Sharing God's Truth with Loved Ones cont.

The next letter I wrote was prompted by my experience with Hurricane Wilma in November of 2005.

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello from South Florida. I am sitting here with my feet up and my keyboard in my lap with a desire to share God’s love and His truth. I believe the Lord has truly been teaching me much in the past few years through the opportunity to get into His Word more in depth. I am convinced that He is in control of all that happens in the life of His children in order to accomplish His purposes in their lives.

As you know, we all recently experienced the power of nature unleashed in the name of Hurricane Wilma. We decided to leave our 9th floor apartment and stay with family in their 2d floor apartment. During that stay I decided to sleep on the top bunk in the girls’ room. In an effort to stop one of the girls from waking up Mom and Dad in the middle of the night, I scurried down the ladder the wrong way only to slip and severely sprain my foot at minimum. In the last two weeks I have had much time to sit and contemplate life in general and God’s working in my life specifically.

We were quite blessed compared to what so many others have experienced through this time. We were prepared with plenty of food and ice for the first few days.

I am firmly convinced that things don’t happen without purpose. I believe that God is ever at work trying to draw sinners to repentance and salvation and in providing opportunities for spiritual growth and to glorify Him in the lives of His children—those who claim His salvation through the gift of His Son, Jesus.

I am currently doing a study of the book of Romans, and Romans 8:28 is very clear: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

This scripture states that ALL things work together for good in the lives of His children. This leads me to ponder what “good” God is working in my life through my experiences in Wilma.

I know that I take my many blessings for granted more often than not. At times like this I am reminded of that truth and again given the opportunity to recognize what represents true wealth. In that regard, I feel I am one of the wealthiest people on planet earth. I am truly blessed to have a family that loves the Lord (though we each have many areas in need of improvement and spiritual growth).

The priorities in life also seem to be clarified when I consider this life and its uncertainty regarding what may impact us from day to day…..whether we will even live to see tomorrow. I have no fear of death, because I believe absent from the body means present with the Lord (2Corinthians 5:8). I do, however, have a desire to earn crowns to present to the Lord and to hear Him say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” My understanding of scripture makes me think that my window of opportunity to earn those blessings is quickly closing.

I’ve learned to recognize that everything that happens is according to God’s sovereign will. What others call a normal event in the course of nature, I see as God working to accomplish His will on planet earth. He is the One that set the laws of nature in motion. Sometimes He allows those laws to operate naturally and sometimes He intervenes in judgment (according to the scriptures). At all times nature is a display of His power and authority. If we would but pay attention, nature always points us to thoughts of the Çreator.

There is a very thought-provoking verse in the book of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 14:21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

The sword is a reference to warfare, but its first reference in the Hebrew is to “drought, to parch,” or lack of water provision with intent to destroy. Famine is a reference to hunger or lack of food and nourishment; this again goes back to the work of nature. The Hebrew for “noisome beast” references “bad, evil, harmful living thing (with reference to flesh and plant).” The Hebrew for pestilence references plague, and the root word references “to arrange, to speak, pronounce.” This makes great sense in context of this verse since it is speaking of judgments that God pronounces in judgment to accomplish His purposes.

The big thing in the news right now is the concern about a bird flu pandemic. Isn’t that a pestilence? Do we really think we write it off as just another act of nature that God allows with no purpose? I don’t think so. God is a God of love. He wants people to turn to Him in faith and repentance. He ever lovingly puts us in a position to admit that we are helpless without Him and to turn to Him in faith. For His children it is an opportunity to give a testimony of faith in the light of trouble and testing. We can reflect peace and joy in our lives when the world sees only reason for worry and distress. We know our future. The privilege of suffering to honor Him is another opportunity to earn those future rewards and be better prepared to enjoy eternity. I can make similar observations in reference to any “natural” disaster that happens on planet earth.

God’s sovereign hand is at work in the actions of men just as surely as the forces of nature. Scripture also tells us that God has given man the ability to make choices. He has established governmental authorities and is the One that appoints those authorities according to His will.

Daniel 4:35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

Daniel 5:21….till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

I have determined to take God at His word. I may not understand how His will and our choice operate from a human perspective when so many of our choices are wrong/unwise, but that’s OK; the scripture states that we can’t know, reason and understand like God.

Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

In my mind, all of this goes to prove the power and authority of GOD. If I could understand everything about Him, He wouldn’t be GOD. Only GOD could give man the freedom to choose and before ever creating the first piece of our universe establish a plan that would utilize those choices in the accomplishing of that plan. Only GOD could establish the laws of science and nature and intervene in them as necessary to accomplish His purposes.

I think the truth that keeps pounding its way into my head is that GOD is in control. He is everything the scripture says He is----love, truth, all powerful, the one and only, righteous in judgment, with ways past finding out, and sovereign in the universe. This truth is a comfort to this child of God. It gives me the desire to stay the course and look for opportunities to honor Him in the process as I look forward to eternity with Him. It gives me peace when the flesh would respond with worry and distress. It gives me confidence when the flesh would doubt.

I hope these thoughts are an encouragement to you. Our God is in control……and our Savior is coming soon.