Wednesday, May 31, 2017

"Present and Accounted For"


"Present and Accounted For"     
  
  
    Is there any matter in the lives of born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ in which God is not present, involved, and interested?  Does He leave some matters to us as if "You're on your own in this one, child!"

    "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" (II Corinthians 9:8).

    Our Lord is present and accounted for in every aspect of our existence.  It couldn't be otherwise since "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).  Of course, we don't know more than a small percentage of how He involves Himself or what He is doing in the many and varied venues.   In most cases, we don't need to know the how or the what.  We simply trust that nothing escapes our Heavenly Father's loving attention to the details that matter much more to Him than they do to us.  As the Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples, "The very hairs of your head are all numbered" (Matthew 10:30).  Even if we could count those hairs, I doubt that many of us would be interested enough to tally the numbers on an ongoing basis.  God, however, can and He does.  This confirms that He is far more interested in us than we are interested in ourselves.  Everything matters to Him.  Thus, when considering our Lord's involvement, "present and accounted for" constitutes His participation.  

   We frequently reference the importance of our showing up in regard to the responsibilities of life.  God always does.  We must embrace this truth of Scripture as a matter of confidence, principle, and doctrine.  As mentioned, this does not mean that we must figure out how He involves Himself in every detail.  Such awareness is far beyond our capacity of understanding.  However, many matters do call us to specifically affirm the working of God for us and in us.  The Bible speaks to such matters, and we will find many opportunities whereby we acknowledge and apply its truth.  We trust specific promises, obey pointed commands, rejoice in Biblically promised blessings, and seek the Lord in troubles wherein He promises to be a "very present help" (Psalm 46:1).  We cannot know all He is doing.  But we can know some as the Word of God illuminates the working of God.  "Lord, lift up the light of Thy countenance upon us" (Psalm 4:6).

    We will miss much of our Lord's involvement as we "see through a glass darkly" (I Corinthians 13:12).  But we do not have to miss all.  Responding to the Bible's clear declaration of God's universal presence and activity prepares us to see specifics we would otherwise miss of His working.  "The whole earth is full of His glory," including every path of life upon which we travel (Isaiah 6:3).  As we believe the universal - "all things" - we better know our Lord in the specifics…

"The Lord will do this thing He hath spoken."
(Isaiah 38:7)
"In all thy ways acknowledge Him."
(Proverbs 3:6)

Weekly Memory Verse 
     The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
(John 10:10)


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