Chuck McCament If the Lord delights in guiding birds in their migrations, isn’t it reasonable to assume He wants to guide our lives? Sure — and yet I find a major source of stress common with Christians is reluctance when it comes to decision making and the will of God; doubts either that He is leading us or that His intentions for us are good.
Thousands of ancient manuscript copies of both Old and New Testament Scriptures exist today and when compared to our modern translations, they say the same thing! We can also completely reconstruct the New Testament (except for a few verses) from letters of correspondence, theology, etc. written by the early Church Fathers of the first several centuries of the early Church. In these letters they quote New Testament passages!
Here is the response of faith. ‘Thou knowest!’—what a pillow for the heart to repose upon! ‘Thou knowest!’— what few but comprehensive words to sum up and express the heart’s difficulties and perplexities and trials. ‘ Thou knowest!’—what an inexpressibly sweet resting-place in the midst of life’s tumultuous heavings; in the midst of a sea that knows no calm; in the midst of a scene in which tossings to and fro are the hourly history! What an answer they contain for every heart that can find no words to express its big emotions; for a heart whose sorrows are too deep for language to find its way to God! Oh, that they were ever uppermost in the soul, as the response to every difficulty in our path! They are God’s answer to everything we cannot fathom; God’s answer for our hearts to rest upon, and our lips to utter, when every way is hedged up so that we cannot pass. ‘O Lord God, thou knowest!’ Rest here, believer. Lean thy soul on these words. Repose calmly on the bosom of thy God, and carry them with thee into every scene of life. ‘O Lord God, thou knowest.
We are such a contradiction, such a paradox as believers! Like the apostle Paul said of himself (Romans 7), we often do what we know we shouldn’t do — and don’t do what we know we should; and even if we could tame and conform our behavior, there’s our thought-life! These things about us make the grace of God truly amazing!
Frederick Meyer (1847-1929) spent the last few years of his life working as a pastor in England’s churches, but still made trips to North America, including one he made at age 80 (his earlier evangelistic tours had included South Africa, Asia, as well as the United States and Canada). A few days before his death, Meyer wrote the following words to a friend: “I have just heard, to my great surprise, that I have but a few days to live. It may be that before this reaches you, I shall have entered the palace. Don’t trouble to write. We shall meet in the morning.”
Recently I came across this quote from Martin Luther (1483-1586): “If you perhaps look for praise and would sulk or quit what you are doing if you did not get it — if you are of that stripe, dear friend — then take yourself by the ears, and if you do this in the right way, you will find a beautiful pair of big, long, shaggy donkey ears!”
Christ’s commission to the first disciples hasn't been rescinded! The Lord would have us represent Him to our world and the sphere of influence He has placed each of us in. Learn how to share the gospel then get with His program while there is still time to do so.