Lev 26:3 If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, 4 then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
We have a touching picture of the ways of God in patience and in chastisement, if Israel walked contrary to Him.
When they acknowledged their fault, then He would remember the covenant made with their fathers, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
- This was a covenant made without condition, and with the land.
- Then He would remember the covenant made with their ancestors, under His name of Jehovah, when they came out of Egypt
God will take these two titles on their restoration:
- Almighty, the name of His relationship with the fathers; and
- Jehovah, the name of His relationship with the people, viewed as taken to Himself at their coming out of Egypt.
I take this to be the covenant of Exodus 6, not the law.
It connected itself directly with the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, adding the name of Jehovah, and taking up the people under that name.
Because of the promise of His Word through Jesus, we have the same covenant and promise and therefore the same will apply to us.
In due season – if we do and when we do our part, we will reap the fruit of our labour.
Ecc 3:1 Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses. 2 He sets the time for birth and the time for death, the time for planting and the time for pulling up, 3 the time for killing and the time for healing, the time for tearing down and the time for building. 4 He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy, the time for mourning and the time for dancing, 5 the time for making love and the time for not making love, the time for kissing and the time for not kissing. 6 He sets the time for finding and the time for losing, the time for saving and the time for throwing away, 7 the time for tearing and the time for mending, the time for silence and the time for talk. 8 He sets the time for love and the time for hate, the time for war and the time for peace. 9 What do we gain from all our work? 10 I know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us. 11 He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does.
He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does.
The past weeks, just in this little congregation, I have seen so many times, how God confirmed this portion of Scripture.
We pray out loud, we shout and carry on but God in His wisdom says “patience”
It gets to the point that we wonder if He heard our prayers, we even raise questions like “does He understand? This situation is getting serious now”
Jas 1:2 Let it be all joy to you, my brothers, when you undergo tests of every sort; 3 Because you have the knowledge that the testing of your faith gives you the power of going on in hope; 4 But let this power have its full effect, so that you may be made complete, needing nothing.
Tests will be there: always.
We will never be able to avoid tests. The key however is how do we deal with these tests when they come.
We also need to realise that different situations will call for different tests. We have to recognise what is being tested.
Is it our:
- Faith: Do we still lack faith to trust God in a certain area of our lives? Perhaps it’s easy for me to trust God for finances, but when I have to trust Him for healing, then I am not so sure.
- Relationships: Perhaps the relationship itself is being tested. Is this the right relationship? Should I be found in this company or not? Are these the people God would want me to associate with?
- Perseverance/patience: Perhaps my impatience needs some fixing.
- Agenda: Perhaps my agenda is in the wrong place. My motive for doing this might be completely wrong and against God’s will and desire for me.
- Knowledge/Wisdom: Do I know what I am doing here? Do I have all the information that will guarantee success?
- Timing: Is this the correct time to embark on this path?
- Vision: Did I cast my vision correctly; do people understand the direction I am taking?
Psa 139:1 To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. O Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets. 2 You have knowledge when I am seated and when I get up, you see my thoughts from far away. 3 You keep watch over my steps and my sleep, and have knowledge of all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue which is not clear to you, O Lord.
For some reason or another, we are under this impression that we can get away with certain things from God.
- Perhaps If I don’t think this out loud then God won’t know about it?
- Maybe I can fool God by saying one thing, but actually I mean something else.
- Maybe if I get somebody else to do it, God will let it slide.
Let’s move away from the perception that we can trick God.
God has a plan for us:
His plan involves timing and we need to learn to adapt to God’s plan and His way of thinking:
- How does God see the situation?
- How do we obtain God’s vision for each person and situation ?
We seek the Lord and ask Him how He sees our spouse or our child or any other person or situation we are praying for. This is not selfish, manipulative seeking.
It is not: ALord, make them what I want them to be.@
It is going before the Lord and asking Him to show us the truth of His Word regarding that individual or situation.
ISA 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
His ways and His thoughts are not like ours - they are much higher.
Allow Him to show you how He sees that person and then you will be able to place your faith in what is yet unseen, rather than that which you see with your natural eyes.
2 Cor 4 : 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
When you believe, are absolutely sure in your heart, what God has said regarding a person or situation you can look negative circumstances straight on and know you have the victory.
When you have actually seen through the eyes of your spirit the end result according to God's will, and out of this positive assurance you speak as thou h it were accomplished in the natural, you have faith it will come to pass.
Remember Hebrews 11:1 ? In the New International Version it says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. "
The Word of God is His will for us. When we pray His Word, we put ourselves in agreement with Him an enable His will to be accomplished on earth.
( Matt. 18:19, 6:10). As born-again believers, the Word of God should be our native language. It must be just as exciting for God to hear us speak His Word as it is for us as parents to hear our children begin to speak. Accordingly, just as we would wonder how our little ones learned another language other than the one we have taught, so must our Father be dismayed when His children speak doubt and unbelief, a language totally foreign to Him.
Faith is not complete without its partner, trust.
· Strong's Concordance defines trust : "to convince, to rely (by inward certainty), yield, obey, persuade.
· The diction definition of trust makes it even clearer, "reliance on the integrity, justice, etc., of a person, or on some quality or attribute of a thing; confidence: '
When we place our trust in God instead of each other, we take away the pressure of possible failure.
The world would tell us that trust is impossible if our spouse/business partner/whoever, is not trust worthy, but Jesus can begin to rebuild trust in our hearts even before our these are worthy of that trust. When we become assured that He is working on the situation, we can begin to trust Him, not ourselves, for the outcome.
When we place our trust in God instead of each other, we take away the pressure of possible failure.
ReplyDeleteSo True!!!
Thank you for the word