Unpredictable life

Published 8:05 am Friday, November 3, 2023

I spent five days in Denver, Colorado last week! Arriving in T-shirt weather, within three days we woke up to a layer of snow, 20-30 degree weather and snow falling all day. By the next day, there was four inches of beautiful, fresh snow covering the cars, trees and roads for a while. We decided to go to a state park in Boulder and were not disappointed in the beauty we saw! I left the following day in 19 degree temperatures, glad to be heading south and home!

Life is sometimes just that unpredictable and changeable. Losing a child suddenly, getting a bad health diagnosis, sudden financial setbacks are just a few of the many examples that come to mind. Life can never be the same with some of those losses and challenges. I have a number of friends who have lost someone suddenly and without any warning. Life does go on and others try hard to say and do the right thing without realizing that they are not always bringing the comfort they intend, but rather other emotions and thoughts that are either harmful or very insensitive. (Think of Job’s friends). Help us Lord, to be more sensitive to others that are going through grief and tragedy and not be so quick with our conversations or opinions.

In the midst of all the chaos and uncertainty much of the world is experiencing, there are a few constants. God Himself is 100% reliable, trustworthy and faithful. His love never fails. However, most of us as believers do not live like we believe that. We do not take His Word at face value, but allow circumstances to cause us to vacillate between two opinions. James tells us that “a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways.” Throughout the scriptures we see that God is faithful to His promises and His principles. We may think we have all the knowledge and understanding on a subject and then be disappointed at the outcome. But, God always demonstrates His faithfulness and trustworthiness. Just as Adam and Eve were deceived and it changed the whole trajectory of His perfect plan for mankind, so He knows the end from the beginning. He will ultimately have His way and we will rejoice at His sovereignty.

What are you or a loved one going through that doesn’t make sense or totally goes contrary to what you thought you believed? Job had one of those encounters and in the end, after the Lord confronted him and revealed a deeper level of His character and nature, all Job could do is repent and embrace the revelation he had received through severe life circumstances.

I have been on this journey close to sixty years. I have seen and experienced many things that did not make sense according to the way I was taught to believe. Sometimes it has shaken me to my core. Sometimes I have been able to “put it on the shelf” of God’s sovereignty. Sometimes I have gotten answers to my questions, but sometimes I have not. One thing I am certain about, which I know is not true of every believer, is that I have come to trust Him. I have come to believe that “all things work together for good” (the circumstances may not be good) but He will use the most horrendous set of circumstances to reveal another aspect of His true nature and character.

One concept I have visited many times in this column is that most of us tend to live and think or process our lives as though “time” is all we have. Until we become eternity minded, we can’t help it. When we only live in these three (or four) dimensions, we cannot think otherwise. This period of eternity is just a testing grounds – it is “training for reigning.” The sooner we understand and begin to walk in that revelation, the easier it will be to trust the Lord and the process He takes each one of us through.

All of us can and probably will be shaken over the next few years. Even if you are just “hanging on” for the rapture, your belief system may be shaken. When bad and tragic things happen to good people, it will be easy to react. God’s goal is to shake that which can be shaken so that what is left cannot be shaken. That is the substance of the Rock we must build our life upon. The Unshakable Kingdom is very real and tangible. There is a place of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit that absolutely cannot be shaken by circumstances. I want to live there all the time. If the scriptures indicate that we can, then – we can!

Job said “the thing I feared most has come upon me.” He made offerings for his children to compensate for any transgression that they may have made that he was not aware of. He followed all the rules and regulations and really tried to please God – for himself and his entire household. God called him a righteous man and even drew satan’s attention to him – “have you considered My servant Job…?” God gave satan certain boundaries that continued to give him more opportunities to deny his faith and trust in God. God was after that which could still be shaken in Job. Most of us are not aware of those areas in our own lives, but it is the goodness and kindness of God that leads us to repentance and He is determined to raise up sons and daughters that will react the way He did while here on earth as Jesus Christ – the perfect God-man. Not once did He yield to His flesh or His emotions or to reasoning from His enemy.

The next few years are probably going to test all of us in some way or another. Rather than resist what the Lord wants to reveal and if necessary shake, let us ask Him now for the mercy and grace to go through these tests and trials and come out of the fire without the smell of smoke (think of the three in the fiery furnace). They trusted God enough to take them through but also said, if He doesn’t we still know that He is God and we will not bow to you, king. That is the God I want to bow the knee of my heart to. Examine your own heart and allow Him to deal with any area that may not be built upon the Rock.