Wednesday, November 05, 2014

DIVINELY DESIGNED AND DIRECTED


 


The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.  (Psalm 138:8)

I’m not all I ought to be, but God is not through with me yet!  I am a work in progress.  We all are.

There is a reason why we are here—in this place and for this time.  God created us for His purposes.  He wove the fabric of our being—putting the code in our DNA, placing us in the environment and with the experiences that all combined to shape us with the aptitudes and abilities He meant for us to possess.  Rather than wishing we were like someone else, we need to submit to God’s design and direction for us.  There is only one me, and I need to be the best me He created me to be!

I was not only shaped by my physical birth, but thankfully, I have also had a spiritual birth.  Otherwise, those natural gifts, tainted by sin, will be employed for evil purposes.  Now, they are redeemed to God’s usefulness.  Much more, being regenerate, I have been indwelt with the Spirit of God and empowered with spiritual gifts to fulfill His call in my life. 

This is the sheer, sovereign grace of God at work for His glory!  Even when I was fleeing from Him as a stubborn sheep, the Good Shepherd sought me and saved me.  His love would not let me go!  Now, being in His flock, when I stumble, He lifts me, and when I start to stray, he scourges me.  Sometimes, He allows me to experience the pain of my foolishness to teach me, but always in the right measure and under His watchful eye.  I am assured that even the hard times of life—what I would think of as bad—are promised to work together for my good, since I am called according to His purpose.  That is the promise of Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

There have been projects I have started with great zeal, and then I became distracted by other concerns or disenchanted by the difficulty, setting them aside, where today they collect dust, unfinished.  Thank God, He never does that!  Paul said, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).  He has started a good work in me.  All He does is good!  God doesn’t make junk!  He doesn’t mess up!  When I go around complaining about my state in life then I am arrogantly saying, “God when you made me this way, you didn’t know what you were doing!”  Instead, I need to rejoice in Him who has begun and is completing His grand design.  I will arrive in Heaven one day, a perfect product, looking just like Jesus!

 

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