The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"An Eye Toward Forever"
"Safety is of the Lord" (Proverbs 21:31).
The safety God promises and administers sometimes involves rescue from danger, and sometimes rescue in danger.
"This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and rescued him out of all his troubles" (Psalm 34:6)
"For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (II Corinthians 12:8-9).
Our Heavenly Father works in our temporal challenges with a primary focus on eternity. This does not discount or minimize His present protection from dangers and difficulties. We often experience rescue from our troubles as we look to our Lord. Sometimes, however, He allows challenges to remain with us for purposes that reach far beyond this present life. Had the Apostle Paul not experienced the abiding "thorn in the flesh" to keep him from pride for having received "the abundance of the revelations," would the New Testament epistles he wrote exist? Not likely. A proud apostle could not have served as God's primary voice and pen of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. How many have received eternal life through faith in Christ by the light that shines in Paul's writings? How many believers have walked in the power of God's grace revealed in words that could not have been written without wounds? Millions will read the Apostle's writings today because God worked with an eye and a heart that saw far beyond Paul's earthly lifetime.
As He does in us. The happenings of today in our lives matter much to our Heavenly Father. However, He loves us far too much to always act according to the our perception of current need. Today's matters matter for tomorrow and forevermore. Thus, if thorns remain, we can be confident that we shall by and by better understand the eternal benefit of their lingering. For now, we trust the perfect heart and mind of God, rejoicing by faith that He loves us enough to work primarily with forever in view. Any good father would do so. A perfect Father most certainly does. Thereby He strengthens us when thorns linger as…
"We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."
(II Corinthians 4:18)
Weekly Memory Verse
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
(Romans 8:2)
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