God's Direction is Always Sure
by Dr. Ken Matto
(Mark 5:19-20 KJV) Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but
saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord
hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. {20} And he departed, and
began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all
men did marvel.
A couple weeks ago I wrote concerning God redirecting our paths, especially when
we least expect it. Our verses tell us the end result of the Gadarene demoniac
meeting Jesus. When he woke up that morning, he probably believed that it would
just be another day of demonic possession and torture. However, Jesus showed up
on the scene and after an encounter with Him, the demons left the man and he was
then in his right mind. What did Jesus tell him to do? Did He tell him that when
he gets back to Decapolis, that he was to rent a giant stadium and hold an
evangelistic crusade and be a testimony? No, instead Jesus told him to tell his
friends what great things the Lord had done for him.
A few weeks a go a friend of mine lost her job and with a mortgage and a family
to support, it looked bleak, especially in this economy. Well I had the
opportunity to meet with her two weeks ago and she told me that she had to go
for an interview in New York City. With the traffic and other dangers, such as
taxicabs, I offered to take her into the city and to cut down on the stress, I
would drop her off in front of the building and then go find a place to park. It
was a misty, drizzly day, hardly one that could build your spirits. So we took
the trek into the city and she went for her interview, and lo and behold, a few
days later I had offered her some resume paper and envelopes but she told me she
didn’t need them because she got the job. She will be ending one job and
starting another without missing a day’s wages. God wants us trusting Him every
step of the way. She could have said that she wasn’t going into New York for the
interview because of the hassle, but placing her faith totally on the Lord for
the outcome, God rewarded her faith with a job with a premier company.
Job was also like that. He was the center of attention when Satan wanted to
destroy him but God had other plans. Job lost everything, including his whole
family, yet the Lord allowed his wife to live so she could be part of his
testing program. Then we see that Job had some friends come over who continued
to counsel him. Well we read that later on when the trial was over, God restored
the goods to Job plus He also gave him another family with many children. In
fact, the Bible even tells us that God restored everything double.
(Job 42:10 KJV) And the LORD turned the captivity
of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as
he had before.
I wonder how it is with us? There are many things the Lord
does for His children and are we keeping quiet about it or are we giving the
glory to God? Our Christian lives are ones lived in constant trials but there
are also many things the Lord does for us and we should be thanking Him for it
by telling others what God has done for us. Sometimes we may be financially
strapped and then to our surprise, the Lord engineers circumstances and brings
us financial relief. I remember earlier this year I applied for disability and
it was approved on the first application. Some people have to fight Social
Security with lawyers to get it, but here the Lord allowed me to get it first
time out. I also got my present car this way. When I worked at Avis as a
Dispatcher, I needed another car drastically. There was a 1998 Nissan Sentra
with 27,000 miles on it in the Avis lot that I had my eye on for a while. Well
the time came for me to purchase so I went through channels to inquire about the
price. Their salesman wanted to sell it to me for $11,200. So I went to the VP
of Finance and asked him what price I could really have it for. They gave it to
me for $8,750 which was the wholesale price. The Lord moved the VP to give it to
me for that reduced price. I still have the car today and it is still running
great at almost 80,000 miles.
We must never allow the trials of this life to overshadow the great things that
the Lord does for us. In each of our lives, there is something which we can give
the Lord thanks for and to tell others how God takes care of us. Too many times
Christians walk around in a depressed state only focusing on the trials they
face. When something good happens, they tend to shove it under the carpet of
depression. I think some people enjoy living in that state because they can be
the center of attention, always seeking the sympathy of others. What a miserable
existence that is, making your life’s goal the sympathy of others. God is not a
mean God sending lightning bolts down on His children nor does He have fun with
trying to make our lives miserable. We must understand that we live in a fallen,
sinful world and there are forces of evil which are out to hinder us and
attempting to destroy us. As Christians, we must realize there are going to be
times on this earth when things are looking good but we must also realize that
all our pleasures will be found in the new Heaven and the new Earth. It is hard
for a redeemed child of God to find any type of compatibility with any of the
systems on this earth. We are consistently going against the tide.
We can summarize by stating that no matter what happens here on earth, the
redeemed child of God is going to be victorious. It may not be the outcome we
were hoping for but it will be ordained of God. I am sure Job was probably
perplexed as to what happened to him. One day he was destitute sitting in ashes
with boils all over his body and the next he was delivered from it receiving
double from what he initially had. All the good things that happen to us on
earth are all temporal. We can never take material things to heaven with us. We
will eventually outlive our usefulness here on earth but the great promise that
we have is that the Lord has prepared a place for us eternally in Heaven. It is
to this that the Christian must ultimately look and to always remember that God
is always working on our behalf while we are on the journey home through this
spiritual wasteland called earth. (Luke
21:28 KJV) And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift
up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
(7/23/04)