Chambers’ devotional is pointed right at the problem. God’s estimation of humanity is based on the disposition of sin that began with Adam and has permeated all of us. Sin is that disposition to run my own life, be my own god, insist on my right to myself, rather than letting God change my life.

When theologians say that sin is total depravity, they are not saying that people are totally evil, but that this sinful selfishness has permeated every part of us. As Chambers says, this sinfulness “may work out in decorous morality or in indecorous immorality, but it has the one basis, my claim to my right to myself.” It is that selfish disposition that produces sin.

Jesus pays no attention to whether people live according to “all the forces of evil in them” or are “clean living and moral and upright.” Rather than considering the “moral degradation of the one or to the moral attainment of the other” He looks at that sinful nature, that disposition to have my own way, do my own thing, even to save myself as I forget, ignore, or refuse the will of God.

Like the color of my skin, or my DNA, I am born with sin. I can cover it up, but I cannot change it. Only God in Jesus Christ through the Redemption worked on the cross can anyone escape sin’s condemnation.

Sin is a terrible heredity. No one can escape it. We all do sinful things, yet our sinfulness is not the final condemnation. Jesus came to die for our sin and grant us eternal life. Does that mean every sinner is set free from the penalty for rebelling against God? No, because the sins we do are not what separates us from God.  To this, Jesus says a most remarkable thing:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:16–19)

When Jesus Christ confronted me more than forty-five years ago, He opened my eyes to what He had done to deliver me from a life of sin and the horror of sin’s consequences. The response called for was putting my faith in Him. Had I had refused, that would be what Chambers calls “the moment I began to get the seal of damnation.” Unbelief and refusing the remedy of Christ’s redemption is what separates sinners from God.

This morning I’m reminded that my sin is covered by the blood of Christ, but I am still fighting that selfish old nature. I’m to abide in Christ and be obedient, but still fight that sinful nature and sometimes go back to running my own life. When I do that, Jesus has this answer:

“If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:6–10)

The only remedy for sin after becoming a Christian is the same as it was before I became a Christian: admit that I sin; don’t try to hide it. Confess it to God and He is faithful. Because of Jesus Christ, He stands ready to forgive me, to purge that sinful hatred from my heart, and replace it with His love.

As soon as I do that, my sinful attitude begins to fall away — because Jesus keeps His promises.