“A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” (John 3:27) “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10) “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
What say you my friends, shall we discuss what is considered good and what is considered bad, when all that the Lord bestows upon us is because of His love for us, shall we speak on what man considers good and evil, shall we discuss the current circumstances you or I are in at this moment. Faith is trust, Jesus is trustworthy, even a small child understands these words, to those who see any circumstance in their life as not from Almighty God, for His glory and for the glory of the Lamb, is to not trust.
I speak not here of the foolish things that we bring upon ourselves each day, but of the provisions of the Lord in our walk with Him, all that every child of God has been given has been given by God, it is our perceptions as to whether it is good or bad. I was not exactly thrilled with the times I had to lay in a hospital bed for days on end, it is a cold, lonely place, and little can be done, until we realize that it also is a gift from God, many of these incidences in our lives we see as detrimental are only seen as such because we fail to use our spiritual eyes to see the matter as God sees it, as a gift from God. The man who is reckless in his driving and ends up in the hospital is not the same as the recipient of his dangerous driving, and so it must be when we look upon the circumstances that occur in our lives, have we been the cause or the recipient.
Almighty God has set a path before each and every one of His children, the choice to walk that path has always been left up to them. Many will, at least in the beginning, for they are not aware of the dangers of being a follower of Christ, begin with a misconceived notion that the path is smooth and flat, smelling of sweet odors, but when the road gets rocky, when the stench of the sin of the world begins to enter their nostrils, they pause, they reach a point of service that is beyond their desire to go any further upon. All things happen for good is not readily accepted at deaths door, when the prognosis is terminal, when there is still much of life to be lived, the receiving of certain gifts from God are not readily accepted by all of His children.
I have several places I like to go when I am called to write these letters to you, my closets, (Matt. 6:6) if you will, they are calm, peaceful locations, far away from any intrusions from the outside world, but I cannot stay there, I cannot live there. We are told to search out these places in the Scriptures, the closets we can retreat to, the places each day we can go to “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) We cannot always do these things though, but that is the point, if you are truly a born-again believer, then, unless you are willfully being disobedient or have unrepentant sin in your life, where you are is where our Lord wants you to be.
It is the spiritually discerning heart that can hear the voice of the Lord, that can by faith determine why he is where he is. The man who will do this is the man who will be led by Christ, who will put his faith in Him, who will be shown how he has been blessed to be able to glorify his Lord. It is a truth that he has me write quite often, circumstances have no power over faith in Christ, if we are following Him, where we are is where He wants us to be. So then, how will we understand these words to be truth, by the fruits produced in our lives.
Many there are who profess Christ as Lord that can show none of these fruits, they have fallen into the trap of habit, not of walking in faith, certain functions performed at certain times and in a certain manner, a liturgy, if you will, of compliance. Sooner or later these tasks become tradition, and in many churches and in the lives of some believers, tradition has not only taken the place of worship, but has become the replacement for faith, obedience and humble servitude, their hands were taken off the plow (Luke 9:62) a long time ago, and they do not even realize it. It’s hard being a Christian, it’s difficult to die to self, to sacrifice every aspect of our lives for Christ, and until you can be heavenly minded, until you come to the realization of the Sovereignty of God, that everything He does for us is done in love, it will remain an uphill battle.
Plowing is hard work, that is why He offered us His yoke. (Matt. 11:29) Take it, take everything He offers to you, trust Him completely, and you will find Him faithful.
