It’s been said there are two things you can count on--death and taxes. However, there is actually a third thing you can count on—someday everyone and everything will somehow disappoint you or someday not be there. I mean to sound pessimistic, but nothing last forever. No one will live forever in this world. If you put your hope or trust in someone or something in this world or derive all your joy and happiness from the things of this world or from someone in this world, someday you will be let down. But not so with Christ. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:11-15). If you have placed faith in Christ as your Lord and Savior, not only will Jesus never leave you or forsake you, but he will always do what is best for you. In Romans 8:31-32 scripture says, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” In other words, if God the Father was willing to give his own son to die on the cross for our sins, and if Christ was willing to die on the cross for our sins, how could he possibly abandon us and how could he not be willing to always do what is best for us? Christ did not die in vain. Thus, as children of God, regardless of what we go through, regardless of the trials and tribulations of this world, know that the Good Shepherd is always with you. He is always leading you. He is always caring for you.
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So often when we go through difficult times in life, we can begin to question the wisdom and the goodness of God. We can begin to wonder what we’ve done wrong. Why is God punishing me? We can begin to think God has abandoned us. It can be so difficult to find rest and peace in his divine wisdom and sovereignty. Oh, if we could only learn to pray as Mary prayed and have the faith and trust in God which she possessed. In Luke chapter 1 we read that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would conceive and give birth to a child. Of course, she is a little puzzled by this since she is a virgin and not married. The angel explains to her that she will be miraculously impregnated by the power of the Holy Spirit (v.35). What we have to understand is that in the time and culture Mary was living in, for an unmarried woman to become pregnant meant—at best—she would be ostracized from her community, disowned by her family, and could likely look forward to being forced into a life of prostitution to provide for herself and her bastard child—at worse—she would be stoned to death. The situation that Mary finds herself in is grim and precarious. Her future does not look good. Yet how does she respond? “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Let it be to me according to your word. Mary’s faith in God and her trust in his wisdom was such that she believed that regardless of what the future held, regardless of where this might lead, regardless of what may become of her, she understood that she belonged to the Lord. Her life was not her own but was for God to do with whatever he wills. Thus, in the face of certain adversity, with the prospect of a grim future, she does not flinch. She does not bock. She does not murmur, but simply prays, “Let it be to me according to your word.” We should all pray that prayer more often and strive to have the faith of Mary.
In John 9 we read that Jesus “saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” (vv.1-3) This is an important point to remember because when things go wrong in life, it can be easy and tempting to think that God is punishing us or that he is angry with us for some reason. We can begin to wonder what we’ve done wrong. But the reality is that most of the time we’ve done nothing wrong. This is because throughout scripture when God punishes people for their sin or disobedience, he makes it clear to them that this is the case (see Num. 20:8-12; 2 Sam. 12:1-23; Acts 5:1-11). Those God punishes for sin are never left wondering ‘why is this happening to me?’ Thus, as Jesus says regarding the blind man, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” More often than not what God does in our lives—whether good or bad—is for our good and for his glory--that the works of God might be displayed. This is especially true for believers. We may not always know how the works of God are being displayed through what God is bringing us through or causing us to experience but be assured, if you are a believer, God is working everything in your life for your good and for his glory. Trust that. Rest in that. Find peace and comfort in that.
In Deuteronomy 13:6-9 God tells the Israelites that if one of their neighbors tempts you to go and worship other gods “you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. But you shall kill him.” We can sometimes be shocked by this kind of language God uses in the Old Testament because we don’t see this kind of strong language in the New Testament, and it seems inconsistent with the kind of person we see in Jesus Christ. Today Christians would never think of killing someone for worshipping a false god, and we would be correct to not think that. Nevertheless, the language of Deuteronomy 13 serves as a potent reminder of how much God detests our giving honor or glory to someone or something else, how much God despises idolatry. After all, what is idolatry? Idolatry is any time we esteem honor or praise or glory to someone or something else more than we do to God. And if we are honest with ourselves, we engage in idolatry more than we realize or more than we care to admit. How often would we rather watch TV than spend time in God’s word? How often would we rather sleep in rather than attend church? How often would we rather do anything else than spend serious time in prayer? Thankfully, God does not command that we be killed for this. But Deuteronomy 13 reminds us how much God hates our loving the things of this world more than we love him, how much it grieves him to see us give more time and honor and glory—and worship—to the things of this world more than we do to him. Today, I encourage you to spend some quiet time, some real worship time, with God.
One of the most amazing and powerful stories in scripture is the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:2-11). Here is a woman caught in the act of adultery, who was on the verge of facing the death penalty. Her peers surrounded her and were preparing to put her to death for her crime. It’s a powerful story because it’s one we can all relate to on some level. Who among us have never committed some sin for which we felt enormous guilt, for which we knew we ought rightly to be condemned by God? And if our friends knew of it, they would likely condemn us as well. Or, who among us have never stood condemning someone else for a sin which we ourselves have committed. Yet, in our self-righteousness and in our desire to conceal our own iniquity we participate in mob justice in an effort to boost our own self-esteem. What is so beautiful about this story is that the one person who has the right to condemn the woman is the one person who delivers her from the punishment she (and we) are so deserving of. At the end of the story, Jesus stood up and says to the woman, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more." Jesus was her advocate. Her criminal defense attorney. And he stands ready to be ours as well, if we would fall at his feet, take him as our Lord and Savior and plead for mercy.
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