What If...........???.
Life throws so many unexpected experiences at us. I remember once saying to some friends that if someone sat us down on our eighteenth birthday and showed us a movie of how our lives were going to work out, then each one of us would all chose to live our lives very differently. But the reality is that God’s marvellous will and destiny is worked out through our own life mistakes and achievements whether we recognise it, or not.
The problems we have with “life decisions” are that, firstly, we are never allowed to know what an outcome would have been if we had chosen a different decision. And secondly, we are not allowed to know what God’s alternatives are when we are considering His work within us. God never ever shows us the “what ifs”.
Certainly, we can make educated guesses about daily scenarios and decisions. But when it comes to God’s will for our lives He doesn’t show us everything at once. His will is revealed one step at a time. And even then, we can only really see it when we look back over things and see God’s hand in everything.
The disciples were very much in this scenario immediately after Jesus’ crucifixion. They, and the others, were all at a loss as to what to do next. They all had the same dilemma. They saw Jesus raise others from the dead, but how can a dead man raise Himself? They had all locked themselves away in various locations for fear of the Jewish leaders coming after them as well….
John 20 (19) On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders…
But it was in one of these very locations, in hiding and doors locked, that Jesus suddenly appeared to them…
Luke 24 (36) While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." (37) They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
Thomas was missing. Judas Iscariot was dead. They must have been speechless. They had seen a lot of miracles. But how could this one have happened?
They were all filled with uncertainty, dread and doubts. Peter, John, Nicodemus, Jesus’ mother – Mary, all of the others. Their minds must have been in absolute turmoil and confusion. And now, Jesus is standing right in front of them all. First to Mary of Magdala, then to the disciples, then to others to follow in the coming days and weeks.
They were no longer asking “What if….?”. Jesus had made everything clear to them.
Luke 24 (45) Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.
Even the two people on the road to Emmaus…
Luke 24 (32) They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
Almost ten days had passed since the Passover Supper. Ten confusion filled days which saw the bloodshed, Peter’s denial, Judas’ treachery and suicide, the tears of the women who loved Him and the discovery of the empty tomb. And yet the glad truth is that after the resurrection we find Jesus appearing to them that loved Him in the most unexpected and diverse ways.
And that’s the way God works in us, too. We live our lives. We fail, we succeed. We make friends, we fall out again. We go through our daily lives interacting with those around us. And sometimes, in the still quietness, God comes into our thoughts. And we are brought back into the very reason for our christian living. A loving relationship with Him.
Some things happen to us. And that’s just it. We never get to know why God allows it. Like Naomi, in the book of Ruth. She was to see her husband and sons die in a foreign land. But God’s purpose was to get her daughter in law, Ruth, into Israel so that she could marry Boaz. (Read my other blog entitled “Wee Hinges” for the story of this).
And so, God will have His will in our lives. He has not forgotten us. And He never will. Consider the verse in the Letter to The Hebrews…
Hebrews 6 (10) God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people: and continue to help them.
When we were at our lowest, or at our weakest, God came to us. And he will come to us again, still.
Psalm 103 (8) The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.(9) He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. (10) He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. (11) For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; (12) As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Amen.
And He will remember His own;
Though trials may press us and burdens distress us,
He never will leave us alone;
God is still on the throne,
He never forsaketh His own;
His promise is true, He will not forget you,
God is still on the throne.
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