~ Don’t Blame the
Mailman ~
When a
person wrongs you can you honestly look beyond it and believe that Jesus Christ
is saying to you “This thing is from Me!” In other words, do you really believe that God
is sovereign in all things, that He is in control, and that everything which
happens to you works toward your ultimate good. “And we know that
all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the
called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
War Example
~ Consider the famous “Dear John”
letter. John has gone off to serve his
country and Mary vows to remain for him. But before long John receives a letter in
which Mary tells him he has found another beau. John is so infuriated that he goes after the
company mailman and starts to pulverize him. But, does it make sense to blame the mailman? He only delivers the mail from another—in this
case Mary. So too, if you are a
believer, you should accept everything that happens as being allowed by your Savior
for your ultimate good. Putting it
another way, “Refuse to look at second causes.” Consider the root cause of everything that happens to you to be
Jesus Christ molding you into conformity to His image.
Joseph’s Example
~ Another familiar Bible
biography. Joseph despised by his
brothers—but God had a plan for his life—and it included saving those who had
treated him so badly. This is a
beautiful type, or foreshadowing, of Jesus Christ. “Then he said: ‘I
am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry
with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to
preserve life. For these two years the
famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will
be neither plowing nor harvesting. And
God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to
save your lives by a great deliverance. So
now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to
Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of
Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father, and
say to him, “Thus says your son Joseph: ‘God has made me lord of all Egypt;
come down to me, do not tarry’”’” (Genesis 45:4b-9)
Moses’ Example
~ Probably one of the first Bible
biographies many of us learned in Sunday School. Put adrift in a basket in the Nile . But God
had a plan (See Exodus 2 and following).
Job’s Example
~ “There
was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job;
and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned
evil. And seven sons and three daughters
were born to him. Also, his possessions
were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen,
five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was
the greatest of all the people of the East” (Job 1:1-3). Then from the Biblical
account we find that Job loses his property, family, and health! But God is sovereign.
In
the end we read, “Now the Lord
blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen
thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one
thousand female donkeys. He also had
seven sons and three daughters. And he
called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the
name of the third Keren-Happuch. In all
the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their
father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty
years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days” (Job 42:12-17).
There are many key lessons from the book of Job but three
stand out to me. (1) God in His
sovereignty may allow an individual to go through great difficulties not only
for their benefit but also for the benefit of others—your trials may the source
of the spiritual growth of others. (2)
Satan did not presume to ask God that he be allowed to afflict Job (see Job
1:11, 2:5). Satan knew that God was in
control and God would have to allow the trials to come to Job. Satan was allowed to attack Job but only under
God’s watchful eye. (3) Satan is not in
control, therefore no matter what comes out way we should always understand
that God has allowed it. Refuse to blame
the postman or to blame second causes!
Paul’s Example ~ “For
I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased,
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and
in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11b-13).
Jesus’ Example
~ “Therefore
we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay
aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run
with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand
of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Your Example ~ How
about you? What is your story? Can you say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet
will I trust Him” (Job 13:15a) and “When He hath tried me, I shall come
forth as gold” (Job 23:10b)?
Summary ~ “When
through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie; My grace all-sufficient shall by
thy supply; The flames shall not hurt thee, I only design, Thy dross to consume
and thy gold to refine” (the fourth stanza of the hymn “How Firm a Foundation”).
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
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