The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"All… Not One Thing"
Part 2 - "Perfect"
"And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof" (Joshua 23:14).
We all do well to make Joshua's affirmation of God's faithfulness specific to our own life and experience. Have we discovered God's promises to be unfailingly true, with "not one thing" failing to come to pass?
Every born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who has long walked with God will quickly and with much assurance join Joshua in "all" and "not one thing." Of course, this does not mean that we have always understood our Heavenly Father's ways in the fulfillment of His faithfulness. Nor does it suggest that every prayer we have prayed has been answered (James 4:3). God's perfect ways perplex every Christian at times, primarily because we have no frame of reference for "perfect" in our natural, earthly experience. His working nevertheless forever flows with the sparkling current of pristine perfection, a wonder beyond all understanding when we consider He must work amid the myriad imperfections of a fallen world (and even more in the hearts and lives of imperfect people).
"His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment, a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He" (Deuteronomy 32:4)
Our growing confidence in God's eternally optimum working does not primarily result from our discovery of what He does, but rather of who He is. Long exposure to the Spirit of God and the Scriptures of God bears witness that "as for God, His way is perfect" (II Samuel 22:31). We have discovered His heart in times when we understood the ways of His hand, and in times when we did not. Indeed, if we were allowed to look back on our earthly lives from Heaven, believers would rejoice to see the light that shined upon us when God acted as expected. However, the brightest illuminations might glimmer as we beheld His faithful working when He acted contrary to our expectation and hopes, or when He did not answer prayers we unwisely offered. "Thou hast showed Thy people hard things" declared the Psalmist (Psalm 90:3). In Heaven, we will clearly see that such challenging administrations and allowances no less confirmed God's faithful devotion to us than the pleasant blessings He bestowed. Perhaps even more of "all" and "not one thing" will be viewed with marvel and wonder as it related our challenges.
We need not - we must not - wait until the next life before we affirm the perfect trustworthiness of God's heart and hand. Every believer must establish this fundamental truth as a doctrinal conviction early in our walk with God. We then progressively discover amid blessing and challenge that it is literally impossible for our Heavenly Father to be anything other than completely and perfectly faithful (Hebrews 6:18). Every promise He ever made and every word He has ever spoken has either already come to pass, or is in the process of doing so. Looking back, as did Joshua, we will confess with him, "all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof." Let us not delay our confession, based on our growing confidence in the God whose word is as inviolable as His heart. Perfect.
"Thy Word is truth."
(John 17:17)
Weekly Memory Verse
But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 4:19)
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