What He Wants

Matthew 3:9 NIV

And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

In the Old Testament the Jews were God’s chosen people. That hasn’t changed. The family line of Jacob was chosen to bring about the lineage of the King of Kings who would give complete access to God and restore men to a right relationship.

But clearly in the writings of the Old Testament each son and daughter of Abraham had to believe and trust in God just like we do today.

If they didn’t trust God and trusted in themselves, their army, their king, or in idols, God would give them trouble to see the error of their ways and draw them back to trusting in Him.

The entire Old Testament is a constant struggle with God and man to get them to trust Him. The New Testament is pretty much the same.

Look, faith has always been the road to salvation. In the New Testament we see an object of that faith in Jesus Christ. Those who understood, before Jesus came, hoped in His coming. Those of us after Jesus came, hope in Him and His final coming. It is still faith in God that saves us, as it did Abraham.

Genesis 15:6 NIV

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

God still uses troubles and difficult circumstances to draw us into a place of deeper and deeper trust. The only way we can fail is to give up and stop trusting in God and begin to trust in something else.

Do you trust God in the circumstances, or do you blame the devil, who is not a god. Do you divorce your wife because she did not turn out like you hoped she would be? Do you steal because you believe you deserve something God did not give you? Do you hate others because they seem to have prevented you from success, when in reality God is in control? Do you rant and rave about how the world is going, blaming “stupid” people and reject the idea that God could fix it all if He wanted to?

Faith in Jesus Christ is not a power you possess to change the circumstances. In reality, from a biblical perspective (both Old and New), faith, is what God is after within us all. It is our trust in Him. Your problematic circumstances are there to make that faith (which God gave you to begin with) grow. Do you accept them or fight them by trusting in something else?

Yes, life is hard. Harder for some than others too, it just doesn’t seem fair. It isn’t. But God is fair. His plan is more complicated than you can know. He only asks that you trust Him and do your best to live according to His way. Jesus Himself said it would be hard. It is supposed to be hard. There is a reason for it all.

Me, my hope has been shot for a while. Not my hope in God, that has not wavered. My shattered hope was based on my deisre to be useful to Him in a big way. That has not happened. No, I didn’t fail Him. No, I didn’t sin. No, I did absolutely nothing wrong. So, why then? Because this is the way HE wanted my life to go. I either made Him Lord or I did not.

I am not thrilled with the way He has directed my life. I could blame others who hated me for no reason and caused me many troubles. I could blame those in the church who ignored our struggles or accused me of sin. I could be angry at presidents and leaders who created a terrible economy. I could do any of those things and sometimes I do. But when it comes down to it, GOD is the only one responsible.

He could have stopped anyone from harming me and my family. He could have reached my children so they would know Him. He could have made ALL of my life easier and better, which was my hope. He didn’t. He did it ALL exactly the way He wanted to. HE is Lord.

It is not wrong to hope for better. It is not wrong to want to have less or no struggles, but it is wrong to reject, ignore or not acknowledge God in the struggles. It is wrong to trust in something else. It is wrong even to blame all of the things that God uses to get us where we are.

I hate where I am. But my failed hope in where I ended up is not all of who I am. My real hope is in Jesus Christ as my king and friend. When this is done, God will be pleased, not in all of the good things I could have done, which HE prevented me from doing. No, God will be pleased because I did not turn away and trusted Him even when I became disappointed and discouraged.

No, I am not happy with where I am. But as Jesus said: “The first will be last and the last will be first”. He was not kidding.

My future is assured and will be awesome, even if it never happens here.

This is all God wants of us.