Thank you, Lord, for what I do not deserve.
These are the words of praise and thanks I find myself offering up to the Most High quite regularly these days, not as often as they should be, but more than just on special occasions, if you will.
When I think about my beautiful wife and the incredible amount of blessings that she has brought into my life, and the fortitude she has been blessed with to be able to live with such a hard and driven man.
“And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” (Mark 10:44)
When we devote our lives for the glory of God, we must remember that verse, far too many men who have been called to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ have forgotten that if we serve others for the glory of God, it is God we are serving.
A sinner such as I was does not deserve His mercies, and at times even in my life today I can find no reason that He would have decided to chose me to live in His eternal Kingdom.
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.” (Psalms 115:1)
It is one of the keys, if you will, to always remember, that we do not deserve the gift we have been given, no one does, for Romans 3:23 is a truth.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
Yet in His mercy and for His glory some of us He has called to Himself, to forever be the righteousness of God in Christ.
“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” (2nd Cor. 9:15)
I do not believe that I can provide any Scriptural proof of the following words, but I believe that the closer He draws us to Himself, the more wisdom, more Spiritual discernment, the more He reveals of Himself to us, and we accept all that He reveals in absolute faith, the more we suffer for Him. Perhaps Matthew 5:6 is a testament to this truth.
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
When more of His infinite holiness, His undisputable righteousness is revealed to us, more of the evil of this world becomes recognizable to us, and we suffer in our hearts.
The frustration level for men of God such as these is incredibly high, and we do not deserve such a blessing. Trials, tribulations, even physical pain become almost common occurrences, even expected, and in this regard, even in the smallest way, we are blessed with another item that we do not deserve, the fulfillment of Philippians 3:10.
“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;”
“For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” (Eccl. 1:18)
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3)
Those who have suffered much worse, if I can use that word, those who have suffered unto blood would say the same to you, they did not deserve what they were blessed with.
You will hear quite often, if you will but listen, many who will question the will of God in their lives, they will say “Why is God allowing this to happen to me, I do not deserve this.” It may be that He is calling them to go a little further with Him, to make that personal relationship even more personal.
I will ask you this question then, when you hear yourself say in the midst of the trials and tribulations, when the temptations begin to assert control over you, when you are walking into the valley of the shadow of death, when the voice in your head says, “I don’t deserve this,” is it in defiance of His will for you, is it a question, a statement that wants nothing to do with what lies on the path before you, or is it in humble thanksgiving that He has decided to ask you, to give you the opportunity, the blessing to join Him in the grief and sorrow, in the frustrations and pain that He also knew?
