JOSHUA 21:45 – Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
THEME OF THE DAY. WHAT IS GOD DOING IN OUR LIVES? Fellow pilgrims on the road to the celestial city, in this life, maybe even today, if not, they will be here in a not too distant tomorrow, we are going to face challenges we cannot overcome; circumstances we cannot change; situations seeming unbearable; and trials which, left to ourselves, will drown us in the seas of depression, discouragement, and despair. And none of them came by chance nor are they expressions of God’s anger toward us.
Of all the things I mentioned in the opening paragraph of today’s nugget – challenges, circumstances, situations and trials – all share two common traits and have one common purpose. First, all of them contain suffering. It might be physical, emotional, or spiritual. Maybe a combination, but suffering will be present. Why? It is one of God’s choice means of spiritually growing His children. The Apostle Paul told the Philippian believers, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29). Friends, accept this. Now. Don’t try to avoid pain. Don’t try to run from suffering. There is nowhere to go. And should we seek to have a “pain-free, suffering-less” life, God so loves us, He will only increase the heat in the Refiner’s Fire till we say, “Okay. No more rebellion. I get it. I surrender.” He does so because He knows there are lessons of reliance upon His Word that can only be learned through suffering.
The other common trait in life’s challenges, circumstances, situations, and trials is that God didn’t just allow them to happen. He sent them – tailor made for each of us. In the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian believers, he reminds of this truth – Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know (1 Thessalonians 3:1-4). Just as God predestines people for His possession and their salvation, Paul tells us God destines His children to affliction; to suffer, to endure pain and difficulties. Every challenge, circumstance, situation, and trial comes from the Hand of God for our good. Always. Believe this. Cling to this for this is the will of God for us.
And that leads to the common purpose in all those painful things God sends into our lives. It is in today’s scripture. Christians are people of promises. The life blood of the believer; the hope of the believer; the power for the believer . . . everything the believer needs and desires are found in God’s unfailing promises. To prove this, we must be tested in this. We must be “at the end of our ropes” in life’s many trials and difficulties so we may totally abandon ourselves to God’s promises. As we do, God receives much honor and praise proving His faithfulness to His promises over and over as we trust them. And that, my friends, is why God sends us into impossible circumstances and situations – to display the power of His never failing promises in our lives.
PRAYER: “Father, I so praise You for Your promises that cannot fail or ever be broken.”
QUOTE: “God will put you in positions requiring total reliance upon His Word. This is the only way your faith may grow.”