A Closer Walk
Many of us can't wait for 2020 to be over. We have been through so much in this one year. And not just us here in our wonderful little community. But also our fellow citizens here in Kansas and all the rest of these United States; and in fact the entire rest of the world. Pretty much every country seems to have been touched by the coronavirus in one way or another. But, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me," John 14:1 KJV. As this year begins to wind down we can take heart that our God is still on His throne and He has these events under His control.
"Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher," Isaiah 30:20 NASB. It has been difficult for some of us to see how the Lord has been at work during this time. Why has He brought so many difficulties and hardships our way this year? Why has He allowed all these things to happen? We likely will never know the answer to these questions. "He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning to the end," Ecclesiastes 3:11 NASB.
He has made everything appropriate in its time. Our God has created a time frame where everything is appropriate; or it has a season, so to speak. If God's word is true (how could it otherwise?) there was a time for the coronavirus, just as there was a time for the Spanish Flu a hundred years ago. Why? I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but some things our God doesn't want us to know; "...yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done..." Some things He desires, for His own reasons, to keep to Himself. But, let not your heart be troubled.
"Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you. And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him," Isaiah 30:18 NASB. Not only does our Lord desire to show us grace, but He longs to be gracious to us. Longs to be gracious. Further He waits on high to be compassionate to us. If he longs to be gracious, and waits on high to be compassionate, shouldn't we offer Him our trust, our faith.
Things happen and the Lord God alone knows why. Some may come about because of the depravity of mankind. Some might be because of greed or pride or envy. But at the same time our Heavenly Father sends grace and compassion, such as the accidental discovery of penicillin for example. Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 and it later became the first of our modern day antibiotics which are effective in fighting bacterial infections. That was God's grace and compassion.
"Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. And your ears will hear a word behind you, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right or to the left...then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture," Isaiah 30:20-21 and 23 NASB.
"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen," Thomas Ken 1637-1711.
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October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Your pastors would likely enjoy some expression of your appreciation for them and the work they do.