Test of Faithfulness...

Do you really believe in God's sovreinty?

There have been a series of events through my years

thru which I have been 'blessed' to be taught 

in a deeper way that God is in control

of my circumstances.

I have been thick skulled far too long

on this subject, but I think that I am 

slowly, slowly learning to rest in the

fact that as His child, He truly does

work all things together for my good...

and for His glory and purposes.

Recently I was thinking of the account

of Esther, in the Bible.

God in His sovreinty caused the king to

need another queen,

then caused Esther to

be brought all the way from her

home to the palace,

then caused the king to choose

her from all the other women

he could have chosen to be his new queen.

In the end, Esther was able to save her

people from annihilation.

God is in control of our circumstances.

Joseph's story always

 intrigues me, too

whenever I ponder

 this subject.

Imagine being a slave for 20 years,

and then being positioned next to

Pharaoh?

Wouldn't we be tempted to be

bitter, rage against our circumstances,

try to change the situation, or

let everyone else know that such

treatment is beneath you?

Joseph 'bloomed where he was planted',

and in the end, saved the nation of 

Israel from death to starvation.

I am more than a little challenged by

those thoughts and by the following:

We know that all things work together

 for good to those who love God… —Romans 8:28

It is only a faithful person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.

Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.

The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.

Oswald Chambers