Borrowed Truths

Was He Content?

was he content
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Was He Content?

“How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?” (Psalm 13:1)

Do you need to see God in action, or do you need to feel His presence?

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9) If you ate today, you saw God in action, whether you will accept that or not is up to you.

These individuals that say, “God is leading me,” how do they know that, by the way they feel, their current emotional state, would they say the same thing if they were on their death bed, or watching a loved one die, if life was not going as they would like it to? If God is leading you, do you always expect a positive, uplifting emotion to be the proof of that?

Lazarus was laid at the rich man’s gate, probably until the day he died, was the Almighty leading him?

What of His actions in your life, do they also need to be of a positive nature before you will say that He is leading you? They responded to the sermon, that person you met last week wants to talk to you some more about this Jesus you keep bringing up. What you do, these actions you are performing for His glory make you feel good, bring happiness into your life, and so He must be leading you, right?

What of Jeremiah, twenty plus years of diligent obedience, and none but one listened. What of Noah, 120 years, and not even one would heed the call. You do what you know you are being led by the Lord to do, and friends and family desert you, your finances fail, your life is turned upside down, and pain, suffering and sorrow become your constant companion, and still He says “Follow Me.”

You really don’t want that, do you?

“And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10:22) The Lord told the rich man to sell everything, become completely destitute, and then follow him. We want to stay beside the still water, we do not want to walk into the fire, we do not want to live in the valley of the shadow of death, we will serve as long as certain stipulations are met, ones that we have determined will bring upon us the least amount of inconvenience.

Oh, but we love to hear the stories, do we not, how He had no place to lay His head, how some left everything, risking all to follow Him.

Many will serve Him, as long as they get to go home that night and sleep in their comfortable beds, as long as they get to keep their family, friends and loved ones close by, as long as they can feel good about what they’re doing, and their actions for Him show some positive response from Him.

As long as they are not inconvenienced too much.

Pain, suffering, trials, tribulations, just words, just a verse or two memorized, they would no more give up those conveniences that keep them content in the world than they would walk five miles to church twice a week.

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” (Phil. 4:11)

“Thy will be done, as long as I don’t have to suffer too much, as long as the trials are not too difficult, as long as I can feel good about what you have called me to do, do we have a bargain, Lord?”

“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (Prov. 16:9)

We don’t have to like what the Lord brings into our lives, we need to accept it as His will. We don’t need to think that in some way this emotional suffering is going to benefit us somehow in the future, we need to understand that it is His glory that matters, not how we feel about the situation.

Servants, slaves to Jesus Christ do not get to set the rules, they are in no position to demand anything, they are to be obedient, no matter the possible consequences to themselves. They offer no advice, they give no counsel, they obey, or they are not servants.

I want to leave you with something here, something that I would ask you to contemplate. As Lazarus sat at the rich man’s gate, hungry, in pain and suffering, did he have a smile on his face because he knew that was where the Most High wanted him?

Was he content?

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