Experiencing the Power of God
God’s Power is for God’s Purposes – Part II
Scripture Reading: Philippians 2:12-18
Key Verse: Philippians 2:13
for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Here is a verse that I have found very helpful to believe that all of God’s plans and purposes are good:
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)
We are not smart enough to judge whether our life’s circumstances are good or bad. They may feel good or bad to us, but God is the only one who knows what the future brings.
When someone wins the lottery, they undoubtedly think that is the most wonderful thing that ever happened to them. Yet we know for many winners, it eventually wrecks their marriages and their families. In the end, many of them would say that winning the lottery was the worst thing that has happened to them.
That is just one example where we cannot trust our evaluation of circumstances; we just are not smart enough!
Maybe you have heard of the Chinese proverb about a farmer and his son.
They had a stallion who helped them earn a living and one day it ran away. His neighbors said, “What terrible luck.” The farmer said, “Maybe so, maybe not. We will see.”
A few days later the horse returned leading wild mares back to the farm. The neighbors said, “What great luck.” The farmer said, “Maybe so, maybe not. We will see”.
Later that week the son was trying to break one of the wild mares, and the mare threw him to the ground and broke his leg. The neighbors said, “What terrible luck.” But the farmer said, “Maybe so, maybe not. We will see”.
A few weeks later soldiers from the national army came through town recruiting all able-bodied boys for the army. They did not take the son, who was still recovery from his injuries. The neighbors said, “What tremendous luck.” The farmer said, “Maybe so, maybe not. We will see.”
The moral of that story is that we are not smart enough to judge our circumstances.
The Apostle Paul confirms this truth in Romans 11:33:
Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!
We struggle to get this through to our thick minds. It is impossible to understand God’s decisions and His ways. We only need to understand the greatness of God’s riches and knowledge. Nothing that happens to us is beyond His knowledge and ability to turn it into something good for us.
Life on earth will never match what Jesus has prepared for us when this life is over, but we can live without fear or anxiety. There is no pain that goes beyond God’s grace and strength to help us.
Father, I know that your wisdom and ways are beyond me ability to understand. Help me to trust you when life becomes painful. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.