Has God Failed You?

"Has God Failed You?"

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them:

 for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee;

 he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Deuteronomy 31:6

Let your conversation be without covetousness; 

and be content with such things as ye have:

 for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.    

Hebrews 13:5
   

Have you ever felt like God failed you in an area that you were believing Him to move in,

and the outcome just wasn't what you expected from God or His Word (the Bible)?

Some people are so sure they understand every aspect of God and scripture and what He (GOD)

has promised them, that they will THINK they can demand God to do something they ask for because they think it is a "clear-cut promise."  They THINK they can just claim it and it must happen!  

I have even heard people say things along this line, "God if you don't do this, based on the Bible, then you are a liar, and I will no longer believe in you."  While they say they are not being irreverent but holding God to His promises, I think it is quite an irreverent way for a "man" to talk to God.

There are promises in the Bible that I personally have stood on and they never came to past.  

Maybe it was for someone's healing, or for a job, etc,  But you know if it doesn't turn out the way we expected, the fault is not with God being a liar (what a terrible way to think) but with our FINITE mind not understanding what God was doing in a given circumstance.  

One thing is for sure God did NOT fail us.  

The bottom line is that we misinterpreted scripture and God's will in a given situation.

I like the strong words found in Romans 9:20  

"Nay but O man [MERE MAN IN COMPARISON TO GOD], who art thou that repliest [ANSWER, QUESTION, DISPUTE, ARGUE, CONTRADICTS] against God. Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?"  

Also we see the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY correct Job on this very attitude in Job 40:2

"Shall he [Job] that contendeth [FINDS FAULT, ARGUES] with the Almighty instruct 

[HAVE THE ANSWER FOR] Him?..." 

Job saw how wrong his attitude was and in verse 4 properly answered the LORD with,

"Behold I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I lay mine hands upon my mouth."

Boy can I relate to Job!  I have needed to put my hand(s) over my mouth and repent of some attitudes and words I felt when God didn't do it the way I expected Him to.  

Do you, for a moment, think God knew less than you what was best in a given situation, or why something happened and He didn't seem to intervene?  

Do I have all the answers to all what happens around me and you? - NO! But at least we need to NOT blame God or get upset with Him.  

In the future when you stand before God and He reveals Himself in ALL your past situations, you sure will wish you had just trusted the LORD with that situation and just moved on!

We must realize our understanding of things is limited.  

As I Cor. 13:12  states,

"For now we see through a glass, darkly [obscurely, blurred]; 

but then face to face, now I know in part [fragmentary fashion, incompletely]; 

but then shall I know [fully, completely] even as also I am known."  

Only in eternity, face-to-face with the LORD, will it all be crystal clear. 

As we think on the words in today's devotion and the scripture passages referenced, 

let us look inside our hearts to see if we have have a wrong view of God

and of those circumstances that we just don't understand. 

Today, by faith, GIVE them to the LORD and LEAVE them with the LORD, and MOVE ON with God's plan for you.

TRUST Him with them, and someday in this life, or more LIKELY in the life to come, He will make all those things crystal clear.

Just remember God has NOT failed you 

and He NEVER, NEVER, NEVER will!

"Are you a ROCKMAN or SANDMAN"

 

Scripture Reading: Matthew 7:24-27 (It's best to read the entire chapter)

7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them NOT, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

This is an interesting passage, yet it is quite a simple passage to see Jesus' "MAIN POINT." Most of the time you hear people say we need to be founded upon the ROCK which is JESUS, which is True, but that is not the SPECIFIC principle Jesus was teaching here. Jesus was teaching what makes a person have a solid foundation or an unstable foundation or what makes one a "wise man" or a "foolish man," which comes down to ONE thing, which is whether we DO what we hear or not. Let's look at the difference between the "Wise Man" (Rock man) and "Foolish Man" (Sand man).

WISE MAN (built house on rock)	FOOLISH MAN (built house upon sand)
heareth these sayings: Doeth them rains descended floods came winds blew beat upon that house It Fell Not	heareth these sayings: Doeth them not rains descended floods came winds blew beat upon that house Great was its fall

What is the difference? As you can see, the only difference is one was a doer of what he heard and the other was not a doer of what he heard. They both heard the same thing, had the same set of circumstances, but one fell and one did not, because one was a doer of the WORD and the other was a hearer only. James 1:22 says, "But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."

These scriptures makes it quite clear that we are deceived and in for a great (big) fall if we think hearing alone will benefit our lives. We can hear all the Bible studies, devotions, sermons, Christian conferences, Christian workshops, etc.; but if there is NO application you are not on a good foundation. I will say here that that should not be a discouragement from hearing (learning), as it is the first step to being a DOER.  I can't DO what I don't hear.  So, we need to HEAR! Then, we need to DO! I personally don't do 100% of what I hear (even though I should), but thank God I DO a lot of what I hear.  That DOING is where my foundation in Christ is established. Just for the record, I am NOT talking about "good works," but BEING DOERS OF GOD'S WORD.  There is a difference. If God's Word clearly tells us something then our goal should be to DO it.  

Do you want to establish a Firm (Solid Rock) Foundation? Then start putting God's Word to practice in your life. I promise you God who can not lie will bless your life!

I appreciate all your hunger for God's Word and hope to impart that which would make a Godly difference in your life.

The Devotional Life Is Almost Crowded Out

I love writing devotions, but when I find a devotion by someone, such as this one, that though written so many years ago (way before cell phone and computers), all I can think is how "more" true this words ring today.  I must share this with others.  May it speak to you all in this modern days of distraction, often taking us away from that which matters most - Time alone in quietness with our Lord!  - Jim (jim@biblefood.org)

Devotion by A.W. Tozer

And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business… 

That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without…. 1 Thessalonians 4:11, 12 

We Christians must simplify our lives or lose untold treasures on earth and in eternity!

Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible, multiplying distractions and beating us down by destroying our solitude.

“Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still” is a wise and healing counsel, but how can it be followed in this day of the newspaper, the telephone, the radio and the television? These modern playthings, like pet tiger cubs, have grown so large and dangerous that they threaten to devour us all. No spot is now safe from the world’s intrusion.

One way the civilized world destroys men is by preventing them from thinking their own thoughts. Our “vastly improved methods of communication” of which the shortsighted boast so loudly now enable a few men in strategic centers to feed into millions of minds alien thought stuff, ready-made and predigested.

Are you burning the candle at both ends...

 

 

The need for solitude and quietness was never greater than it is today. Even the majority of Christians are so completely conformed to this present age that they, too, want things the way they are.

However, there are some of God’s children who have had enough. They want to relearn the ways of solitude and simplicity and gain the infinite riches of the interior life. They want to discover the blessedness of what has been called “spiritual aloneness”—a discipline that will go far in making us acquainted with God and our own souls!

My review of: "Twelve Unlikley Heroes"

Periodically I review books for Thomas Nelson

This is my latest book review - I hope you find this helpful.

I always enjoy reading John MacArthur, and this book was no exception. Though I wouldn't put this in my favorites of John MacArthur, I enjoyed his story telling and weaving scripture passages together by pulling scriptures on these 12 "heroes" together from Genesis to Revelation.  I feel there were a little too many references to historians and Jewish tradition (but they are fallible).  God's Word is infallible.  Plus MacArthur makes some assumptions of things that "likely" happened in situations where scripture is silent.  In these cases when scripture is silent, maybe we should be too, rather than make an assumption of what was likely happening.  Overall I give it a 3.5 - 4.0 rating.  I recommend this book, if you have not read any of John MacArthur you should really enjoy it.  He is one of the best teachers out there.  Also, please do consider reading some of his other great books.

Note: Thomas Nelson gave me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review, and these opinions are my own.

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