300 Day Sunrise
Romans 8:28 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.
I really don’t know where to begin on the 65 day storm that we are labeling 2015. It has been a doozy, but God has never forsaken us. There have been just some highs, but this year has been incredibly tough on our family. We have a couple big answered prayers also that I look to, and rest on, in this storm. I rest in the closeness to Him that is a byproduct of these trials of life; you either draw closer to God in them, or you get angry and rebel and hand satan the victory. Yesterday in the midst of all my planning, we got news that rocked our world. Satan said, “Take this blow to your finances and get angry at your supposed God.” I guess he doesn’t know me as well as he thinks. God has blessed me with just a glimpse of his sovereignty, and I know his plans are better than mine. I never question what path he has set before me.
Listen to what the Bible tells us. James, the half brother of Jesus, wrote the first book in the New Testament to a growing new Christianity. His epistle is a book of action, how to live out our faith, how to exemplify Christianity to those outside the faith. Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15 NKJV) Even in our plans, it should be to follow His plans ultimately. Look at how God used the prophet Jeremiah to reassure the Jews who thought God had forsaken them. They were headed into a life of captivity as it seemed. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:11-13NKJV) So many times we quote and claim the promise of the future and the hope of the first verse. Do we miss how through this tough trial of life, God tells us only then, we finally will truly seek him? Does it take the really tough things in life to make us truly seek him with all our heart as in verse thirteen? Sadly when we reflect,the answer is yes. We may thank him for our blessings when we bounce around freely enjoying them, but are we searching for him earnestly with all our heart as when we simply do not know what else to do?
The more time you spend in the Bible, the more you understand your need for God, and how you rest in the glimpse of his sovereignty. The trials of life come, but you know Satan had to ask permission for them. You may even know they are punishment for sin. The closer you are to God, directly related to how much you pursue him, is how you handle the trials of life. You might see the 300 day blessing coming in the sunrise this morning.
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