God is so faithful isn’t He? I’ve been struggling so much lately with acceptance and condemnation. And yet, God has shown Himself so faithful. While I’ve been in tears, he’s been right there next to me. Even when I don’t see Him. And when I finally look up from my struggles, there He is faithful and true, wrapping His arms around me to let me know that there is no condemnation and that I need to trust Him and believe what He says about me. Both in the temporary and in eternity, I come to Him at His throne to find security, peace and joy!
Meet Him At The Throne
…We run to Your throne
Where We Belong, by Hillsong
Where we belong
Every heart will sing
That Jesus is Lord
Casting all else aside
For the joy of our Christ
Let Your glory Fall
Our hearts are filled with Your fire….
I have no better place to be right now, but to be at His throne! But it shouldn’t be only when I feel desperate to come! He is there for me every second, minute, hour, day, etc. It is so easy to turn away and wonder where He really is in difficult times. Sometimes we believe that even God, our Father, is making a mistake , when we think we have done as we should, or we have the right motives at least. Deep down we know that He is perfect and without sin yet we so often doubt Him. We then ask ourselves why we even believe Him at all.
The following poem was written by a pastor who had a wife and three small children. His wife was expecting their fourth child. When it was time for his wife to deliver their fourth child, she had complications and both the mother and the baby died. During the funeral, the pastor who officiated, noticed that the man who had just lost his wife and baby, was writing. He was writing this poem, that he named “He Maketh No Mistake.”
I have times of doubt and unbelief of God’s best for me, too. My mind dwells on who made the mistake, who do I blame for this? I regularly struggle with condemnation and look for where to assign that condemnation and find myself once again playing the “blame game” instead of looking to the truths of scripture. I look very forward though, to the day, where :
“He will wipe away every tear from their (MY) eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said ” I am making everything new!” Then He said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 21:4-5
He Is Trustworthy
How easy is it to forget that His words are “trustworthy and true?” He is the one seated on the throne. He is the One who has the highest level of authority! Often, we don’t think about Him being the One who can be trusted most when we hurt, cry our eyes out and don’t want to accept what is happening right now, or what happened in our past.
5 For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
Psalm 71:5 New International Version (NIV)
my confidence since my youth.
7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7-10 New International Version (NIV)
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
Casting all cares on Him seems easy enough to do, but we so often don’t do it or we leave some of what bothers us, out. We do an incomplete job. Verse 8 tells us to be “alert and of a sober mind.” our enemy does look to tear us to pieces. I find everything in this passage tells us very interesting. The fact is that the enemy comes after us and we have to resist him. We must stand firm and our family around the world is going through many of the same sufferings! What a help it is know that we can come together and help in areas that we are struggling in together! We can trust that even though we have suffered for a while, He will restore us and make us strong, firm and steadfast! Knowing this hope and looking towards our eternal home, will help make us stronger.
What I Do In This Temporary Life
Our troubles now, are very temporary, even though they seem never ending. They are light, by comparison. What is unseen is eternal! I look forward to the eternal home I have, to finish the race that He has called me to, no matter how difficult it is. Scripture tells us to “not lose heart.” Don’t let these terrible things we go through, completely take us away from believing Him, from coming to Him in our dark times.
7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
Micah 7:7 New International Version (NIV)
I wait for God my Savior;
my God will hear me.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 New International Version (NIV)
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 8:18 New International Version (NIV)
…There is a name I call in times of trouble
Jesus, by Chris Tomlin
There is a song that comforts in the night
There is a voice that calms the storm that rages.
His name is Jesus, Jesus
Who walks on the waters
Who speaks to the sea
Who stands in the fire beside me…
Eternity Matters Most
I read comments often on the internet, where people perceive that those of us who believe God and eternal life, use this belief as a way to escape. They think we are using our imagination to think we have better things ahead and to hope and place our faith in God alone. They don’t want to hear that we will pray for others and that we have a relationship with our Savior. Nothing is further from the truth. We can have hope, peace and joy now in temporary times and in eternity.
“Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.”
C.S. Lewis