God's Will In ALL Things, Good and Bad.

What is our life?

Our life is a VAPOR.

Our life appears for a little time and then it vanishes away.

This is TRUTH, this is GOD'S TRUTH.

We know this is truth don't we? Tell me right now who your great, great, great, great grandmother was, what was her name? How old was she when she passed? How many children did she have? Do all this without looking up any genealogy charts. Can you? This person was vital to your being born, without this person you never would have existed. You can take that all the way back to the very beginning of time. And there would be many, many grandmothers, many greats to count to get back to the beginning of you.  Each of those individual grandmother's lives appeared for a little time and vanished away, this too is our fate as a human being. We appear for a little while and vanish away. We  have to comprehend the BIGGER picture of our life.

We make plans for our lives, some short term, some long term and these plans mean absolutely NOTHING if they are not made with the desire for God's will to be done first and foremost.

All too often we are shown just how little control we have over our lives. Some of us are given shocks through ill loved ones, through the loss of a loved one, through an accident resulting in injuries, through so many little things we are allowed to see just how all our own plans fall short.

When we pray for God's will to be done in our lives and believe that God's will, will be done in our lives we have to believe even when we cannot comprehend the how's and why's that His will is being done- no matter what happens and He is in control.

Satan will endeavor to get us to question God's will endlessly.  Who hasn't read or heard the story of Job in the Bible? So many awful things happened to Job and still He held fast to God's will. He believed no matter how awful things became- having all his children die at once, here read it…

Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 1:13  And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

Job 1:14  And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

Job 1:15  And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Job 1:16  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Job 1:17  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Job 1:18  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:

Job 1:19  And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Tragedy after tragedy, after tragedy. Just imagine you're at home and a person knocks on the door only to tell you that a good portion of how you make your money is gone, wiped out. And while that person is telling you that awful news another comes up and says a band of ruthless criminals have taken your goods and killed those watching them.  And then another comes up and says that a fire destroy yet another of your sources of income. While that person is telling you their awful news and you can barely stand to hear another word, another person comes to you and tells you that your sons and daughters who were at a party together have all been killed in a freak storm.  Seriously, try to imagine it as a reality. The devastation you feel goes beyond anything you've ever felt before. You simply can't believe all that awfulness has taken place.  Now, how tempted are you to BLAME God, to CURSE God?

This is what Job did-

Job 1:20  Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

Job 1:21  And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job 1:22  In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

We don't even have to have half of that stuff happen to us, not even a quarter of that stuff, not an eighth, or a sixteenth of it, not even the tiniest fraction of such horrors happen to us and we are cursing God and charging Him foolishly. 

Yes, it is God who allows the good and the bad to occur in our lives, He allows it, but He NEVER allows it for His amusement, for sadistic purposes, not ever. The reasons go beyond our comprehension and WE through FAITH must believe that whatever those reasons are they are ultimately for the good in an eternal way, not in a here and now way, but in an eternal way. 

Job could worship God because He understood this truth. Blessed be the name of the LORD. No matter what, blessed be the name of the LORD. HIS WILL, NOT OURS BE DONE.

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Jas 4:13  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Jas 4:15  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

Jas 4:16  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

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So, yes, make your plans, dream your dreams, hope your hopes, but in all of it- through every single heart ache, every single tear, every single tragedy NEVER DOUBT that GOD is still GOD and HIS WILL is greater than any idea we may ever conceive of as being good, right, and just.  Cry your gut wrenching, heart breaking sobs of the deepest grief but know GOD has plans beyond anything we can comprehend and to say we must comprehend only reveals our ignorance of FAITH in God.

Rom_8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

That doesn't say…  all GOOD things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose.   It says ALL THINGS and that ALL includes the deepest, darkest days of our existence, when we would wish we'd never been born.

We must BELIEVE.  

We must desire the LORD'S WILL, and rejoice in HIM not in our own plans.

YOUR WILL, LORD, YOUR WILL!

By Your grace!

Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior now and forever!

Amen.