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)