I don’t know about you but I thank
God for everyone who made it into this year 2017 and that includes you and I. I
know several people don’t understand the fact that I am so grateful because it would
seem like there is hardly anything good happening in the world right now. Indeed
everything appears to be upside down such that sad news is no more shocking. It
is almost as if peace is eluding the Countries of the world as almost no day
passes without one horrible thing happening in one Country or the other; people
are killed just like they are mere animals and the wicked seem to be having the
best of life whilst those whose hearts are toward God seem to struggle. Indeed,
in my own part of the World, apart from all the ungodly killing going on, the
economic climate is extremely challenging; we face times that we were ill
prepared for. It is almost like we woke up one day and everything was upside
down. We were completely taken by surprise at the seemingly unending downward
slide of our economy but through it all, we must admit that God has been with
us otherwise how did we come through tough as it has been?
Psalm 23: 4 “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be
afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and
comfort me.”
At this point, I know that you
may have settled in these present times making adjustments in your mind that
make it easy for you to live in these present evil times because as we often
say, we must accept our reality and then move forward from there; but the
problem is that we don’t move forward. I have found that we don’t move forward
from there because we not only accept it as reality, it also becomes our focus.
We live and breathe this reality. I also discovered that our minds like to
focus on what we consider reality. It is a struggle to keep our eyes on God if
He is not our reality. No wonder a number of people I meet have no good thing
to say about God right now though they are believers. Without meaning to, such
persons blame God for every terrible thing going on. Though some accept that it
may not have been instigated by Him they still blame Him for doing nothing
about it. This misplacement of focus has made many murmurers and complainers; they
forget that murmuring and complaining only serves to keep God whom they need, away
from them which is the desire of the devil who is the mastermind of all this
pain.
1 Corinthians 10: 10 - 11 “And don’t grumble as some of them did, and
then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples
for us.”
I understand that it is easy to
settle. Indeed, it is like telling one’s self the truth because it does not
make sense to deceive one’s self. Recently though, I have really started to
question my reality – what really is my reality? This has brought me to the
realization that I have things a little muddled up myself. My reality is not
what is going on around me; it is what the Word of God says which I like
sometimes and find really difficult to accept at other times. That is my reality. I have to keep reminding
myself that what we currently experience is a distortion of our reality which
is God’s truth concerning us and our circumstance. We have to realize and
accept that we are not living our reality for us to desire to do so; if we
think we are, then why desire another? I have decided that I must not “dummy
down” just so that I can live happily. It is like accepting sickness and disease
because the doctor said so; we have to fight and our fight is based on what God
says about us. It takes a deliberateness to keep our eyes on our reality which
is God’s word. It is a decision to live on earth but by a different set of
rules or indeed a completely different lifestyle which is not “earth like.” It
is a lifestyle that takes one above the circumstances that exist around them
and they live that lifestyle that only exist in heavenly places on earth. It is
lifestyle that only The Good shepherd can provide.
Psalm 23: 1 “The Lord is my Shepherd; I have all that I need.”
John 14: 6 “Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
I must leave you with this word as
we begin this New Year - it is time to, like the man Job, trust God again
despite all the difficulties we may be going through and also watch our words
carefully just like he did. We must be careful not to directly or indirectly
curse God. The accuser of the brethren makes it tougher and tougher whilst he
watches for our words just to see if we will curse our God. We have to ensure
that the things we say are not controlled by our circumstances or our feelings;
they must be what we want to say which I believe would be guided by the word of
God. I know, my dear friend, that you are a believer in Christ so if you think
your words through, they will be so right that they will only annoy satan and
give God glory because we are what we think in our hearts. You are not just a
believer outwardly but one inwardly so please be careful for these difficulties
too shall pass and has indeed passed.
No comments:
Post a Comment