Over the weekend, two of my children and I were in a friend's wedding. I sang and Gracie & Will were the flower girl and ring bearer. While on the way to the rehearsal Friday night, I discussed with the children what they would be doing and how we were going to practice it all. "Well, daddy told me I was to be a decoration at the wedding," Gracie chimed in from the back seat. I asked her to explain. "Daddy said I wasn't the star of the wedding," she said. "That I was a decoration instead." I agreed with dad's assessment of the situation and told her their parts were already pre-determined. "You'll have a certain place to stand with Will. But the star of the day is the one getting married," I told her. Then I told Gracie all she had to do was to follow the directions of the wedding coordinator and do what she tells her to do. "So when do I get to be the star of the wedding?" she asked. "When you get married!" I told her.
Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." It is so hard to wait on God sometimes. We get frustrated and want to "fix" things ourselves when it seems like He is asleep. But some things have been pre-arranged for you and me. God is able to make plans ahead of time and have things in the right place at the right time. He knows what year you will get there, and He knows exactly what you'll need when you get there. Whatever your need is, God will have it waiting for you.
Once you obey God, then you will see His provision in whatever trial or circumstance you are facing. And once you obey God and follow the path He has for you, you will find He has pre-arranged things for you just like He did for Abraham when he obeyed God in heading to Mt. Moriah to sacrifice his son Isaac. Genesis 22:13 says, "And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son."
When Abraham made the choice to obey God, failure was not an option. Failure is man-made not God-made. If we will have patience to follow His direction, He will provide.
2 comments:
Timely post for me today Barbie. Thanks.
We may never know for sure until we get to Heaven, but it seems plausible that, in the councils of eternity, God the Father decreed that Christ the Son, during His time on earth, would have the sort of occupation which would remind Him of what He had been at the foundation of the world.
Jesus, during the time leading up to his public ministry, was a carpenter. (Mark 6:3) In Bible times, a carpenter was chiefly a builder. We know from Scripture that Christ built the heavens and the earth. (Hebrews 11:3; John 1:1 and 1:14; Psalm 104)
It may surprise some, but Jesus Christ is still building today. What is He building? He is building His Church. (Matthew 16:18) What material is He using? His materials are born-again believers, who have received Him as Savior by faith. (I Peter 2:5)
If you have been saved by grace through faith – and that is the only way TO BE saved (Ephesians 2:8-9) – then there are some pre-ordained good works for you – as hand-fashioned material in the hands of the Master Builder – to get busy doing. Christians are not saved BY good works; they are saved UNTO good works, and the best work for a Christian to be involved in is the building of his Lord’s Church.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10
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