(Originally published in the Swazi Gospel Sun)
Sometimes you spend time and money planning to achieve a goal you set for yourself. You go out of your way to make sure that it happens. You sacrifice a lot to ensure that what you are planning turns out to be a success. You pray for God’s guidance and provision and you see things coming together.
You even celebrate, “All things work together for good to those who love God!” Just a couple of days before you realize what you have been striving to achieve something happens that disrupts all the plans and you lose all everything and everything comes to nothing. Well, that is the experience I am recovering from.
It is amazing that before all this happened God had put in my heart the urge to pursue His knowledge. I even wrote on this subject in my previous article. The day before discovering the trouble I got myself into, the Holy Spirit led me to put together this piece with words from the Scripture.
GOD’S THOUGHTS AND WAYS
God’s thoughts are HIGHER than ours
His thoughts are VERY DEEP
His understanding is UNSEARCHABLE
His understanding is INFINITE
His ways are EVERLASTING
His ways are JUST
His ways are JUST and TRUE
His paths are MERCY and TRUTH
His way is PERFECT
WHATEVER THE LORD PLEASES HE DOES
He teaches and guides the HUMBLE
He teaches those who FEAR Him
SHOW ME YOUR WAYS, O LORD;
TEACH ME YOUR PATHS
TEACH ME YOUR WAY, O LORD I WILL WALK IN YOUR TRUTH;
UNITE MY HEART TO FEAR YOUR NAME
As I reflected on all the events that took place I realized that in spite of my loss and shameful situation God love was all over me. I got to understand what James really meant when he wrote “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing,” (James 1:2-4).
Dealing with the loss of something that you are emotionally attached to is very hard. It is even worse when you realize that you could have done a lot of things to avoid the disgraceful situation from happening. Guilt takes over and you start beating yourself over it. That is the point where we lose it and we start doing things we are not supposed to be doing.
However, through it all I have learnt how much God loves us. I have realized that God allows us to go through tough and disgraceful conditions to reveal His amazing grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ went through disgraceful circumstances for God’s grace to be revealed. That is how God demonstrates His great love for us. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).
I have heard so many times people asking why bad things happen to good people. My answer is simple; God is demonstrating His great love. My dear friend, in my young life I have learned that we cannot understand God’s thoughts and ways and it is not our duty to try to figure it out. God cannot be scientifically proven. All we have to do is to be obedient to His instructions and let Him do His work. All we have to do is to glorify Him because His plan is to make us complete, not to harm us.
In whatever challenges we are facing in life we have to know that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. This is what separates us as children of God and those of the world. When the world questions, “Where is God?” we are rejoicing because we know that we have faith in the God who is love, the God who redeemed us with the blood of His only begotten Son whose death demonstrated the love of our Father. “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, SO THAT YOUR FAITH AND HOPE ARE IN GOD,” (1 Peter 1:20 -21).
That makes us know that God is with us all the time, we are in His presence. The greatest wonder of being in the presence of the Lord is that we gain the confidence to face anything. If we have faith in Him He hears our prayers and provides whatever we need. When you are in the presence of the Lord there is no need to be worried and afraid. Jeremiah says, “You came near when I called you, and you said “Do not fear,” (Lamentations 3:57).
If we pursue the knowledge of this God we believe in, we will not be afraid because this is the God who said to Moses, “My presence will go with you and I will give you rest,” (Exodus 33:14).
This is the God who assured Joshua, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord you God will be with you wherever you go,” (Joshua 1:9).
This is the God who declared to Jeremiah, “I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you,” (Jeremiah 15:20).
This is the God who encouraged Paul in Corinth, “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city,” (Acts 18:9-10).
This is the God who said to Daniel, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them,” (Daniel 10:12).
God wants us to go on and do His work without fear because He is always with us. Like the true, good Shepherd, He is always taking care of us and there is no reason to be worried. Like Daniel we need to set our minds towards gaining understanding and humble ourselves before God. “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way,” (Psalm 25:9).
God loved us through Jesus Christ so that we shall have eternal life and nothing shall separate us from His love. He will never leave or forsake us. What more can we ask for other than the presence of the Lord?
The Almighty says, “I the Lord search and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve,” (Jeremiah 17:10). We need to keep our hearts pure all the time to better position ourselves for the blessings from the Lord. We need to keep our minds clear so that we are able to focus on what God wants us to do.
My dear friend, today you may be going through an embarrassing situation, the people you trust may be judgmental to your faults, you may be finding it hard to forgive yourself for a mistake that cost you a lot, you may be discouraged to even continue praying, you may find it a draining task to read your Bible – just know one thing, God is with you. Today He is saying to you, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me,” (Psalm 50:15).
I have said it before; God loves us, God cares for us, God is faithful!
No comments:
Post a Comment