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December 31, 2024
- By Ed Powell
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"It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23
God has given us numerous accounts in the Scriptures of those who went through devastating trials and afflictions that dared to trust Him "in" them. The result was that they learned to drink from the refreshing fountain of God's grace and found His sufficiency the blessed source of their strength. Had David never been the object of persecution by his enemies and fled from the determined army of Saul to slay him, we may well doubt whether he would have soared to such blessed revelations and experienced such an intimacy with God that rings loud and clear through his psalms. It was through these very trials he learned to trust God without reservation. These were the trials of his faith that made him the great man of God he became.
To the believer, the affliction is but light compared to that which we justly deserve (Ezra 9:13). With our focus on God, we must realize that God has a plan and purpose in all He allows. Through the trial of our faith God desires to bring us into a deeper realization of His great grace, the extent of His love, and the desire of His heart to take us from where we are to where He wants us to be. He cannot do that by letting us passively "construct our own faith" by our means, not His. Therefore, the wake-up call comes to quicken our focus to lean on Him and trust Him wholly in our need. These occasions are the "becoming" stages in our spiritual journey to being partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
When we awaken to the truth that "it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not," it is then, as we trust Him, that we find that His compassions fail not. His mercies are new every morning... great is His faithfulness. What a blessed discovery to our childlike faith! This is a giant step forward in our journey in "learning to lean" on His mighty power and to trust Him fully. To shrink from unwavering faith "in" the adversity is to lose all that God wants to do in and through us in this trial. Daring to trust Him we will find His comfort and care, His presence and power, His strength and sufficiency to meet our every need regardless of the circumstances...because HE IS ABLE.
David said, "It is good that I have been afflicted so that I may learn your decrees. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold" (Psalm 119:71-72). He acknowledges that "I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me" (Psalm 119:75).
He forgets his trials in contemplation of His mercies and sees the hand of God in it from the love that precedes it all. God's love knows no bounds. When we view our difficulty from God's perspective we will enter into such a discovery of God that will bring forth resounding praise and thanksgiving. It will more than compensate for the pain and suffering of our trial. I think that is what Paul meant when he wrote, "And in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us" (Romans 8:37).
We should not look at our afflictions as tokens of God's wrath but as expressions of His love. Through these trials we may experience a purifying and sanctifying of our soul. May we see the blessings that come to us as in no other way, in trusting Him in trials and experiencing anew His compassions...His mercies that are new every morning...and His great faithfulness.
Should we shun His work of grace that desires to deepen our faith, enlarge our vision, and bring us to a life on the highest plane? May we yield in meek submission to all God desires to do in our life that we may "be conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:28-29). DARE TO TRUST!
© 2007 by Ed Powell. Used by permission.
This page was reprinted by permission from: http://litmin.org/dare.php?date=2024-12-31&print=1
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