Three things that are true:
“… A person cannot receive even one thing unless God bestows it…”
John 3:27
God is light, in Him there is no darkness
1 John 1:5
God’s Word is powerful and will do what it was spoken for
Isaiah 55:11
These are all from verses that I have been reading in the last few weeks and months and I recalled all of them (well, more or less!) when I started thinking about an offhanded comment I made a few days ago.
Earlier in the year, I have heard a lot of people comment that they believe this is a year where South Africa will return to God. That this is a year where families will be re-established. Where we will sit together and eat together and get to know each other again. Where relationships will be rebuilt, and where our care for each other will grow.
So now we are sitting in the Corona LockDown and although all of the above is true, none of us thought that this is the way it will happen.
Luke 1:37 says ”Not one promise from God is empty of power, for nothing is impossible with God!”
I was watching the TV Series “The Chosen” and came to another realisation… The Jews in the time of Jesus had very little idea of what was about to happen. All the prophecies spoken over hundreds of years about the saviour of the world, the messiah – to them it was a military leader, to break them out of the bondage of Rome.
Just like the Hebrews in Exodus. They wanted a miracle and a leader to throw off the bondage, not change the way they were living. They were looking for another Judah Maccabee.
In John chapter 6, after Jesus fed the multitudes, they were looking for him the next day, and He made it abundantly clear that they were not looking for Him, but looking for another miracle. When they understood that He was there to reconcile them with God the Father, many followers left. Of course, the people did not understand the words of Jesus in a spiritual sense, but in a literal sense, so Jesus went from Feeding 5,000 to offending 5,000 (as noted in the text notes of The Passion Translation)
“…And so from that time on many of the disciples turned their backs on Jesus and refused to be associated with him…”
John 6:66
So here’s the thing:
Although God speaks, and His Holy Spirit guides our paths (especially if we actually listen) I think I often want to interpret the end or the solution in a way I think it can possibly happen.
…and that is a problem…
We know we will get through this, because God has spoken, He has given word about our future, so a future there will be. But what we think that future will hold, and how God will get to that point, is a mystery. God has HIS plans. HIS Thoughts. HIS Ways.
So here is what I ask of you today:
Go back to God, and ask Him to reveal to you more about your purpose, and how it fits into your future. Take the time to become quiet and listen. And also think back, because God might have told you already, and it has not yet sunk in…
So is The Word that comes from God’s mouth; it does not return to God empty. Instead, it does what God my Father wants, and accomplishes what He intended… not what I thought He meant, or what I wanted it to mean!
“…Seek the Lord when he can still be found; call him while he is yet near.
Let the wicked abandon their ways and the sinful their schemes. Let them return to the Lord so that he may have mercy on them, to our God, because he is generous with forgiveness.
My plans aren’t your plans, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my plans than your plans.
Just as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and don’t return there without watering the earth, making it conceive and yield plants and providing seed to the sower and food to the eater,
so is my word that comes from my mouth; it does not return to me empty. Instead, it does what I want, and accomplishes what I intend…”
Isaiah 55:6-11
