God Can Redirect Our Lives At Any Time

by Dr. Ken Matto

(Acts 9:3-4 KJV) And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: {4} And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Pharisee Saul was on his way to Damascus to find and persecute the church. He did this out of the zeal he had for his religion. However, the Lord Jesus Christ had different plans. When Saul entered the Damascus road he was Saul, when he left it, he was Paul. Saul never imagined that he was soon going to become a brother to the people that he voraciously persecuted. There is a great principle that we can extract from that verse, which is, that at any time the Lord Jesus Christ can redirect our life and He does it without our permission. Saul never expected to be Paul but the Lord had changed his plans by making him one of His.

This past week I had another experience that many people have gone through who own a computer. I contracted a virus that Norton didn’t even classify or identify yet. When I looked it up, it was named “bloodhound” so I went to the Norton site and looked it up. They give the name “bloodhound” to any unidentifiable virus. For the past week I have been specifically targeted with virus filled e-mails which has been zapped by my software, except for the one that got through. This virus caused my computer to freeze up every ten minutes forcing me to reset, because it would not allow a restart. I called in a computer repair person from down the street and when he came here, he looked at it and knew that it was a virus. So for 24 hours I was without a computer. What was I to do? I actually made phone calls to folks I haven’t spoken with in a while. You see since 1995 this was only about the second or third time I was without a functional computer. My problem was I was getting used to it and I expected it to be operational every time I turned it on. However, the Lord had different plans, not as drastic as what happened to Paul but within the same principle. He chose to redirect my path for 24 hours by removing something that I was beginning to count on and in the process was getting sloppy with virus warnings until the one got through.

There are many examples in Scripture of those whom God had redirected their paths in a very short time. We can look at the life of Joseph, one day he was with his brethren and the next he was a slave. When Joseph’s time of testing was done, one day he was a slave and the next he was the Governor of Egypt. One day Moses was a sheepherder and the next he was leading millions of Israelites out of bondage in Egypt. However, Moses did not lead the people out of Egypt until God had placed him on the backside of the desert for forty years so God could strip Moses of all the pride from Egypt and mold him into the servant that God wanted him to be, which made him capable for the major task that God had planned for him.

We can and should bring this mighty principle into the lives of us Christians in modern times. We must realize that as the Elect of God, He still maintains the right to redirect our lives at any time and without prior warning. If He sees us getting too comfortable, He will bring us out of the comfort zone and He will shut the door behind us. He doesn’t do this to try and destroy us. He does it to redirect our faith from earthly things back on to Him. Sometimes we become so at ease in our life’s situation that we may have been neglecting God and He wants us to realize that we are His children and we are not to forget Him. Which can be so easily done in this world.

(Deu 8:11 KJV) Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

There is also another reason that God may redirect our paths and it has nothing to do with an easy life style. It has to do with God sending you on another assignment. The Lord may have you in a situation to reach a person or persons for Christ and when that assignment is finished, He moves you on. When Major General Dwight Eisenhower was first dispatched to London, President Roosevelt said to him that he needs to pack. General Eisenhower responded, “Sir, I am in the army, I never unpack.” That is they way we need to respond to the fact that we are in the Lord’s army. This world is temporal with everything in it. This is why God keeps shuffling His children to different locations.

Sometimes a person may lose a job and on the surface it seems that it was done by evil people. Keep in mind that as a child of God, only God can hire you and only God can fire you. As a Christian matures in the faith, then God begins to assign different and sometimes more difficult tasks. Sometimes we wonder why we just can’t run into these people the Lord wants us to meet by letting them get behind us and read our Bumper stickers. The Lord answers that query in: (Isa 55:8 KJV) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. During the time He may have us out of work, He will be testing us and growing us by stretching our faith beyond our established comfort zone. Then when the iron is hot enough, He then molds us on the anvil of divine love to prepare us for the next assignment. Then when we are ready, He opens every door for that new assignment.

One thing we must caution ourselves on and that is not to fight God every step of the way or to complain and murmur. If we hold on to this attitude, then instead of the anvil of preparation we will go into the furnace of affliction until all the dross (evil attitude) is off of us. (Isa 48:10 KJV) Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. God doesn’t refine His children with Gold and Silver, He refines us with His right hand. (Isa 41:10 KJV) Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Notice the promise which God gives to His children in this verse. He promises to strengthen, help, and uphold us. The right hand here symbolizes the power of God toward His children. This is why He counsels us not to be fearful or dismayed (a sudden loss of courage). If we follow God’s guidance then we will go into our next assignment along with everything God taught us along the way and many times God teaches us lessons so we can teach others. So seek the anvil of preparation and you will avail yourself to the peace of God which will rule in your life. (Col 3:15 KJV) And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.   (7/9/04)

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