Day 63
Trust His Love
The Lord shall prevent the evil thou fearest, and
sanctify, remove, or lighten the evil thou feelest. He will preserve the soul, that
it be not defiled by sin, and disturbed by affliction; he will preserve it from
perishing eternally. He will keep thee in life and death; going out to thy
labor in the morning of thy days, and coming home to thy rest when the evening
of old age calls thee in. It is a protection for life.
Matthew Henry[i]
~~~
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R
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emember that it was
fear of exposure that caused Adam and Eve to hide from God, and we are like
them. When we turn our faces from the beauty and cleansing that is ours through
Christ, it is nearly always because we have something to hide.
We want to hide our fear of God’s will. We conjure “worst case scenarios”
and attribute to Him negative motives that His love does not possess. The
difficulty is that when we come into His light, we become overwhelmingly aware
of our own wretched sinfulness, and we know He will do what is best for us no
matter what. Therein resides our fear. How do we cope with a God whose love
promises fire to cleanse our dross?
We suffer confusion over the truth of Romans 8:28. God’s power does
indeed transform tragic circumstances into tools that sculpt us into His
likeness for our ultimate good, but this does not mean that He delivers bad
things in order to make us good. The idea that God will hurt us to help us is
flawed logic. We risk attributing the devil’s work to the Lord, and although
God does take ultimate responsibility for Satan’s strategies, He is not the
author of those evil plots against us.
Jesus was without sin, but He bore the results of our sin. The same Holy
dynamic is at work in the truth that God works all things together for our
good; God is incapable of authoring sin, but He takes responsibility for the
devastation sin has caused. It is our Heavenly Father’s love, Christ’s
sacrifice, and the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit that has won victory
over all that is evil.
When we attempt to protect ourselves from God’s will, we rob ourselves of
peace. The resurrection theme Jesus has woven into each of our lives allows us
to anticipate His provision and blessing both in this world and in the next. We
serve a God who has promised us good and not harm, a future and a hope.[ii]
We can rest in the certainty of His love.
Pray: Father, please forgive me for being unwilling to come to You when I
think You might ask me to do something I don’t want to do. Help me to lay my
will on Your altar. Help me to trust You without withholding any part of myself
from Your perfect love. In Jesus’ name, amen.
~~~
My heart is not proud,
Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.
Israel, put your hope in
the Lord
both now and forevermore.
Psalm 131 NIV
both now and forevermore.
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