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Grace takes you from where you are, to where God wants you to be. It is to a place of enduring wealth, and true riches. King David describes the nature of this journey, having experienced it in his life. ‘Both riches and honor come from you, and you reign over all. In your hand is power and might. In your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all’. [1 Chronicles 29:12] It serves to enlighten and illuminate the gracious workings of God, that it may be appropriated and applied by every child of God.
This is the promise of God :
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor that you through His poverty may become rich. [2 Corinthians 8:9] And this, the procedure : The one who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. [1 Peter 3:10,11] Through it all, He also promises never to leave you. He empowers you that you may be able to keep His commands, and see days that are good. The Lord has finished a good and complete work on the Cross of Calvary. It is why you can trust in God and do what is good.
In fact, you have no other option, but to do what is good. And also, you have a God who always finishes what He begins. So, the good work that He begins in you, He will most assuredly carry forward to completion. And when you put your trust in Him, you will most certainly do the same with what He has entrusted to you, His glorious purpose for you. God not only did it all, but did it all well. All that He has begun in you therefore, He will carry through to a flourishing finish. You can work therefore towards accomplishing it, with an absence of stress, and from a position of rest, as you trust in the One who does all things well.
Application in life :
‘I can of myself do nothing; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the One who sent me’. [John 5:30] They are the powerful words of Lord Jesus, who is able to say with confidence that His judgments are always right. In the course of life’s journey, there are so many decisions and judgments to make regarding which road to take, when you find yourself at a crossroad, figuratively speaking. And, it is in this context, that the Lord is able to say that His judgments are always right, regarding His future course of action.
It is indeed a wonderful challenge, for ever so often in life you end up regretting and ruing the choices you make, and the path that you end up taking. It is often not what you thought it would be; but then, you have already made the decision, taken the judgment call regarding it ! The Lord’s statement therefore, when applied in such a situation, resounds with great impact. But He is the omniscient God, and I am a mere mortal, with my human limitedness, may be the thought running in your mind, even now. On one level, it may be true; for, an ordinary human being is definitely not on the same platform as God, in any respect. But on the other hand, as a child of God, you are a new creation. The Son of God became the Son of Man, to make the sons of men the sons of God.
‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’ [Galatians 2:22] can be your words too. Now, He lives in you saying, ‘Come to Me and learn from Me’. Therefore, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’, is a declaration of grace and faith that you can make. And building upon it, you too can say, ‘My judgments are always right’, for it is Christ who now lives in you. You may feel hesitant right now, to make so powerful a statement. It may seem much beyond your capacity, humanly speaking, but you can make a new beginning. For, you can learn from Him, to appropriate and apply it in your life, in situations that call for a right judgment and decision from you. And, the Lord Himself explains the procedure, how it all comes about.
‘As I hear I judge’, says the Lord, [John 5:30] making it very clear that He does nothing on His own. And what it amounts to, in your life and mine is that, it is God who makes the first move. He was there in the beginning, before you were ever there. In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [John 1:1] The whole package of salvation is from God. It was He who chose you, even before you were created. The Lord says, ‘You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit’. [John 15:16] And He has a specific plan and purpose for you, for each new day in your life. He is mindful of you, and His plans and thoughts towards you, are great and unfathomable.
But, He is the initiator. For, the Lord declares, ‘No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day’. [John 6:44] The entrance of sin has made man a partaker of Adam’s sinful nature, to inherit a heart that is twisted and obstinate, and in rebellion towards God. Left to himself therefore, man can never draw close to God. In your early years, school was not what you went to by choice. It was your parents who took you there knowing that it was needed in your life. On an incomparably bigger scale, it is God who draws you to Him with cords of love, in an act of pure grace, to take you from destruction to your godly destiny.
The God who is love :
He cannot but love you, for He is a God who is love. You love Him, because He loved you first. God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son. [John 3:16] And by this we know love, that He laid down His life for us… [1 John 3:16] You will know what real love is only when you experience the love of God. The media and the world’s perception of what love is, is not the true picture of it at all. ‘What I received from the Lord, is what I pass on to you’, Paul states in a different context. Accepting what God is giving to you, is what completes the transaction though, in any aspect. God is the initiator. He is also the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. He who began the good work in you, will carry it through to a flourishing finish. Do not despise therefore, the day of small beginnings, is what the prophet Zechariah declares. For you have a God who will carry it through to a glorious and flourishing finish.
Salvation belongs to the Lord, and He has accomplished it all on the Cross of Calvary. It remains the greatest assurance that you ever need in life. It is the truth that has been made available to you by grace and through faith. It is Christ who is the true light that enlightens any man; and it is He who needs to be the centre, the focus of your life. It is not so with the people of the world, who choose to reject Christ, and to make themselves the centre of their universe. They make the decision to walk in the light of the fire that they themselves have kindled, to end up in misery and torment. It is the sad picture with which the fiftieth chapter of the book of Isaiah closes; the chapter that otherwise describes prophetically the confidence of Christ Himself, in God being His help and His strength every step of the way.
But, there is a way that seems right to man, which in the end leads to death. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron experienced it as they offered foreign fire unto the Lord; fire that was not started by God. [Numbers 26:61] Death is a separation from the plans and purposes of God for you. And the pressure of circumstances can see you succumb to judgments that are not from God, and what are not in line with His perfect will for you.
The initial gentle breeze :
Making your own judgment, a decision that is contrary to God’s guidance, can initially seem quite in your favor even. It is what happened in the course of Paul’s voyage to Rome, when he counseled the captain of the ship not to venture forth, for he had been warned by the Spirit of God, how dangerous it would be. But his godly judgment was disregarded, and it seemed as if they had done the right thing in setting sail, for the weather appeared to be favorable.
There was a gentle breeze blowing initially, but it soon turned into a violent storm. And, it was the good work that the Lord had accomplished in the heart of Paul that saw not just him, but also the 294 others in the ship, carried safely ashore. [Acts 27:9-44] It is good therefore, to lean on the judgments of God, for He is in all ways unlimited. Your mind and mine on the other hand, is confined in its vision and capacity. God sees what is all around you, and ahead of you, the things which can never come in your purview. And, He is a God who is good, who only wants the very best for you, even in the seemingly dark and troubled times that you may be going through even now. The psalmist is able to say in confident trust, ‘It was good for me to be afflicted, that I may learn your precepts’. [Psalms 119:71] God teaches you what is profitable, even in the midst of loss that may have come upon you due to leaning on your own understanding, that you may turn it around, and gain much more than what you initially lost. He is a God who teaches you to profit. It is good therefore to lean on Him, to know when you need to move on, or stay rooted in a place.
The stops and starts in your life :
May they always be guided by the Lord’s presence, and His quiet gentle voice, that can be heard even over the roar of many troubled waters. The Israelites needed to hearken and listen to it, during the course of their journey in the wilderness. He led by the pillar and the cloud; they needed to stay when it stayed, and move when it moved. He does the same in your life too, even today. And, when He bids you to stay, however dry and seemingly without resources the place may be, God will make sure that you have all that you need to be nourished and abound in your life. In a waterless desert, rivers of living water will spring forth from within you, to give you life in abundance. Sadly though, some people decide to start and walk in the fire that they themselves have kindled, only to end up getting burnt. But the Lord’s words are loud and clear, when He declares that His judgments are always right. Therefore, studying how He goes about accomplishing it all, throws illuminating light on how you and I can do the same, in the decisive moments of life’s path.
The Son does what He sees the Father doing :
Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, the Son also does, in like manner’. [John 5:19] Amy Carmichael, the missionary who came to south India from Belfast, had this to say, when people were wondering about the future of her work, after her death : ‘If I had started it, then it would end with me. But, if God begins something, it will go on forever’. And true to her words, her work goes on even today, spreading the light of the gospel to the oppressed and the needy.
‘I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’, is the promise of the Lord; and it can never ever fail. He has also said, in His word, that He does only what He sees His Father doing. It may seem to be a very lofty ideal to follow. Where do you and I fit into the picture ?. ‘How can I see what the Father does, and do what He shows me ?’ may be the question in your heart right now. A question to which, the very next verse gives the answer.
The Father loves the Son :
This is the key to it all. ‘For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all that He Himself does. And He will show Him greater works than these that you may marvel’. [John 5:20] Everything you now enjoy as a new creation, including God’s love for you, is in Christ. Therefore, improbable and too difficult to believe it may seem to you, but God’s love for you, is the same as His love for His Son. And because it is a truth that is too wonderful to be grasped in all its fullness, sometimes the experience of it comes first, and then the understanding. It is why Paul prays thus, in his letter to the Ephesians : That you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth , To know the love of Christ that passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. [Ephesians 3:18,19]
God loves you; and so He shows you, reveals to you, what you need to know in order to progress in your life’s journey. There is no need to have a blue print of your life in your hand, and neither is there a need to be anxious about your tomorrow. For, what you do not know, He knows. You are secure in His hands of love. Christ knew it all when he worked with wood and nails, perceived by the world, to be the son of Joseph, a carpenter. He knew that His own hands would one day on the wooden Cross be pierced with nails. And in love He laid down His life, that you and I may believe in Him and live. He has accomplished it all on Calvary. You can thank Him therefore for your tomorrow, without being anxious about it. For, He Himself will be the Light, and the fire. And, at the right time He will show you, all that He has prepared for you, so that you may walk in it and prosper.
‘And my judgments are always righteous, for I do not seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me’. [John 5:30] The Lord makes it very clear. He had no personal agenda; and it is the path that He has modeled, for you to appropriate and apply in your pilgrimage on earth. Created in the image of God, you are blessed with a freedom to make a choice. And it is out of your free will that you choose to do the will of God. For, having a personal agenda of your own will always take you away from the purposes of God.
Even a disciple of Lord Jesus was not immune to personal agenda, one that took him into the path of destruction and death. It is believed that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, in His path to His purpose, there was a point where the crowd and Judas Iscariot thought he would turn right to make a political assault on the Roman Empire. But the Lord turned left instead, to march into the temple, making a whip of His own to cleanse it ! And the story is told, that having his own ambition foiled, Judas took the fatal decision to betray the Lord. But God’s agenda and plan for you is greater.
It is the reason why God wants you to lay down your own plans. His plan for you is so much greater than anything you can come up with. It also includes your likes and dislikes, for He wants the very best for you. He will give in you therefore, the right desires that are in line with God’s own heart. It is why, after his life transforming encounter with Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul was able to say that all that he considered valuable in his own life, beginning with his noble birth and education, he considered rubbish, when compared with the knowledge of Christ, and the power of His resurrection. In your life too you will know and experience a radical alteration in your likes and dislikes, when you accept God’s plan for your life. And, what you thought you could not live without in your life, you will now realize that you are glad you do not have them. Hearing from God, is the key to knowing His plan and agenda for you.
Hearing His voice :
Deciding to do the will of God involves being sensitive to His voice, for He never leaves you without His resource and help. Your ears shall hear a voice, ‘This is the way, walk in it’, whenever you turn to the right hand or to the left. [Isaiah 30:21] You will hear a word from God, when you are about to turn at a junction, and it will guide you rightly. When you are at the crossroads in life’s journey needing to make a judgment, all you need to do is to be sensitive to the voice of God, over and above all the other voices that may surround you.
Moses heard Him in the roaring turbulence :
In front of him, it was the roaring waves of the sea. Behind him were the innumerable Israelites, roaring at him in the midst of their fear, calling for him to be stoned to death ! And the pharaoh was not far behind, pursuing them with his mighty army. What could be louder than all this ?! But in the midst of this cacophony, Moses heard the voice of God that commanded him to lift up his rod to split the sea, and cross over on dry land ! And the God of Moses is your God too ! He will communicate to you in a way that you can never misunderstand, in the midst of your dire circumstance, to speak to you the destiny that He has prepared for you. You will hear a voice that says to you, ‘This is the way; walk in it’. Therefore, without panic or distress, take care to be sensitive to the gentle voice of the Lord coming to you through His word, to listen and follow. For, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. It is the truth; and by knowing it you are set free.
The idols thrown away :
You will also defile the covering of your images of silver, and the ornament of your molded images of gold. You will throw them away as an unclean thing; you will say to them ‘Get away’. [Isaiah 30:22] When you hear and receive what is real, and what is the truth, you will know God’s plans for your life, plans that are the very best for you. It will find you throwing away your idols. And, what is an idol ? It is that which had replaced God in your life, the self made plans you had carved out for your life. You will discard them as worthless things, for you will know that you have something gloriously better, wonderfully planned by God. He will lead you in paths of righteousness, that your cup may overflow; and goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life.
You have a wonderful God, a marvelous Savior, who has planned and taken care of it all for you. And, even the minute and intricate details concerning it do not escape His eye. This is the awesome God whom you worship. And as you wait on Him, He will lift you up. His love will surround you, to see you soar as an eagle, led by His Spirit, by the power of His love. Give thanks unto the Father, as you hear from Him, to be led and guided by Him, that He may live in and through your life. And, may He alone be exalted and glorified in your life, that His blessing may be your portion in life.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
