In a recent conversation with a friend, we discussed some of the problems and challenges we are facing these days. My friend is a Bible scholar and historian. He was sharing about some of the conditions of our society and events just prior to the First and Second Great Awakenings here in the USA. Humanly speaking, things were really bad in those days. The spiritual and moral condition in the country were on a sharp decline. Evil and ungodly influences were expressed in many different ways. Reflecting on that conversation reminded me of a quote by Adoniram Judson, “The future is as bright as the promises of God.”
Seeing the Not Seen
It is encouraging to realize that God is at work in every detail of our lives. However, we must look past the seen and temporary, to the not seen and eternal. We are to walk by faith, not by sight. That, of course, requires us to have spiritual eye sight. There is a great need to see things from God’s perspective. Jesus said we must be born again in order to see the Kingdom. He also said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” That could apply to seeing God in action on our behalf. The spiritual new birth enables us to see God at work, and to judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgement. One of the important lessons we emphasize in our orality training is the problem of spiritual blindness. The good news is that He can still heal blindness, both physically and spiritually. The blind beggar in Mark 10 received his sight and started following Jesus. In the spiritual sense, we must be born of the Spirit in order to follow Jesus.
50/20 Vision
A friend of mine use to talk about the need for having 50/20 Vision. It’s based on Genesis 50:20 when Joseph said to his brothers, after being abused by them, “You planned evil against me, but God meant it for good.” There are many examples throughout Scripture where God intervenes in human experience to bring good out of bad situations. One of my mentors years ago use to emphasize that every negative has a positive. Furthermore, the more negative the negative, the more positive the positive. So, when life’s circumstances get really bad, we can look to the Lord and expect that He will intervene and bring good from it. In our work with Living Water International, we often observe how God shows up in the most difficult times and the darkest places.
Divine Appointment
A lady ran into the back of my car on the freeway one time. While waiting for the police to arrive to do an accident report, I engaged her in conversation, shared the Gospel and had prayer with her. She was very open to the Lord and received Christ. As a result of that encounter, she immediately shared her experience with a security guard in the parking lot. A little later in the day, she shared her testimony with two police officers while processing the accident report. It was a great example of how the Lord can use negative experiences and turn them into positive results. It’s important to remember that when things really get bad, we can look to the Lord and trust that He will show Himself strong on our behalf. History is filled with examples of how God has used those crisis times and difficult experiences for His divine purposes. I ran across a tract years ago that was titled, “There are on accidents with God.” That truth should be a comfort to all of us.
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SOURCE: Assist News Service
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