Orange Moon Tuesday, May 17, 2022 "His Ways and His Why's"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"His Ways and His Why's"

   

     One of the most challenging things about being a parent is that you cannot always adequately explain to your children the reasons for your actions on their behalf.  "Why?" must often remain unanswered.  As the Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples when bewildering them by washing their feet, "What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter" (John 13:7).

    Peter, of course, chafed at the notion of his Lord so humbling Himself (John 13:6).  To see His master kneeling as a common servant challenged everything he believed about God and His ways.  The Lord Jesus offered no explanation for His action, other than to inform Peter of its absolute necessity.  Down the road, the bloody road that led to Calvary, the disciple would ultimately learn the wisdom and wonder of his Lord's ways - and His why's.

   "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (I Peter 3:18).

   As plainly as the Old Testament states God's purposed salvation through a suffering Savior, few of God's own earthly people Israel saw the Lord Jesus for who He was. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:11).  Few understood the Father's way of rescuing us not by wielding the sword of judgment against foes, but by His Son bearing the cross of mercy for all.  Such love "passeth knowledge" declared the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 3:19).  

   It does, doesn't it?  A great message speaks to our hearts in the mystery.  There will be times when God loves us most devotedly, but when the ways and why's of His hand will transcend our ability to comprehend.  He will not explain His reasons to us because we would not understand them if He did.  Instead, our Father will call us to trust His heart even though we cannot fathom the doings of His hand.  Unanswered "Why's?" will call us to "offer the sacrifice of praise to God" (Hebrews 13:15).  "Sacrifice" will certainly be involved because our human sensibilities will flow against trust in such times.  The Spirit of God, conversely, will move within our spirits to call forth our Lord's light, the illumination that tells us we can trust the Lord's heart even if we cannot understand His hand.  "God is faithful" (I Corinthians 1:9).

   The old hymn sings to our spirits, "We will understand it better by and by."  For the here and now, we trust our Father's ways because we know the motive of His Why's.  His heart abides ever faithful to His trusting children in Christ.  As does His hand, although its doings will sometimes challenge our minds.  In a lifetime wherein we "live by faith," this is exactly what we need, and exactly how the God who loves us will often work in our hearts and lives (Romans 1:17).

   

"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."

(Philippians 1:6)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."

(I John 4:9)

  

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