TRUSTING IN HIS WAYS - audio link
The word says that the nations are as dust in a bucket to the Lord and yet we say that we know Him.
And who can
say we do not? The real question is
whether we know Him as we ought to? This
made me think of Moses that trembled and feared just with the thought of going
up the mountain. So terrible was the Lord that the Israelites told Moses to
talk to Him and relay the message to them, rather than them going up the
mountain themselves. They could not
fathom the idea of talking to God. And
when we look at the differences in the Old and New Testament, you may see both
the fear and love of God, but more so the fear of God in the Old Testament and
more so the love of God in the New, depending on your own personal
journey. In fact, Yeshua caught the
disciples quite off guard when He told them to call Him, “Father”. Then Paul says, you have received the Spirit
of Adoption, crying “Abba Father!” For
us this is quite normal and easy to accept to a degree, but to them, knowing
their history, the testimonies and the scriptures, they could not fathom the idea of calling Him Father. Fear Him, “Yes!”
Call Him Father, “No!” The whole idea was preposterous, even though He told
them over and over in the Old Testament that He is their Father and their God. And so what we find here is that we have men
of great stature both in man and in God’s sight in the Old Testament, like Moses,
Joshua, David, Samuel, Elijah and the list goes on. These men knew Him as their God and make no
mistake, they feared Him. Why? Because they knew Him as God. Not as Father, Friend, Brother or
Bridegroom. All they knew is that there
are laws to abide to, and when you do, you will prosper. Covenant.
I am saying it in a very simplistic way, but in essence they experienced
His wrath of not upholding the law, the law being a schoolmaster, showing them
that there is just no way to uphold it by their own means. We have only read of this wrath, but have not
experienced it as they did. When they
disobeyed 3000 men would be killed by snakes in the camp. Or people would be swallowed by the earth
opening up. Or there would be leprosy in
the camp. Even the early Christians
feared greatly, especially when Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead
immediately when they lied against the Holy Spirit. Great fear were upon all the people and the nations who revered this God who could separate the sea. And so,
today still we find those that know Him only in the context of a God that is to
be revered, worshipped and obeyed.
On the other
hand, Generation X who grew up in church and who have heard of how loving He
is, His amazing grace and mercy, how He wants to heal us; how He is our Father
and brother, friend and bridegroom, together with the now Generation Z who has
no idea of either realities, have little to none concept of fearing God in reverence and to
truly tremble at His word. Not in the
same way as the saints of the Old Testament and the first century after Yeshua’s
ascension. All these wonderful
truths. And yet, the moment the words
“We must fear God” come into play, we are like, ”Whoa, whoa…whoa! God did not
meant for us to fear Him. This fear
means respect.” Is that not exactly what
the enemy wants? You cannot understand fully
unless you enter into or apprehend the thing for what it is. And to the degree that you enter into it,
will be the degree of how you see Him.
No less and no more.
Our God is
reality and we have to know Him in reality.
The only way for us to have that is to enter into it. And it will always leave us with mouth agape,
seeing ourselves as we truly are in the light of who He is. The same is true for understanding the Word
of God as a whole. We have to know the
God of the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament. Similarly we have to know the God of the New
Testament in the light of the Old Testament.
For they are one. When we see His
severe judgment in the Old Testament, then we see the greatness of His mercy in
the New Testament. Being REALITY, He desires to bring us into the reality of
who He is. We must want this. Just like the Israelites, there are some of
us who frankly do not want to know the God of the Old Testament. They do not want to go up the mountain. Others, do want to go up the mountain. We
cannot see ourselves as we truly are without Him revealing to us who He
is. When He reveals Himself to us, it
will always be in degrees. We can only
handle that much. But this is also true
about ourselves. Because in revealing
Himself to us, we come face to face with our frailty, weaknesses and
pride. This is a very personal journey
and it comes with a willing heart to know the God of the Old and New Testament,
because these two are one.
We have read
about Him and we know they are the same, but somehow I cannot for the life of
me think that we will come out the same when we do know Him as we ought. Just like Isaiah when He saw the Lord, held
his hand to his mouth and said, “Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips for I
have seen the Lord!”
A.W. Tozer
in his book, The knowledge of the Holy, states the following…
“Low views of God
destroy the gospel for all who hold them.
‘Thou thoughtest,’ said the Lord to the wicked man in the psalm, ‘that I
was altogether such as one as thyself.’ Surely this must be a serious affront
to the Most High God before whom cherubim and seraphim continually do cry,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.”
“When
they knew God,” wrote Paul, “they glorified him not as God, neither were
thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts was
darkened.”
Tozer
further states that the history of mankind will probably show that no people
has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively
demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper
entertains high or low thoughts of God."
And so He
tells us in Matthew 5 that blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
God. The question is, with what
seeing? New Testament glasses or Old
Testament glasses? Should we not have
both on? We do not fear Him because that
fear comes with an acute knowing of the speck of dust that you are. With a holy
fear, trembling at the idea that before Him you shall one day stand giving
account of the circuit of your life. “What
did you do with the Life I gave you and what did you do with the fact that I
slaughtered My Son on the altar of the cross to make covenant with you? What did you do with that? What did you do with the fact that the same
God of the Old Testament, made covenant with you in the New Testament?”
When you
meet with Him, you truly see no man and that would explain the type of men of
the Old Testament, the patriarchs and prophets, who they were. They were men who walked alone with God. Men who stood before God and took it very
seriously. Men who truly trembled at His
Word and His presence. Men who knew that
when they spoke, they spoke with the authority of the one and only God, whom
they truly feared. They knew that when
He said it will be done, it will be done.
Hence why they could tell a whole army of bones to rise up and speak
life into it. They could tell the sun to
stand still or the rain to stop for 3 years.
They could part the sea on His word.
Men who could kill lions and bears with their bare hands. Men who knew God and truly feared Him. Their faith was not build on the soft
foundation of love, grace and mercy, but on judgment, obedience, and holy
reverence of God. It is not that they
did not know about mercy, grace and love, but this was not their disposition
towards Him, but rather a God of covenant.
It is not
that the one is more right than the other, but rather that we have to know Him
in His fullness and desire this. It is not
that He wants us to fall into pieces and be weak and useless. No, rather a balanced view. The God who
devastates, but also the God who loves.
We have to truly know Him and He desires this. Continually He says, “Seek My face and when
you seek Me, you shall find Me.”
By no means
am I saying that they were perfect. In
fact, we cannot help but be astonished by the fact that Moses, the great
Apostle and Prophet of God, he who was called to have a meeting on Mount Sinai
with the great and terrible God, fearing and trembling at the thought of it and
having spent 80 days up there in total, could with one misstep, one occasion of
a lapse in self-control through the agitation of moaning people, strike a rock
twice in disobedience. Just like that,
he threw away his chances of entering Canaan.
Imagine that! 40 years in a
wilderness of dealing with a rebellious stiff-necked people and just before you
receive your reward, you lose it.
What about
David. A mere shepherd boy who spent
years in the field growing in the Lord whilst tending the flock. There he slew a lion and a bear. There he was taught to shepherd the Lord God’s
flock. David who defied the Philistine
armies in the Name of the Most High and beheaded Goliath with one stone. He gets his promotion as King of Israel, and
when nobody was looking he was snuggling up with his neighbor’s wife. And what did he get out of that? A son who died at childbirth and a son who
wanted to dethrone him.
What about
Samson who fell for temptation and lost more than what he bargained for. His eyes, his freedom and his strength.
These were
all men who knew God, the great and terrible God, and yet still they
sinned. The Word has a plethora of
examples of these great men who fell.
All for our benefit, our understanding and for our hope.
Here is the
question we need to ask…why? Why in
spite of what they knew about Him, what they have experienced and gone through,
did they still rebel? What will it take? If they were not forever changed, what chance
do we have?
And herein
lies another question I have often asked myself. How was it even
possible for Lucifer in all His glory to have spent a time in eternity before
the throne room of the Most High, an archangel, head of the worship in all of
heaven, to have worshipped in His glory, power and majesty, to have even had the thought, never mind the plan, to want to exalt himself to be as God?
Unlike Moses on Mount Sinai, Lucifer spent time in the glory of God without
end. And of course we know the answer. Pride.
And the only antidote to pride is humility, and so down he went. Point is, in spite of all that, he still
chose against the Lord God.
Who are we to think that we can stand and why above all things are we
surprised when we do not?
He was stripped of everything and humbled by a great fall taking so many
angels with him. Some bound for the day
of destruction, others working hard to do what they do best. Only his demise was not for the purpose of
humbling him only, but for his ultimate destruction.
So it is inevitable that the question upon meeting our holy and awesome
God that we are to ask this question of how it was even possible to fall from
that height. The same can be asked of
Moses and all the other examples. And
this in turn will cause us to understand that if they could not do it, neither
can we. Nobody can. And so we find Jacob wrestling with the Angel
of the Lord, being Yeshua, and at one point after a whole night, the Angel of
the Lord touches him on his hip socket. And
before a blessing is given to him, Jacob has to answer this very important
question.
“WHAT IS YOUR NAME?”
It is not that Lord God had a memory lapse and was not quite sure who was
wrestling with him. This was for Jacob’s
benefit. And Jacob answered Him, "Jacob" . What does Jacob mean? Jacob means deceiver.
Jacob needed to hear this. You and I need to hear this. He had
to come to the point where he realized that he himself is a deceiver. Not that he occasionally deceives, but that this is who he is. And truly this is who you and I are. Imagine going through life, and each time someone mensions your name, you are reminded that you are a deceiver. It is probable that after a while the humility is worn down and that you can later say your name, without wincing. "Yes, my name is deceiver." But this wrestling, as is ours with the Angel of the Lord, is not so that we can say, "My name is deceiver", but that "I AM A DECEIVER". Big difference. And so in our Christian walk, we like Jacob will say that our name is deceiver, but never come to the true end of ourselves to be able to authentically say, "I AM A DECEIVER". Ecclesiastes 3 says the following…
ECCLESIASTES 3: 18 - 20
18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons
of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they
themselves are beasts.
19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth
beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other;
yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast:
for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all
turn to dust again.
The same pride that caused Lucifer to fall from such a height, and all
those that have gone before us, is the exact same pride in us. There is no height from which we cannot
fall. We are all beasts. Truly wretched, deceived and deceiving. David said in Psalm 51, Behold I was shapen
in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me.
Jacob had to know this. And it
took a serious wrestling that left him with a limp. This limp was not taken away. It was not healed because he came to this
great discovery, but rather it was his for the rest of his life. Whenever Jacob came around the corner, they
recognized him from afar by his limp.
Always the limp.
And Jeremiah echoes this important understanding for our benefit, being
the very reason we should not trust in man, which first and foremost includes
ourselves, but any man for that matter.
JEREMIAH 17: 9 – 10
9 The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10 I the Lord search the
heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and
according to the fruit of his doings.
And so when Jacob understands that what lies in his heart is the same
that lies in the Deceiver who fell from heaven, and he truly saw, it was then
that he knew and the eyes of his understanding opened. He was not giving lip service to the reality,
but has actually entered into the reality and his eyes were opened. He was weak, tired and had a limp and knew
there was no good in him. But it was
then that he heard the following…
GENESIS 32: 28
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more
Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and
hast prevailed.
This word prevail means that he endured.
He did not overcome the Lord Yeshua, but he kept on wrestling, not
giving up. And right to the point when
Yeshua saw that this man was never going to give up, He touched him on the hip socket in order to lame him. In order to
bring Jacob to hear what He has to say.
And so Jacob left there with a limp and a new name. The limp was for him to know that within
himself he is always weak, but with God he will prevail. In His great mercy and wisdom, He
has given us a limp. This limp is the depravity of our hearts. However, before we can get a new name, we have to come to the full revelation of this truth and not just give lip service to it. This will radically change us. In fact, it will be plain for others to see as we too will walk with a limp. It will cause us to look weak in the eyes of man, but a Prince in the eyes of God. This limp is never to part, but to be our
constant companion. The limp of knowing
that there is no good in us. And the
reason why it never parts, is because we forget. Just like the Israelites and those who went before us forgot. In our moments of desperation we cry out to
Him in the valley. In mountain experiences,
we lose sight of our valley and depravity, just like Moses. The limp is not sin itself, but who we are. The fact that we are dust before a great and mighty God, loved and cherished by a Father who has pity on us, but not ignorant of our true state. However, we lose sight of it, and therefore, this limp is so that we will never forget who we are in ourselves, a Deceiver, and who we are in Him, a Prince. Inevitably, our limp will require us to lean with our whole weight, that is to say with all our might, on Him, who is our staff, the strength of our lives.
Word from the Lord received 28th December 2020
A LIMP AND A NEW NAME
You will never have to do anything alone. I AM a very present help in a time of
trouble. Always present. Always with you. To help you, to give you wisdom and to show
you the way.
Yes, My eye is upon you, but I know your frame My child. I know your weaknesses. Is this not what I required of Jacob in the
wrestling? That he would come to terms
with who he is? Unless he wholeheartedly
came to understand his nature, I could not call him a prince. For he would have always leaned on his own
understanding and wisdom.
Unless I strike you on your hip and you learn to love your
limp, for it is my provision, you will seek to climb up to where I am by your
own means. And yet, it is I that came
down to you. To meet with you. For I am the ladder. I am the way and you can only come up to Me
by leaning on Me.
Do not despise your limp, else you would have reason to
boast. But now all your boasting can be
only in Me. For you know what you are…a
worm. But in Me, a prince who have power
with God and man.
Therefore, daily
acknowledge your limp. Acknowledge who you
are in yourself and I will lift you up and call those things that be not as
though they were…
Humble servants with crowns.
I came to you as one serving.
I clothed myself in humility, that is to say I clothed myself in the
weakness of flesh. I had to be willing
to enter into your weakness and identify with your suffering. So you too have to be willing to identify
with your own weakness. Not the weakness of
sin, but human depravity. You can do
nothing. Neither could I. But with God all things are possible. Be willing to be nothing so that I may be
your everything.
A limp and a new name is yours, but never the one without the
other.
Paul says in 1 Thess. 5: 23, May your
whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless….
This blameless is to be without guile.
A pure heart shall see God, but not only see God, but the things of
God. Visions, dreams and
revelations. This reminded me of Paul’s
thorn in the flesh, which was causing him to be so weak and therefore living in absolute
dependence on the Father. Why? Why was Paul to suffer so much? When Paul met with Yeshua on the road of
Damascus, he was struck with blindness.
And yet this is a man that saw great things. Cornelius was told to pray for his sight, but
also to tell him that he will suffer many things for the Gospel’s sake. And then we read in 2 Corinthians 12 Paul
saying the following in verse 1…
It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory, I will come
to visions and revelations of the Lord. And then in verse 7 he says…
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the
ABUNDANCE OF REVELATIONS, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
So Paul says, “In this weakness that is produced by the messenger of
Satan, the thorn in my flesh, in this will I boast.”
I do not know about you, but when I have a thorn in my flesh, I walk with
a limp. I struggle to put my full weight
on it, and consequently one has to lean on something or hop to wherever you want
to go. This thorn in the flesh is said
to have possibly been his natural eye sight.
In Galatians he says that he saw the compassion the people had on him.
GALATIANS 5: 14 - 15
14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised
not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
15 Where is then the blessedness ye spoke of? For I
bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your
own eyes, and have given them to me.
GALATIANS 6:11
Paul
says, “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.”
Normally scribes would write the letters, but here Paul himself was writing.
There are a few other scriptures that points to this as well.
This makes complete sense to me.
We are to be weak in the flesh, so that our only boast can be in that
which is of the spirit. The visions and
revelations are not what Paul is boasting about. These are just signs that he says are to his
credit when they doubted him and looked upon him as a weakling, saying that he
comes with great words and authority, whilst all the while being such a weak
person to look upon. I suspect that Paul
could have been short in stature as well.
Oh the wisdom of God! He knows
exactly how to humble us. And so Paul
says in verse 5
Of such an one will I glory: yet myself I will not glory, but
in mine infirmities.
He is saying that he will boast only of that which is accomplished by the
spirit, in spite of the weakness of man.
What we see here is not a limp given, but a thorn. This thorn, like the limp, also a provision. In our lives Father may allow certain thorns
as a means to humble us. It may be
through a husband or wife, an unruly teenager, finances, even sickness. He allows these things for His purposes. Purposely working to have us blameless
in body, soul and spirit for whatever way He will use us. This is to protect us and to keep us in
weakness, utterly dependent on Him in EVERYTHING. He gives us gifts that in all likelihood not
seen with understanding of His ways, may appear very offensive. These are the thorns of which the prayers to take it away, like Paul's prayers, are never answered. It seems harsh, cruel and unrelenting. We do not value them as we ought to, because
we do not want to, or we just simply do not understand why He cannot just take
it away when He has the power to do so.
And so we do not glory in them as Paul do.
The depravity of man, our limp, which will always be there, until we arrive Home,
is for the purpose that we may be wholly depended on him. The thorn, in whatever form He so chooses, is
there so that we do not boast. Going
through such lengths just to keep us humble should make us realize how deeply
rooted it is in us to depend on ourselves and man and our propensity to boast,
especially to boast about our spirituality. Even
of how humble we are. He knows the plans He has for me and for you, your
children and your family. These are plans to prosper us and give us an
expectant end. It is important for you
to know that if you have a specific call upon your life, that He will for your
protection provide your thorn, so that you may walk humbly before Him.
Paul gives us a list of what he boasts in:
Infirmities
Reproaches
In necessities
In persecutions
In distresses for Christ’s sake
Quite a list. And Paul was very
familiar with each of these. He said
that he rather glory in these. I can
only think that each time he had a choice to make. A choice to work with God or against Him. He was not saying that he felt like giving
everybody a “high five” because of his sufferings. He was trying to relay the immense value of
these in order to keep him humble. Could
the Lord God not have spared him this?
Could Paul not have just simply chosen to be humble?
Paul clearly states that he is nothing in this same chapter. Nothing.
And nothing can do nothing. We
cannot even humble ourselves without depending on Him. And most of the time He has to provide the
means.
Jacob's limp was for the means of weakness, therefore creating a great
need of dependence on the Lord God to live up to the name of Prince. Paul was given a thorn with his limp, for the
purpose of humility, because of the abundance of revelations he would
receive.
How we hate our limp and our thorn.
And yet in exchange for it we get a new Name that is that of honor and
dignity. A prince, who has strength with
God and man; and abundance of revelation, visions and dreams. The cost is so
great when we despise our limp, our weakness in the flesh, or the thorn He has
given in our lives. We are surprised often
by our ability to express our devotion to Him with such ardor, and the next
moment, we fall flat on our faces in sinning against Him as if we never had the
conversation with Him in the first place. This is
like being surprised that the sun shines or that the wind blows. He knows that we will do all these
things. This is why He says,
PROVERBS 3: 5 - 7
Trust in the Lord
with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
In all your ways
acknowledge him and he will direct your path.
Be not wise in thine
own eyes: fear the Lord and depart from evil.
What a different way to look upon our life’s struggles. The world sees us as they saw Paul. Weak, sickly, filled with distresses, prone to see us as pathetic. But
Father is requiring of us to know that these are His provisions for us to be
wholly dependent on Him, not only to prepare us for the time to come, but even
now in our daily walk with our limp, and our thorn to humble us. This does not mean He does not want to
heal. That He is cruel and likes to see
us suffer just so that His purposes can be fulfilled. But rather, He has given each of us a will to
choose. Every single day, just like
Paul, we have to choose whether we will depend on Him or not.
Word received 10th June 2021.
YOUR THORN
All who desires wisdom, come to Me and I will give to
you. Yes, come in faith for that which
only I can give.
You have been heavy laden under the cross you have born for
Me. And when you take your eyes off Me
in the carrying of your cross, all you see is suffering and pain.
But as much as My cross is suffering, it is also for My
glory.
Have I not said that I know the plans that I have for
you? You think it is to suffer, to bear
a cross, but the cross is My means to glory.
There is no other way but through My cross.
You are weak, tired and you can sometimes barely place one
foot in front of another. But it is My
cross, My choice of thorn in your flesh that I have purposed for you. Just like My Father divinely chose the thorn
of the cross on My back, My legs, My head and hands.
I bore your thorn
for you.
That thorn that is bound to My cross. Do not resent the thorn, do not resent My
cross. Pick it up, ask of Me wisdom and
I will give you liberally. I will send
the Simons to help you carry on your way.
I will be all you need on your way.
In your weakness, I am strong. Let My cross born on your back lay the weight
of weakness on you, so that you can bear it with My strength. For My grace is sufficient for you My
child…even in this.
Some have laid their cross down, but I have called you to
die daily. Are you a son or daughter
without a cross? Have you no scar to
identify with My suffering?
Therefore examine your heart whether you resent that thorn
I have chosen. Whether the hand that is
molding you has become an offense and humble yourself under My mighty
hand.
I know the plans I have for you, even in this. Never lose sight of the cross you are called
to bear. My yoke is easy and My burden
light, only by the grace I alone supply.
You have much still to learn. Therefore, do not despise the means. Humble yourself under the weight of the cross
and I will raise you up.
When the fight becomes greater, your level of humility
too. That which you see as an obstacle,
a detriment and suffering is My provision to humble you for what is to
come.
The greater the authority, the greater the humility.
Quoting Art Katz in his book called, The Anatomy of Deception”…
“The apprehension of God is very much
affected by how we perceive Him, and therein lies the problem. We bring a
distortion out of our own subjectivity and out of our own twist. We see God
through a prism of our own being. There are some people who see God as some
kind of a lackey or errand boy, who provides the convenience of meetings for entertainment
and so-called 'blessing.'
PSALM
18:26
With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure.
To perceive God rightly requires something
from us. If we have any kind of controversy with God, the problem is not God,
but ourselves; we are projecting something onto Him and becoming guilty of
Israel's sin. The thing that we need is to be transformed into His image, not
to project our image onto Him. He is not a convenience for us. He is God. He is
the Creator. He is the Almighty. I think those words have lost their cogency.
Maybe we have said them too often. They have become a catechism or an
invocation of a mechanical kind. Unless we know Him in the place that is too
deep for words, then we do not really know Him. Until there is a gasp and a
splutter, until we find ourselves prostrate and stretched out as dead, do we really
know Him? How many of us will go through an entire Christian lifetime without
that knowledge and still be perfectly content, and think that we know Him, and
that we can communicate Him? The Church needs to come into a place that is
holy, holy, holy, where they know God as He is, and not just as they think Him
to be. Only out of that place are we then able to make Him known.”
The reality is that He does not want
us to find Him or know Him by what He does, but who He is. This requires a demonstration of His ways
that are often obscure and we do not understand why He does not do for us, what
He does for others. The way is still a
way of holiness and not a demonstration of power or manifestations as our flesh
craves. But it is a way where all our
categories of how we purport Him to be has to be brought to naught, so that we
may know Him as He in fact is…reality.
In all His dealings with us, He is in fact making us to be like Him…holy. So that we may know Him. Therefore, trust Him in His dealings with you
to bring you to that place where He may reveal Himself to you. For this is His earnest desire, that you may
seek Him and find Him, but you will have to do this with ALL your heart. It is the only way to find Him and know Him
as He truly is, no matter what the cost.
This is an intensely personal journey upon which He takes you, but you
must understand that He requires all of you to know Him as He truly is.
PSALM 77: 19
Thy way is in the sea,
and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.
His promise to us is that even though some things are in fact allowed by Him, it is done with such love and care towards us, whom He knows so intimately. We will fall unless we depend on Him, but when we do, when we acknowledge our limp, not just verbalize it, but have allowed Him to break us down and cause us to come as dust before Him, and cry out in absolute humility, He will make a way of escape. He will give wisdom and understanding. He will be a very present help in a time of need. He will be all we need, because He is all we need. He takes everything into consideration. Those He uses to be that thorn, or that very infirmity, is not something that has caught Him off guard, but is serving His purposes, both for you and that person. He is working in them at the same time He is working in you. You may not always see it. He holds everything perfectly in His hands and sees everything. He loves us so much and we are His children and He will never fail us. Whether in sickness or persecution, we can always have peace, because He never drops the ball. When we have sinned and caused a breach in the wall for the enemy to come and kill, destroy and steal, we can know that when we humble ourselves, He will show us where we went wrong, and heal us, restore that which was stolen and cause us to grow even in more wisdom because of it. For God makes all things work together for good for those who are called by His Name. Can you believe that even in this present time with all the chaos in this world, that even in all of this, He is working it together for good for us? He is always in control. We can rest in Him. The very thing that we thought would be the undoing of us, that husband or wife, that disorder, cancer or any other sickness, that stillborn, that loved one that have died, that disability or that thing that leaves you countless times in a place of being utterly out of control…that very thing, when we lean on Him, becomes the ladder to Him. It never gets easy, but it does form in you such a dependency on Him nothing else would have, and that you glory in.
It is then when we give Him thanks
in all things.
