Hi all,
I started this series quoting Deuteronomy 29: 29: "The secret things belong to the Lord, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."
That means we may not know why our loved one died, but what is revealed is how to walk with Him through it.
We may not know why x event happened, but what is revealed is how to walk with Him through it.
We may not know why x person is against us, but what is revealed is how to walk with Him through it.
In all things in life, what is revealed will lead us to walk with Him, to grow in Him, no matter what hits us.
There are times, perhaps many times in life we feel like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof, who said to God: "I know. I know. We are your chosen people. But once in a while, can't You choose someone else?"
Coming to the end of ourselves
Because there is a devil loose on the earth, and that earth is under the curse of sin, things are going to happen that are outside our knowledge and control. Bad things. Things that hurt us, things that bewilder and confuse us. Some of what we go through is self-inflicted. Some of what we go through is because someone we know did something that affected us greatly.
Some of what happens to us is a mystery, a tragedy set in motion by someone we don't know or a mystery of nature. Many have been taught that our faith should prevent these unknown things from happening to us, and if they do happen, then something is wrong with us or our faith.
Still others are taught if something happens to us we can rebuke the devil who is the cause of it in the first place and God will make it right. Or at least we can seek out someone who specializes in demonic or hidden things that explains the mystery to us. Many spend thousands of dollars a year going to this and that meeting looks for the one key, the one missing link to all things bad in their life.
Up until now they are not known, and since the scripture says the Father won't hold back on what we do need to know, why are we fighting against God? Why not end our fleshly efforts and trust Him. Do what is right and we know to do in the natural, but end our fleshly efforts to manipulate Him into giving up what is a mystery to us, but a secret held in trust to Him?
In the 1910's young girls were employed to paint radium based paint on watch faces so they would glow in the dark. They were encouraged to wet the brush to a fine point using their lips, which caused them to ingest a small amount of radioactive paint hundreds of times each day. They thought it was harmless. At that time people put radium in everything from lipstick to chocolate. People put radium saturated cloths on their backs and stomachs to rid the body of illness, and so much more. But about 10 years later these young women who painted watch faces started to die. It took years before they discovered the lethal effects of too much radiation and linked it to illnesses.
We are ignorant but think ourselves wise
But until they discovered the link between radium and a myriad of illnesses, those illnesses were a mystery. Some blamed God, some blamed the devil, some thought someone had put a curse on them. Some asked why God allowed such a mystery illness to come upon their loved one. Some just didn't know and had to trust God.
I wonder today what chemicals and chemical combinations we ingest that cause illnesses and conditions we are ignorant about? We are the same way: Some blame the devil, some blame God, some ask how a good God could allow their loved one to die. Some don't know and have to trust God. That will never change. We are puny humans who know little.
For all our technology, only 5% of the ocean has been discovered. For all we know and have explored of the universe, we only know 4% of the universe. The other 96% is stuff scientists can't even see, know, or detect. And that 4% is a guess, for an infinite universe means we know so very little.
So is it any surprise we don't yet know the effects of our synthetically made chemical world? The hot topic in the US now is the practice of 'vaping', and I've heard doctors say people who vape are laboratory guinea pigs because it is so new there are no studies of the effects of vaping. It will take decades to discover the effects of the practice.
"...what is revealed is to us and our children that we may do all the words of this law."
We should come a point that we end up simply trusting the Lord because He isn't sharing His secrets with us. That leaves us in the position as Paul noted: "We walk by faith, not by sight." (II Corinthians 5:7)
So why do we fight so hard against that which we cannot know? At what point do we accept that rebuking the devil didn't affect things. At what point do we stop investigating everything from demons to 'anointed' ministers who have specialized in this or that particular spiritual thing and just trust God, focus on growing in Him and doing what we know to do in the natural, trusting one day all will be revealed?
At the end of his life Paul wrote Timothy in what was then a private letter between the two: "...I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed to Him until that day." II Timothy 1:12
There were mysteries even Paul did not know. But what he did do was commit things and people and events in his life to the Lord for safe keeping until he got to heaven. He was persuaded that the Lord would keep these things safe in Him until that day. That isn't just faith, it is trust in the character and nature of our Lord and our Father.
As Corrie ten Boom so famously said: "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." Amen sister!
New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
I started this series quoting Deuteronomy 29: 29: "The secret things belong to the Lord, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."
That means we may not know why our loved one died, but what is revealed is how to walk with Him through it.
We may not know why x event happened, but what is revealed is how to walk with Him through it.
We may not know why x person is against us, but what is revealed is how to walk with Him through it.
In all things in life, what is revealed will lead us to walk with Him, to grow in Him, no matter what hits us.
There are times, perhaps many times in life we feel like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof, who said to God: "I know. I know. We are your chosen people. But once in a while, can't You choose someone else?"
Coming to the end of ourselves
Because there is a devil loose on the earth, and that earth is under the curse of sin, things are going to happen that are outside our knowledge and control. Bad things. Things that hurt us, things that bewilder and confuse us. Some of what we go through is self-inflicted. Some of what we go through is because someone we know did something that affected us greatly.
Some of what happens to us is a mystery, a tragedy set in motion by someone we don't know or a mystery of nature. Many have been taught that our faith should prevent these unknown things from happening to us, and if they do happen, then something is wrong with us or our faith.
Still others are taught if something happens to us we can rebuke the devil who is the cause of it in the first place and God will make it right. Or at least we can seek out someone who specializes in demonic or hidden things that explains the mystery to us. Many spend thousands of dollars a year going to this and that meeting looks for the one key, the one missing link to all things bad in their life.
Up until now they are not known, and since the scripture says the Father won't hold back on what we do need to know, why are we fighting against God? Why not end our fleshly efforts and trust Him. Do what is right and we know to do in the natural, but end our fleshly efforts to manipulate Him into giving up what is a mystery to us, but a secret held in trust to Him?
In the 1910's young girls were employed to paint radium based paint on watch faces so they would glow in the dark. They were encouraged to wet the brush to a fine point using their lips, which caused them to ingest a small amount of radioactive paint hundreds of times each day. They thought it was harmless. At that time people put radium in everything from lipstick to chocolate. People put radium saturated cloths on their backs and stomachs to rid the body of illness, and so much more. But about 10 years later these young women who painted watch faces started to die. It took years before they discovered the lethal effects of too much radiation and linked it to illnesses.
We are ignorant but think ourselves wise
But until they discovered the link between radium and a myriad of illnesses, those illnesses were a mystery. Some blamed God, some blamed the devil, some thought someone had put a curse on them. Some asked why God allowed such a mystery illness to come upon their loved one. Some just didn't know and had to trust God.
I wonder today what chemicals and chemical combinations we ingest that cause illnesses and conditions we are ignorant about? We are the same way: Some blame the devil, some blame God, some ask how a good God could allow their loved one to die. Some don't know and have to trust God. That will never change. We are puny humans who know little.
For all our technology, only 5% of the ocean has been discovered. For all we know and have explored of the universe, we only know 4% of the universe. The other 96% is stuff scientists can't even see, know, or detect. And that 4% is a guess, for an infinite universe means we know so very little.
So is it any surprise we don't yet know the effects of our synthetically made chemical world? The hot topic in the US now is the practice of 'vaping', and I've heard doctors say people who vape are laboratory guinea pigs because it is so new there are no studies of the effects of vaping. It will take decades to discover the effects of the practice.
"...what is revealed is to us and our children that we may do all the words of this law."
We should come a point that we end up simply trusting the Lord because He isn't sharing His secrets with us. That leaves us in the position as Paul noted: "We walk by faith, not by sight." (II Corinthians 5:7)
So why do we fight so hard against that which we cannot know? At what point do we accept that rebuking the devil didn't affect things. At what point do we stop investigating everything from demons to 'anointed' ministers who have specialized in this or that particular spiritual thing and just trust God, focus on growing in Him and doing what we know to do in the natural, trusting one day all will be revealed?
At the end of his life Paul wrote Timothy in what was then a private letter between the two: "...I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed to Him until that day." II Timothy 1:12
There were mysteries even Paul did not know. But what he did do was commit things and people and events in his life to the Lord for safe keeping until he got to heaven. He was persuaded that the Lord would keep these things safe in Him until that day. That isn't just faith, it is trust in the character and nature of our Lord and our Father.
As Corrie ten Boom so famously said: "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." Amen sister!
New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
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