The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
“Journey To the Past”
During the first four years of my school days, I heard the 100th Psalm recited over the intercom every morning. The memory elicits warm memories and gratitude, although I am sure how closely I listened to the recitation each day. I did not become a believer until nearly a decade after leaving Woodcock Elementary. However, I have no doubt that the reading bore great influence in my coming to know the Lord. The 100th Psalm remains one of my favorite portions of Scripture, and I recite it in my heart every morning:
“Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations” (Psalm 100:5).
Every believer knows that God worked mightily in heart and life before we trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. The family into which we were born, the places in which we lived, the people with whom we had either close or distant contact, the blessings, the challenges, and the exposure to the light of God by His Spirit, His Word, and His creation all united to bring us to faith in our Savior. As we often suggest, when we journey to the past in heart and mind, let us be sure we go with God in the realization He was there in all, working to reveal Himself and His truth. The Apostle Paul viewed himself as having been “separated from my mother’s womb,” despite his coming to know the Lord many years later, and after violent rejection of Christ and the Gospel before his conversion (Galatians 1:15; Acts 8:3).
The pleasures, pains, and mundane moments of our yesterdays all had a place in where we are now in God’s purposes. This does not mean He determined every occurrence. Scripture plainly states that the sins of others against us and our own sins cannot be viewed as our Lord’s doing (James 1:13-15). It is true, however, that God is so present, so involved, so active, so wise, so able, so gracious, and so devoted to us that He can coordinate every moment of our existence into His purposes for our lives. Primary in this is our spiritual and moral conformity to the Lord Jesus:
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:28-29).
When we look back, some things (like the 100th Psalm for me) cause us to smile. Others may grip our hearts with pain, bewilderment, and regret. Many seem to have been inconsequential as mere passing moments of the mundane. For born again believers in the Lord Jesus, however, not one of our moments occurred as unforeseen by God (Psalm 147:5; 15:8). Nor did one escape His working to effect the blessed “good” of our being “conformed to the image of His Son.” Much mystery lies in such grace and the fact of that - He - which has always been the greatest reality of our existence. We waste little time attempting to figure out how it all coordinates by God’s working in the countless moments of good, evil, and the seemingly neutral events (which never actually were) of our yesterdays. We spend much time in wonder, praise, and thanksgiving directed toward a Father eternally devoted to His Son, the Lord Jesus, and to all united to Him. Yes, as we journey to the past, let us go with God. We will find Him having been there, somehow and wondrously having been working for the glory of the Lord Jesus and our best interests in all.
“God… worketh all things after the counsel of His will.”
(Ephesians 1:3; 11)
Weekly Memory Verse
For the Lord is good, and His truth endureth to all generations.
(Psalm 100:5
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