Saturday, October 18, 2014
When All Else Fails
This morning as I looked at the wet fall garden with the painted trees as a back drop I thought about how we walk through life. We pray for direction and God provides that direction. When He responds may not always fit our desired time line. For some believers, like myself, it can be hard to wait. We are the kind of people that want to be moving forward. The thing is, what I realized in writing this, we are moving forward. When we ask God something (assuming we ask according to His will) then He immediately responds. That means He sets in motion what it takes to get to that answer.
1 John 3:21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
John said that if we keep God’s commandments and do things pleasiing in His sight, we will receive whatever we ask of Him. This is a substantial promise, and can be difficult for us to comprehend. But it is not the only promise.
1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
Here John explains that what we ask need be according to God’s will. How will we know His will? If we look at the earlier verses, His will must involve His commandments. One thing we also know is that His commandments, the Torah (the Law), are also now the perfect law of liberty. Why can we say that? Because Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law that the blessing of Abraham might come upon us. So we have a Law that is absolute, contains blessings and curses, and works absolutely; and we have been redeemed from the curses! How perfect is that?!
When all else fails and after we have prayed, we have to trust God that He is doing what He said He would do. We need to rest in His peace, knowing that He is on our side.
Prayer
Father, we exalt You. You alone are worthy. We need Your kingdom and Your help. Send us Your abundant provision. Let provision rain like the manna and quail of old. Let it overflow our vats that we might bless those around us. Forgive us when we make our mistakes. Guide us always to and on Your paths. This is Your will and Your kingdom, and we are citizens. Heal us and deliver us. In Yeshua’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.