Tag Archives: Trusting God

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My Days Are Numbered

The Opera Ain’t Over … Till God Says It’s Over

God planned me, built me, watches over me, can steer me back on track when I wander, will keep me safe until the Divinely allotted numbers of days ordained for me are up, and then take me to the next life that he has prepared for me. My life will be over when he says it’s over!

Going Deeper // Psalm 139:16

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How many days do I have left? I don’t know. No one does, except God. He knows the exact number of years, days, hours and seconds that I will occupy my address on Planet Earth; the exact moment that my death will occurs.

Now that may not seem like a cheery thought to you, and in fact, most people would find that sobering, at best, and frightening, at worst. Not me. I find great comfort and security in knowing that God has my life so ordered that I will neither die a day sooner nor live a day longer than what has already been recorded in his book. You see, life and death are far above my pay grade, so I will happily let Father God take care of that department, thank you very much.

So if I truly and correctly understand this profound truth, then I am freed from the fear of death to fully live the life that God has planned for me. I can enjoy an intimate walk with the One

  • Who was intimately involved in each minor detail of my day (Psalm 139:1-4)
  • Who never lets me out of his sight (Psalm 139:5-8)
  • Who guides my every move with his Fatherly hand (Psalm 139:9-10)
  • Who is not limited by my circumstances (Psalm 139:11-12).

In fact, God is so involved in my life that he was even there at the moment my mother and father conceived me in love, and he superintended even the most infinitesimal details my physiological and temperamental formation.

God knows me! He knows everything about me. He planned me, built me, watches over me, can steer me back on track when I wander from his purpose (Psalm 139:23-24), can be completely trusted to keep me safe until the Divinely allotted numbers of days ordained for me are up, and then take me to the next life that he has prepared for me.

“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand” (Psalm 139:6, NLT), but it won’t keep me from enjoying this day and praising the One who is in charge of it!

Go Deeper: Throughout the day, declare, “God is in charge of me!” Then live like it’s true—because it is!

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Useful Idiots

With All Due Respect

Joseph’s submission to the sovereignty of God allowed him to see the pain his brothers had inflicted not merely through his own perspective alone, but through a perspective that saw God working through their evil actions. He recognized that in all the circumstances of life, big and small, good and bad, God had been inexorably bringing the currents of his personal history to a providential conclusion. His brothers might have been idiots for selling him into slavery twenty plus years before, but they were useful idiots in the hands of the Providential Ruler of all mankind.

Going Deep // Focus: Genesis 45:5

Don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.

Useful idiots! With all due respect (it’s odd that we use that term when we’re about to disrespect someone), that’s what I would call Joseph’s brothers. Or I could clean it up a bit and call them unwitting but useful instruments in the hands of a sovereign God.

Twenty plus years after they had sold him into slavery, the brothers are now standing before Joseph, and they don’t even recognize him. They have been blinded by two decades of thinking he had long since died, their perspective jaded by the haunting fear, endless guilt and corrosive shame of what they had done. (Genesis 44:16) Finally, when Joseph’s identity is revealed, the brothers expect him to exact revenge, make them pay dearly and do to them what they had done to him.

But Joseph was cut from a different cloth than these lousy brothers. His submission to the sovereignty of God allowed him to see the pain they had inflicted not merely through his own perspective alone, but through a perspective that saw God working through their evil actions. Joseph recognized that in all the circumstances of life, big and small, good and bad, God had been inexorably bringing the currents of his personal history to a providential conclusion.

Joseph’s submission to the sovereignty of God is revealed three times as he discloses himself to his brothers with words to this effect: “Don’t beat yourself up; it was God, not you, who sent me here. You had a plan and God had a plan, and God’s plan trumped yours. You were simply unwitting but useful instruments in his hands.” (Genesis 45:5,7,8). Joseph’s brothers might have been idiots for selling him into slavery twenty plus years before, but they were useful idiots in the hands of the Providential Ruler of all mankind.

The bottom line to Joseph’s story is that God is in control. He turns what is meant for evil to our good, extracts glory for himself even in the most impossible circumstances, and no matter what, always, always, always fulfills his sovereign purposes. He is in control! He is the Sovereign God of the universe, the Providential Ruler over the affairs, big and small, of all mankind, the Incomparable One who works all things for his glory.

And here’s the kicker: He works all things not only for his own glory—but for your good! That’s right—for your good. Now why would the Sovereign, Providential, Incomparable One bother with little old you? Simply because you’ve surrendered your life to him; and when you did that, you, perhaps even unwittingly, signed up to be on his sovereign benefits plan.

So here’s the deal: If you have a few idiots making your life difficult, just remember, in God’s hands they are useful idiots.

Going Deeper With God: Here is a prayer you might want to offer today: “Sovereign Lord, today I express my trust that you will use what was hurtful to me for your glory and my good. I will refuse to allow bitterness and unforgiveness to take root in my spirit. Rather, by faith I will choose to see you actively at work in me.”

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This Is God

He Is Sovereign

Here, in a nutshell, is God: He keeps his word and fulfills his promise. He does the impossible, because nothing is too hard for the Lord. He fulfills his promise and does the impossible according to his timing, for he is sovereign. This is God.

The Journey // Focus: Genesis 21:1-2

The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would.

Here, in a nutshell, is God.

The very first thing we see in this Genesis 21 as the story unfolds of ninety-year old Sarah getting pregnant and having a son, Issac, is that God keeps his word and fulfills his promises.

God is a faithful God. It all starts here. If it were not for the unfailing trustworthiness of God, human faith would not be possible. But God has proven himself to be true. He is a promise making and a promise keeping God.

There is nothing truer and more dependable than God’s word. By the way, that is why the great statements of faith in Christendom start with the authority of Scripture, what we refer to as God’s Word. If it weren’t for that fact, we could not pass go, we could not collect $200. It would be game over for the Christian faith. God’s Word is true; God is true to his Word!

Furthermore, believing that God keeps his word, believing that what he said is true and trustworthy enough to obey is the essence of faith. We are told in Genesis 15:6 that “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

The second thing we see in this Genesis 21 is that God does the impossible. Don’t forget, Sarah is ninety, and Abraham is one hundred—they are well past the years of child bearing. But what might seem an impossibility to man is no big deal to the Creator. After all, he spoke the worlds into existence out of nothing.

Faith begins with the invisible we are told in Hebrews 11:1-3. To bring forth from the invisible into reality is an impossibility for man, but as we learn in Sarah’s doubting from Genesis 18:14, there is “nothing that is too hard for the Lord.”

Faith will by its very nature lead the God-follower into human impossibilities. That is why essential to human faith is the commitment to this driving value: nothing is impossible for God. That belief will be required, early and often, to keep the journey of faith moving toward God in daunting circumstances, in the face of doubting people, and through the dips and depressions of unreliable emotions.

Faith must see the invisible and believe the impossible—because that is the realm from which God operates in the world and in the believer’s life.

The third thing we see as this chapter begins is that not only does God keep his word and not only does God do the impossible, but God does everything according to his timing.

God is sovereign, after all. He does things the way he wants when he wants, and although his timing is not always, not usually, our timing, he has perfect timing. To enjoy a vibrant faith in the sovereign God, therefore, the believer must trust when they can’t see that God is at work.

Faith accepts, and even celebrates, that God, along with his timing, is sovereign. Hebrews 11:6 puts it this way: “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

This, in a nutshell, is God:

God keeps his word and fulfills his promises—always.

God does the impossible, because nothing is too hard for the Lord—absolutely nothing,

God’s timing, because he is sovereign is impeccable—without fail.

This is God. Therefore, put all your hope in him, and you will not be disappointed.

Going Deeper: Spend time today thanking God for his trustworthiness, his power and his sovereignty.

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The Greatest Place in the World

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

The fact of the matter is, you are in God’s hands. Right now! He has your back. He is watching over you. He is carrying you forward and will bring you to the place that he desires. And at the end of the day, at the time, in the place and under the circumstances of his choosing, he will bring you to the eternal dwellings. God is in control of you. And that, my friend, is the world’s greatest place!

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Chronicles 12:16-17

Other Benjamites and some men from Judah also came to David in his stronghold. David went out to meet them and said to them, “If you have come to me in peace to help me, I am ready for you to join me. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies when my hands are free from violence, may the God of our ancestors see it and judge you.”

The fact of the matter is, you are in God’s hands. Right now! He has your back. He is watching over you. He is carrying you forward and will bring you to the place that he desires. And at the end of the day, at the time, in the place and under the circumstances of his choosing, he will bring you to the eternal dwellings. God is in control of you.

Perhaps you don’t realize that, or maybe you do, but you are not choosing by faith to live in the daily reality of God’s control over your life. If that is the case, you will wrestle with fear and anxiety. You may even struggle with anger and depression. You will be upset over many things, from the circumstances that you perceive are coming against your life to the upheaval that you perceive is ruining the larger world around you. The peace of God that passes all understanding is not guarding your heart and mind. That is what happens to people when they have not surrendered control of their world to the care and competence of Almighty God.

David did! In the long journey from his anointing to be the next king of Israel in the place of the backslidden King Saul—which turned out to be many difficult years living as a fugitive—to his actual coronation, God began to bring a support team around David. Courageous and skilled warriors began to join David, making him a formidable force. But as these fighting men came to him, it was certainly possible that some of them were actually spies from Saul; infiltrators bent on capturing or killing him. After all, as a fugitive on the lam, David still had a price on his head. He was in an exceedingly vulnerable place.

So how did David handle it? How did he stay sane, how did he remain focused, and he did he keep walking an honorable path of obedience as God prepared the kingdom of Israel for his eventual leadership? He trusted, that is what he did. He placed himself in God’s hand, entrusting his health, safety and promotion to the care and competence of the Almighty. Knowing that the timing and circumstances of his advancement were well above his pay grade, he surrendered himself to the purposes of his Great Shepherd.

Did you notice the opening verse? Men from the tribe of Benjamin joined him. If you will remember, Benjamin was the tribe of King Saul. These warriors were relatives of the current king, and perhaps they still carried some family loyalties to their monarch cousin. In letting them into his inner circle, David was risking his very life, and the lives of his family and friends. But take note of David’s trust in God’s protection as he opens the door to these people:

“If you have come in peace and to help me, you are most welcome to join this company; but if you have come to betray me to my enemies, innocent as I am, the God of our ancestors will see through you and bring judgment on you.” (1 Chronicles 12:17, MSG)

When we come to the point where we can leave our health and welfare, our success and wealth, our fame and security with Almighty God, we will have arrived at the greatest place in the world: the hands of God. Again, God already holds us there, but until we acknowledge that he’s got us, and until we surrender our entire being—body, mind and soul—to his care and competence, we will not be fully at peace. But when we do, we will arrive at that place uncommon to most human beings—the place of which David so eloquently wrote in what we call the Twenty-Third Psalm:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

There is no better place in the world to be than in the care of the Good Shepherd. And we get there by surrendering our trust into his hands.

Going Deeper With God: Read Psalm 23 every morning this week before you leave your house.

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God’s Principle for Economic Growth

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

God’s suprarational laws apply to you as much as they did to the characters in the Bible. But like them, you have to trust. When he calls you to give—even if it is your last—give, and he will prosper you. Now you can’t manipulate his economic laws for your own purposes, but when you bring your needs and desires to him and he tells you to risk trust, do it, and his favor is guaranteed. Whenever, wherever and however he calls you to step out, do it in obedience, trusting God to bless you, and he will. That is his inviolable, universal, eternal law of kingdom economics.

Going Deep // Focus: 2 Kings 4:1-6

One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.” Elisha asked, “What can I do to help you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She replied, “Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil.” Elisha said, “Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.” So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim! “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing.

God is not irrational. He has revealed himself so that we can understand him with our rational mind. And forever, we will be exploring the wonderful depth and breadth of God and his ways. Even into eternity, we will be pursuing the unlimited riches of who God is and how he acts within his created order. God is knowable, and for that we are and will be forever grateful.

But there is far more to God that we do not know than what we do know—and it will always be so. Even in eternity, with unlimited capacity for intellectual growth, God will be way ahead of us. By definition, we will never reach the full capacity of God’s brilliant mind. If we did, God would cease to be God and we would assume that role. And that is not going to happen. One of the things that will make eternal life so endlessly and indescribably exciting, purposeful and fulfilling is this very thing: the pursuit of the mind of God.

God is not irrational, but he is rationally knowable. Yet with the things of God that we cannot grasp, we might say that God is suprarational. That is, God is not understandable by human reason alone; he is beyond rational comprehension. And when we come into circumstances that fit into that category, we are asked to trust. And for those who put their trust in the wisdom and kindness of God in those beyond-comprehension-moments, there is a 100 percent guarantee of satisfaction and blessing:

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

That is the eternal testimony of the great heroes of our faith. Speaking for them all, the psalmist declared, “No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame.” (Psalm 25:3).

Such is the lesson Elisha is teaching the desperate widow in 2 Kings 4. She had been married to a man who was a part of the school of the prophets, but his untimely death has left her and her children in dire straights. So she comes to Elisha for help with a creditor who is threatening to foreclose on her home. She will be left not only in grief over the loss of her husband, she will be destitute, evicted from her home, and at the mercies of a cruel economy.

So what does Elisha tell her to do: Take a risk and trust. She was to borrow as many jars from her neighbors as possible. Then she was to go behind closed doors and began to pour what little oil she had left into those jars. And trust!

Obviously, when she and her sons were told to go throughout the neighborhood to borrow the jars, they would have to explain this “irrational” concept to curious lenders. They would have to risk reputation; they would have to risk an investment of trust to obey God. Trust is exactly what they did, and then the miracle happened: Enough oil flowed from one small flask to fill all the jars they had borrowed. When they ran out of jars, the oil stopped flowing, but they had enough to sell at the market at a handsome profit. They risked faith, they trusted God, they acted in obedience, and in so doing, they unleashed God’s suprarational law for their economic growth—which met their need, and then some.

God’s suprarational laws apply to you as much as they did to the characters in the Bible. But like them, you have to trust. When he calls you to give—even if it is your last—give, and he will prosper you. Now you can’t manipulate his economic laws for your own purposes, but when you bring your needs and desires to him and he tells you to risk trust, do it, and his favor is guaranteed. Whenever, wherever and however he calls you to step out, do it in obedience, trusting God to bless you, and he will. That is his inviolable, universal, eternal law of kingdom economics.

That is God’s economy. And he desires for you to live within it!

Going Deeper With God: Do you have a need? Ask God for his direction, then trust him ruthlessly. Step out in obedience. Risk faith. Then wait for God to answer, because he will—and then some.

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Divine Grace for Humble Submission

ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude

Repentance is the divine path to restoration when our fellowship has been broken with the Almighty, and humble submission to the wisdom of God’s judgment is the human spigot that opens the flow of divine grace. Yes, “the wages of sin is death,” but when we yield our sin-prone lives to God through true repentance and humble submission, “the gift of God is eternal life,” some of which leaks from the eternal into the here and now.

Going Deep // Focus: 2 Samuel 15:25-26

Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.”

The seeds of sin that King David planted through his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband to cover up the pregnancy that had resulted from the affair were now being harvested in the rebellion of the king’s son, Absalom. God had completely forgiven David (2 Samuel 12:13), but his sin had set into motion a series of tragic consequences, which Nathan the prophet had predicted (2 Samuel 12:14), that would devastate the humbled king both personally and publically.

The low point of David’s kingship must have been conspiracy, coup and the resultant death of this favorite son, Absalom. The events of this dark season were beyond tragic for David and Israel, and so unnecessary—as is always the case with sin. Certainly the Apostle Paul’s assessment of sin was spot on: “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23a) One sin set in motion a chain reaction of death, and as a result, the stench of death was in the air over all Israel—both literally and figuratively.

In spite of his self-inflicted disaster, however, the king found a way to reach into the reservoir of grace and wisdom that God makes available to every repentant believer. David humbly submitted himself to the merciful hand of God as he journeyed through this sin-harvest season. And as he did, this broken man found just what he needed: even more of God’s great grace.

What is it that releases God’s great grace at times when grace is the last thing we deserve? It is that which always moves the heart and hand of God: true humility and complete submission to God’s sovereignty. David truly meant what he said—“ I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.”

Now that is an incredibly mature response to a self-induced disaster. Unlike some people who whine, blame and pout, David demonstrated confidence in the judgment of God, he focused on God’s presence in the moment , he left restoration—if there was to be any—to a later time, and he submitted himself completely to the will of God, no matter what the divine plan would bring about. Such humility of heart and submission to the Sovereign’s will are the very reasons the Lord himself proclaimed David to be “a man after God’s own heart” despite the many mistakes he made throughout his lifetime.

It is that very posture, when it comes from an authentic heart, that allows the second half of Romans 6:23 rather than the first half to become the defining reality of our lives: “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” For sure, we have been promised life in the age to come, but when we yield our sin-prone lives to God through true repentance and humble submission, some of that divine life leaks to us from the eternal into the here and now.

Going Deeper With God: Repentance is the divine path to restoration when our fellowship has been broken with the Almighty, and humble submission to the wisdom of God’s judgment is the human spigot that opens the flow of divine grace. Today, humble yourself before the mighty hand of God and he just may lift you up by his grace!

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A Gift For God

Reflect:
Psalm 147:11

“The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

How do you make God happy?  He has everything he wants and can create what he doesn’t have.

God is all-powerful—after all, he even created all the stars and calls them each by name:  “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.” (Psalm 147:4)

God knows everything there is to know—there is no limit to either his power or his understanding: “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.” (Psalm 147:5)

God has fixed up this little globe called earth to run amazingly well, sustaining its ecological systems: “He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He spreads the snow like wool, and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.” (Psalm 147:15-18)

God has even ordered provision for the daily needs of his earthly creatures: “He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.” (Psalm 147:8-9)

So accurately, abundantly and consistently does God care for the earth’s higher inhabitants that their utter and ceaseless gratitude is only fitting: “Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.” (Psalm 147:7)

What, then, can you give to a God who has it all and does it all?  Only your fear and your hope! What satisfies God to the core of his being is the fear that arises not out of terror, but from the kind of reverence and respect that comes from knowing that he is the giver and sustainer of life itself, the rightful owner of Planet Earth and ruler of your life.

What causes God pleasure is the hope that looks to him for protection, peace and provision: “For he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. (Psalm 147:13-14)

What causes God pleasure is the patience that waits for him to execute justice and fairness: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3)

What causes God pleasure is trust that expects him to fulfill his good purposes to all those who belong to him: “He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws.” (Psalm 147:19-20).

What gift can you offer to the one Being who truly has it all?  Just your very life, that’s all.

“God desires to be loved by men, although He needs them not; and men refuse to love God, though they need Him in an infinite degree.” ~Plaintes Du Sauveur

Reflect and Apply: Do you want to bring a smile to God’s face today?  I think you know what to do!