The Lord Has Chosen You To Be His Special Treasure

(Originally published in the Swazi Gospel Sun)

As long as we are still in this world we will face adversities. As long as we are here on earth we will encounter challenges that will try to shake us. Being a child of God does not give you an exemption from hardship. I have heard it, read it and experienced it – it seems like the more you grow in the grace of the Lord the more challenges come your way.

There are cases when hardship will be a result of your disobedience to God’s commands. But I do not believe that is always the case. The fact that you are special to God, the enemy will always fight tooth and nail to see you suffer. It is because you are special to the Almighty God.

Sometimes you do not have to do anything but you will be hated for being special. The people around you may not be pleased that you are getting preferential treatment and they will make life difficult for you. No matter how innocent, sincere and kind you are to them, you will be loathed for being a special person.

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him,” (Genesis 37:3-4).

Joseph had done nothing to his brothers, but they hated him because he was special to his father. They hated him even more when he told them his prophetic dreams. We read that they mulled over killing him but eventually sold him as a slave. He had done nothing wrong that warranted such a reaction from his brothers, he as only a special child to his father.

My dear friend, you are special to God. However that does not mean you will not face challenges. Again, facing challenges does not necessarily mean there is sin in your life. It is because you are a child of God and you are special to your father. The enemy is not pleased with that fact. He will try by all means to destroy the relationship you have with your father.

It does not matter what and how many challenges you are facing, God will always love you in a special way. When the Israelites were in the wilderness they faced many challenges and the Lord delivered them. God spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai and gave him a message to proclaim to the people of Israel. The Lord said, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all earth is Mine,” (Exodus 19:5).

The very same God, who never changes, regards you as His special treasure. Our Great God and Saviour Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people (Titus 2:14).

We tend to forget or not realize that we are special in the eyes of the Lord. He chose us. What a privilege to be amongst the chosen few! Jesus said many are called but few are chosen. God chose us for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Jesus Christ said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you,” (John 15:16)

In our last article we discussed that challenges, like pruning to a tree, enables us to bear quality fruits. The purpose God chose us is that we may be fruitful in doing his work. Remember that by grace he saved us to do the works that He prepared for us before hand. God knows that we are capable of being fruitful in the varying works he assigned each one of us, whatever the circumstances. That is why in our previous discussion we said ‘The Lord has chosen you, be strong and do it!’

Sometimes you only discover how special you are when you go through difficult times. God tests (NOT tempts) us through trials and tribulations and that is when we should apply longsuffering and hold strong to our belief in truth. He may allow us to be tempted but He always provides a way to get out of that temptation. We just need to trust in Him at all times.

Recently I read a story by one pastor who has had many spinal surgeries after he was assaulted as a teenager in high school and the pain never went away. He says, “… [I] have learned to embrace my pain as being a part of God’s plan for my life. It keeps me humble. It keeps me reliant on Him. It has caused me to have a real heart for hurting, broken people. As a person prone to being a lone ranger, my pain forces me to call on and rely on others. Most of all, because I am in pain daily – hourly even, I am aware of His grace in ways that I can imagine a much healthier version of me would have ignored.”

This may sound like someone resigned from life but his point is that he has learned to see it as a blessing that was meant to be a curse. He has realized how special he is in God’s eyes and he is unwavering, immovable and abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that he is not doing it in vain. He has chosen not to be hindered by circumstances from doing what God has called him to do.

My dear friend, know that God knows what you are going through. Know that God cares for you. Know that he wants you to bear fruits. David says many are the afflictions of the righteous but God delivers them from all. The Lord says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me,” (Psalm 50:15).

When we ask for God to come to our rescue we should not lose sight of his main purpose – that His name is glorified. We should not expect Him to deliver us from troubles for our own selfish gains, but for His glorification. The Lord is not willing to share his glory with anyone else. That is why He has chosen us in the furnace of affliction - that He is glorified.

“Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it. For how should my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory unto another,” (Isaiah 48:10-11 KJV).

Just because you find yourself in the furnace of suffering it does not mean you are no longer special to Him. God has chosen you in whilst you are going through that hardship. And he has chosen you to bear the fruits of the Spirit (which patience is one of them).

Our Savior Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, was chosen in the furnace of affliction and therefore He knows how to rescue us. That is why the Apostle Peter writes, “Come to  Him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious,” (1 Peter 2:4 RSV).

My dear friend, God has chosen you because He has a plan for you. His plan is not to harm you but to give you a future and hope. He has promised that when we call Him He will listen and we will always find Him when we seek Him with a true heart. The Lord loves us so much that he laid down His life for us. He cares for us that He sympathizes with us in our weaknesses. He remains faithful to us even when we are faithless.

“Seeing that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need,” (Hebrews 4:14-16).