Are we ready to know?
(Abraham Lincoln) “No person is poor who has or has had a godly mother.” Many of us were richly blessed to learn from our mothers that God loves us with unconditional love. He will forgive our sin completely and accepts us totally into His family. (Dr. Stanley) “This is not mind over matter, it is Truth over error.” As we look at ourselves, we can see that it is not because of our worthiness or deserving but because (1 John 4:16) God is love, it is His very nature to love. God so loved (John 3:16) and we need to probe deeper into the scope, promise and riches which are (Dr. Jeremiah) “packed into that SO.” Don’t skip easily over that little word, that extremely significant Word. That ‘SO’ carries the permanent guarantee of everything born-again earth dwellers will ever need and also of our glorious eternal future. God loves each one of us as if each one of us was the only one to be loved.
This morning a little song began to emerge in my thoughts. It is certainly not great poetry but it came from my heart and the Lord accepted my worship.
I love You, my Sovereign Lord Jesus,
I want always Your will and Your way at Your time,
Live Your Life in me, precious Master,
All I am and all I have is wholly Thine.
My beloved heavenly Father reminded me again that if everything I have is His then (Luke 15:31) everything He has is mine. If I do what God says, He will do (Exodus 33:17) what I say and ask in prayer. Where the old hymn says, “Love Devine all loves excelling” of course it means God’s love for us. But what about our love for God? Do we look for opportunities to pour out lavishly our love on Him? We have scriptural clues on ways to do that. Jesus said (John 14:15) if we truly love God we will love our fellow-believers. Paul said (Romans 12:12, Colossians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:17) be steadfast in prayer, constant in prayer and pray without ceasing.
I cannot drink my tea without remembering that the workers on the tea plantations in Sri Lanka need the Saviour and also a vast improvement in their deplorable working conditions. There are many things in every ordinary day which are a reminder and a call to prayer. If I take the time to pray, God will take the time to listen to me and answer me. Who has a god like unto our God Who listens to us? Because the Lord is not willing (2 Peter 3:9) that any should perish. We must demonstrate God’s love to the unsaved, to all people in our particular world. We can condense this into a simple and continual reality - - - Let’s live love! Of course, this is impossible in ourselves. The true Christian life is not a life of constant hopeless striving but a life surrendered to Jesus, the only One Who can live the Christian life. In the Holy Spirit Jesus lives His Life in and through us as we continually surrender to Him. During wartime surrender in battle brings defeat; only in the Christian life does surrender bring victory.
When love reaches perfection (1 John 4:18) it conquers all fear. We are supremely confident that God will equip us for everything He tells us to do and that includes all the requirements of holy love. How we are treated by others has no bearing on the matter and must never affect our obedience to our beloved Master.
Our love for God is also shown by our faith in God. Jesus said (John 16:23) in that day you will ask me no question. What day is that? The day when our life (Colossians 3:3) is hidden with Christ in God. When our faith has God Himself so truly that our faith doesn’t need answers in order to remain unwavering faith. Why
would I be concerned about what may be going to happen or what might be coming when constantly and continually I have God Himself? ?
The coat was not torn and the Butler forgot. It did not dawn on Jacob (Genesis 37:33) that if Joseph had been devoured by a wild animal his coat would have been torn to shreds. Except for blood stains, the coat of many colours which Jacob had made for Joseph, was in perfect condition. For all his promises the Butler forgot (Genesis 40:23) all about Joseph. Why were these blind spots allowed to happen? Because God would not and did not permit anything to interfere with His amazing plan and perfect timing for the good works (Ephesians 2:10) He had already prepared for Joseph. The Butler forgot because it was not God’s time until Pharaoh had a dream. Sometimes God blocks us from seeing the obvious because He has a better, bigger, grander plan for us. We can be uncertain about many things but NEVER uncertain of God.
God’s thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:8-9) are higher than ours but He reveals them to us (1 Corinthians 2:16) through the mind of Christ. So, we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to think God’s thoughts (Psalms 139:17) after Him and to walk (Psalms 16:11) in His ways. As much as is possible I want to be as abandoned to God as Jesus was (Matthew 27:46) abandoned by God. His actual abandonment of Jesus was because of my sin. My desired abandonment is because of the horrendous price Jesus fully paid for my redemption and for the supreme privilege of God being manifested in my flesh. I want to fulfill the purpose God had for bringing me into this world.
Joseph could not have known and never would have guessed what the Lord had in store for him. Neither will we see the bigger, greater, grander plan and purpose God has for us. We are not meant to know; we are not ready to know. Feelings come and go but holiness builds godly character. We have seen that God often uses strange and difficult things in our lives but these are all His tools for the refining, shaping, molding, preparing and making us fit for the marvellous outcome.
(Oswald Chambers) “A gilt-edged saint is abnormal, unfit for the work of the world and altogether unlike God”. We walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) not by the limelight. A Christian who will do nothing unless he has thrilling inspiration from God or is receiving attention and being noticed, is of no use to God. Jesus MUST increase (John 3:30) and I MUST decrease. This is God’s gift of obscurity, decreasing into obscurity. Jesus is then exalted, increasing more and more. For the self-satisfied and proud who refuse salvation, mercy rejected is judgment received. Show boats may have their moments in the sun (Matthew 6:2) but only an obscure Christian is of use to God, of eternal value. The faithful prayers heard only by God and the unseen kind deeds are the good works of obscure Christians which will (Revelation 14:13) follow them into heaven and be rewarded openly. As I decrease into obscurity, Jesus increases so that God is manifested in my flesh. Assuredly this is God’s will for me because (1 Corinthians 3:16) my body is God’s temple. (Pastor McBride) “failure does not have to be the end of the story. Failure can be our best teacher if we are willing to learn from it.”
What magnificent privilege we have, while still on earth, to be witnesses and ambassadors for the King - - while we know that soon we will be with the King in His Kingdom forever.