I just got back from church (Apex) a couple of hours ago, and there was a passage that Rob mentioned in his sermon that really spoke to me... so I turned to highlight it in my Bible, only to realize that it had, on a previous occasion, already been highlighted! I love how God will use something in your life on one occasion and then reaffirm it sometime down the road on another occasion. Anyway, I thought I would share with you:
"Come, let us return to the Lord, for He has torn us,
but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will
bandage us. He will revive us after two days; He will
raise us up on the third day, so let us know, let us
press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as
certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the
rain, like the spring rain watering the earth". Hosea 6:1-3
This past month of January, I have really struggled with my faith and my Christianity; I have wrestled and struggled, questioned and probed, and, in short, doubted everything that I had previously believed about God. I never actually got to the point of doubting my salvation, because I knew that I desired to know God more intimately and follow Him more faithfully, and thus, I knew that even the presence of that desire in my life was a reflection of God's image and work within me. However, I did doubt how involved or interested God was in my life. Does He personally give me every breath, or did He just create me with the physical capability to breath? Did He ordain, plan, and know that I would slip and fall on the ice, or did I just fall on the ice because that's the way things go? In short, I kind of got to the point where I thought maybe I was wrong in my thinking about the nature of God... maybe He is just the "guy upstairs", who wound us up and let us go!?
No! Thank the Lord for His faithfulness and for His word, through which, I have been given new hope! God is the perfect provider and sustainer, and He is involved in our lives on a momentary basis! Just look at all of the stories that have been posted on this blog; God does take an interest in our daily, routine, mundane lives! He cares so much that He tears and wounds us, so that He can personally heal and bandage us; He owes us nothing, but yet He dedicates Himself to interceding on our behalf! Therefore, let us return to Him; He is as dependable as the rising of the sun and the cycle of the seasons, and He is as refreshing and rejuvenating as the spring rains! Therefore, I will trust in Him, and I will find my hope in His faithfulness... no matter what my professors, friends, or anyone else says... I will return to the Lord, pressing on to know Him more fully!
Great to read what's going on with you, Leah. It reminds me of the verse...:::think, think, think::: that says..."work out your salvation..." Ah, here is is "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling," Phil 2:12. I pulled this from online, so it's not my normal translation. Anyhow, my Pastor (I think) once preached a sermon on this that made so much sense. Paul was writing to believers (new to me) - "dear friends" and "you have obeyed" and yet he's challenging them to work out their salvation. I can't remember the ins and outs of it, but I think what Pastor was saying was basically don't get stagnant in your faith. There are seasons when we test and poke and prod to see if what we believe is the real deal or not. I think I'm making a mess of this all, but basically I'm saying is that those seasons of doubting aren't all bad especially if they deepen our faith. And they will if we let them!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jen! I just love the message of the Old Testament... and especially Hosea! It's all about God pursuing us... even when He temporarily banishes/chastens us... He is doing it because His love for us is so great that He can't stand to see us go astray! Thus, every occurence in our lives is meant to greater facilitate dependence on Him!!
ReplyDeleteThus is the reason for theses accounts, I have come to know that I can trust HIM.
ReplyDelete