Loving Father Who Allows the Rain

Brother Lawrence - The Practice of the Presence of God - His 15th Letter - 'From his death-bed. Repeats the same exhortation to knowledge, that we may love.

GOD knows best what is needful for us, and all that He does is for our good. If we knew how much He loves us, we should be always ready to receive equally and with indifference from His hand the sweet and the bitter; all would please that came from Him.

The sorest afflictions never appear intolerable, but when we see them in the wrong light. When we see them in the hand of GOD, who dispenses them: when we know that it is our loving FATHER, who abases and distresses us: our sufferings will lose their bitterness, and become even matter of consolation.

Let all our employment be to know GOD: the more one knows Him, the more one desires to know Him.

And as knowledge is commonly the measure of love, the deeper and more extensive our knowledge shall be, the greater will be our love: and if our love of GOD were great we should love Him equally in pains and pleasures.

Let us not amuse ourselves to seek or to love GOD for any sensible favors (however elevated) which He has or may do us.

Such favors, though never so great, cannot bring us so near to GOD as faith does in one simple act.

Let us seek Him often by faith: He is within us; seek Him not elsewhere.

Are we not rude and deserve blame, if we leave Him alone, to busy ourselves about trifles, which do not please Him and perhaps offend Him?

'Tis to be feared these trifles will one day cost us dearly.

Let us begin to be devoted to Him in good earnest.

Let us cast everything besides out of our hearts; He would possess them alone.

Beg this favor of Him.

If we do what we can on our parts, we shall soon see that change wrought in us which we aspire after. I cannot thank Him sufficiently for the relaxation He has vouchsafed you….'

Mat 5:45  …your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

The rain falls on the JUST and on the UNJUST.

Mat 13:27  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

Mat 13:28  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

Mat 13:29  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Mat 13:30  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Mat 13:37  He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

Mat 13:39  The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

Mat 13:40  As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

The wheat and tares grow together.

The children of God and the children of Satan grow together.

That rain falls on the children of God and the children of Satan.

So often the children of God expect to be spared the agonies of life. To the contrary, they should expect to be filled with the agonies of life.  Being the children of God does NOT give us special privileges, special exemptions.  Being the children of God enables us to realize that through EVERY single storm was are to endure we have an assured outcome in our Savior's love. NOTHING will change God, not a single thing. We might change, we can change in our attitude towards God, in our beliefs, we can change at any moment and that is what Satan is counting on. 

The presence of God, when His presence is a reality to us, when we learn to know Him, really know him, we comprehend that NOTHING that happens to us, not the worst thing in the entire world, not the worst thing we could ever think could happen is able to separate us from His love.

This is TRUTH-

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

More on this tomorrow by the WILL and GRACE of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, now and forever, AMEN.