by David Brenneman
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:31-39.
We can and do at some point worry about the past, the present or the future. We just immediately go into the denial portion of justification on whatever level makes us feel better.
Throughout the Bible we have a plethora of examples from Genesis onward to pretty much the other end of the Bible.
Leaders, Prophets, Priests, Kings, average people, example after example is there.
We're lousy with dealing with things we know not the full extent of.
We who are in Christ are not just on a journey of learning to be like Christ, we're learning to trust wholeheartedly in what it is that God, through His Spirit, puts before us.
We hate that missing puzzle piece that we can't find.
We hate that little bit that often makes no sense that we get wrapped around the axle trying to figure out.
We hate when a doubt arises that clouds our judgment.
We hate when we're at a loss as to how to proceed.
Are you seeing "Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 perhaps differently in light of this discussion this morning?
Our own understanding us finite, limited, restricted, hemmed in, filled with unknowns.
To some it causes outright panic, to others, they metaphorically put their heads in the sand to avoid the potential coming complications.
We need to remember the word of God in these moments.
We are His workmanship. Stop right here for a minute. What does that mean? It means He who began a good work in you will see it to completion, whether or not we understand or not. He's responsible for His work. We're to do our best and leave the consequences to Him.
Created in Christ Jesus for good works. He has works for you and I to do. We may not understand the why's behind them but the onus is on us to obey to the best of our ability.
Read the rest of the verse. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:10.
God already knew everything that you were going to experience in your life long before you discovered any part of it to be real.
We need to remember that more often. That in each and every single event in our lives, God was NEVER surprised by what's transpired or is transpiring right now.
We also must realize that the promises of God in Christ are not going to eliminate the trials and tribulations of our lives...they will get us THROUGH those things or AROUND those things.
Worry is a prayer that goes nowhere but from ourselves to ourselves.
A prayer, which is what ought to be our first reaction to trials and tribulations, is our conveying to God our dependence upon Him to do as He promised in our lives.
Jesus exemplified His dependence upon His Father throughout all His years on this Earth.
He knew that when His Father initiated something that His Father’s plans would bear themselves out and Jesus just needed to trust and obey.
Worry was perhaps the greatest temptation of the last 9 months for me. As of yesterday I was given a verbal confirmation that I am now gainfully employed. Worry tried to creep into my thinking. I thank God that the Spirit wouldn't let it persist.
You too my Dear Reader have a choice to either allow worry or allow prayer to be what moves you forward in persistence or anchor you to the ground in despair.
We're not promised any semblance of understanding of the who, what, when, where or why's of our life experiences.
We ARE promised to never go through any of those things alone when we are following Jesus.
Satan's schemes involve isolation. They involve trying to get you and I to believe we're unlikely to receive anything from God because of our past or present.
God keeps His promises not on our merits but on the truth of His character in Christ. He imparted His righteousness to us when we came to Christ for salvation.
Pray on, pray over, pray through life.
Everyone who waits upon the Lord will not be disappointed.
Psalm 23 is rich with what everyone goes through after coming to Christ for salvation.
You must choose to trust and obey. You are going to face that challenge every moment of your day.
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. This too is the answer to worry.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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