The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
(Thanks to Tom, Herb, Jamey, and Wayne for inspiration on this one)
"Factor the Fact"
As friends and I considered yesterday's devotional regarding the many opportunities we have to consciously think in terms of God and His truth, we referenced a particular way to term the calling - "Factor the Fact" - that is, to be sure we are viewing the matters of life in terms of our Lord's presence, involvement, and working.
"I AM… He is… Thou art" (Exodus 3:14; Hebrews 11:6; I Chronicles 17:26).
God is the great fact of all things. Nothing would exist without Him. Nothing would consist without Him. "He giveth to all life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25). As we view the events, occurrences, and happenings of creation, we have not seen them clearly until we have factored the Fact of His presence, involvement, and working. "God… worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11).
This presents a great challenge to our hearts and minds. If creation were as perfect as its Creator, we could easily comprehend God's ways and means. This is presently not the case. Our Heavenly Father works His purpose amid the sin and rebellion of angelic and human beings, along with the calamities caused thereby, in a manner that does not violate His spiritual and moral integrity. He did not and does not cause sin, to the degree He won't even tempt to sin (James 1:13). He cannot do so, based on the pristine purity of His character and way. "As for God, His way is perfect" (II Samuel 22:31). He works nevertheless in all things to fulfill His ultimate intentions in the Lord Jesus Christ, to the degree that the greatest of all evils, the torture and murder of His beloved Son, became the basis for salvation to all who receive Christ by faith. Indeed, when considering our calling to factor the Fact, the cross of the Lord Jesus and its ensuing eternal glory serves as the greatest of all wonders regarding God's way and working. The worst thing became the best thing for all who believe, preparing us for countless other opportunities to see God's heart and hand where we might least expect to find them. "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (John 17:24).
We ever seek to understand God and His ways as much as possible. "With all thy getting, get understanding" (Proverb 4:7). Factoring the Fact, however, often drives us to our knees in the realization that, as another friend often says, "God is God, and we ain't!" Remembering Calvary and the mystery that amid its horrors of sin and utter depravity, our Lord made possible the redemption of our hearts by the breaking of His heart, helps us to recall that God's ways are "past finding out" (Romans 11:33). Having factored the Fact in the moment of our new birth through Christ paved the path before us to be sure we remember and affirm God's presence, involvement, and working in all things, at all times. How He does what He does we will never know. That He does it is nevertheless absolutely certain. Factor the Fact.
"Of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen."
(Romans 11:36)
Weekly Memory Verse
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)
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