The Trial of No Trials

When there are no trials it is easy to forget God in the daily routines. Our flesh says, "I can handle it," and indeed we don't acutely feel the need to entrust all to the Lord. Things are "under control."

But we think they are under our control. Oh how deceitful the flesh!

When things are good, they are not good on my account, not by my cleverness. Good times may be "leftovers" of God's most recent blessing that I actually acknowledged as from Him.

When things are bad, and we see easily they are out of our control, we turn to God for help—as if He is only there to help us when we can't help ourselves. The facts are, however, He is always there for us, and all things are out of our control.

"You do not know what a day may bring forth" (Prov. 27:1); commit it to the Sovereign Lord as early as possible. Release it from your grip and give it wholly to Him. Thank Him for the good times and prosperity, lest you take past days back from His Lordship and increase your own lordship in your mind. Let every day be lived like the one of great trials—entrusting all to God's wisdom and providence—and He shall increase and you shall decrease.

"For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."

I'm Back, etc.

As we as semi-bloggers say, I have not fallen off the face of the earth! And don't even consider that semi-blogger means semi-annually! :)

Anyway, I apologize for not posting sooner than the four months that have passed. For one thing, I have consistently had trouble logging in to Blogger. I finally thought to Google the problem and found this extremely helpful article…and behold, I have returned!

As I start this back up again, I pray the things expressed in this blog honor the Lord and inspire you in pursuit of God.

Obfuscation

Scintillate, scintillate, globule vivific,
Fain would I fathom thy nature specific.
Loftily placed in the ether capacious,
Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous.

(A.P. Gibbs uses this as an example of how unproductive it is to use big words and unnecessary phraseology in his book The Preacher and His Preaching.)

Oh, what does it mean? It's just another way of saying "Twinkle, twinkle, little star..."

Lesson on Faith and God's Provision

"...they tested the LORD, saying, 'Is the LORD among us or not?'"
Exodus 17:7

Of course the Lord was with them. They but had to remember that they use to be slaved in Egypt; that they walked through the Red Sea; that God gave them water at Marah; that He provided manna every day so they would not die.

All they had to do was remember, and they would see the Lord was with them. Instead, they lived in the present, forgetting what God did for them. They wanted their needs met NOW, but God wanted them to learn to trust Him. He had not yet put them in circumstances that He did not deliver them from. But they were too focused on themselves to remember that.

May the Lord help us also, lest we forget all that He has done. God doesn’t overlap His provision: ———
He separates them: ——— ____
In this, at the end of the first provision, He is testing us, to see if we will question Him or trust Him. If we walk in His presence, this separation of provision will keep us trusting Him, dependent on Him for our lives, glorifying Him.

Written March 5, 2005

How? By Faith

In all areas of life I find myself more frequently asking "how?" How do I set goals? How do I achieve a goal? How do I fit in time for Bible study, devotions, prayer, family, work, and e-mail and the Rebelution Forum?

I keep returning to two principles:

• "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9)
• "And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God" (Gal. 2:20)

2 Corinthians 12:9 is the principle contained in the song Grace: "Your will cannot lead me where your grace cannot keep me." No matter what the circumstances may be, God has allowed them and given His grace so that we can pass through. But such grace-filled passage is only attained when we put our faith in that promise. "Live by faith" is not an abstract concept, but utterly practical! Faith is founded on fact: "My grace is sufficient for thee."

So there is the answer to all the "how" questions I have: "How? By faith in the Son of God."

How much easier is that life entrusted to God in every daily detail!