A Thought for the Day – 088 – Destiny
Proverbs 12:17-22 – Most people would not like to displease
the LORD God; yet most people do not really KNOW His Holy Character. So for
them to tell a lie it is as easy as opening their mouth. The lie whether small
or great is disgusting to God; harmful to the listener and always produces evil.
Yet there are those who promote life and liberty and who love justice; these
men and women are those who do not LIE.
Comments and challenges
One day
this devotional shall come to an end, I do not dread the day but like the man
who motivates me to continue, he has temporarily stopped his column due to
illness. Most every time the magazine Israel My Glory comes I read his article
and the encouragement from his words, motivate me. His name is Zvi Kalisher; I am
looking at a picture of him and his family that was taken some years ago. In the
picture there is his wife and four children. A comment from the editor is that
they now have fifteen grand-children.
Zvi
lives in Israel, so does his family, we often view Israel and those opposing
Israel as threats to our safety if we were to travel there. Our stay of course
would most likely be limited to one or two weeks and the fear of our safety may
be a factor to keep us from enjoying the time to learn more in depth knowledge
of the Holy Land. This fear is to our shame, really.
Men and
families like Zvi live and harvest Israel’s future, even the ultra-Orthodox
Jews who study under the false teaching of the Rabbis they faithfully follow.
Zvi has a ministry to lead these men to Jesus and I like how he does this, we
who live in this country are harvesters of our future also. We also have men
who oppose God and listen to the false teachings of men who suppress the truth
in unrighteousness like the Rabbis in Israel. Romans 1:18
So here
is the RUB. There is much unrest in Israel and the threat of death is all
around these folks, yet they continue to strive in unbelief and those alive in
Christ continue to thrive in belief. We here in the United States witness the
striving of those in unbelief and continue to see those who are alive in Christ
and prosper. Even under the developing unrest in our nation and with the threat
of terrorism and death all around.
Now WHY
is that? Is the fate of life or death in the hands of the one who has life, is
he or she the one who controls life? Does false religion control life? Does faith
in God control life? No but these do control destiny. Yet as nations and people
who are countrymen we live and we die, some through terror and most through
natural cause. It is God who controls when life meets death and not we who are
fearful of traveling and unrest in countries near or far.
I am
reminded of two separate occasions in this country where the husband and wife
died in automobile accidents here in Connecticut. One was long ago around 1974;
a sailor who I knew, was drunk and driving in the wrong lane going against the
traffic hit a car head on, killing a man and his wife who were here on vacation
from Israel. And just recently within the past month the very same thing
happened to another couple from Israel who was on vacation. So it is not
terrorism that we should fear; is it? I am sure that if we were citizens of
Israel we would see similar events in their news. We have no control over
living or dying, but we do have opportunity to place our faith in God who
controls destiny.
It is
interesting what Titus has to say in Titus 2:11-15 our concerns are first to be
trained in the truth; the truth that speaks of the saving grace of God that has
appeared to all men; He is the Great God and Savior the LORD Jesus Christ who
gave Himself for us. He alone is the blessed hope. He alone is the coming
glorious One who will appear either by death or by the Rapture of His Saints,
and please know this; that whether it is physical death or the Rapture of the
church… it will be SOON! So why look at all the wars and rumors of wars as if
we will be involved in some terrorist expression of hate. Keep looking to Jesus
who is the Author of Faith, Hope and Love. Now, lest you forget I am reminding
you that we have been talking about these three sanctification gifts of God
over the past few days.
Yes we
as people under the sun have personal faith, personal hope and personal love,
but under the sun these attributes are connected with good and evil, no one
would deny that. When we come to faith in God through Jesus Christ our personal
faith, hope and love are endowed by the Holy Spirit to guide us into being
sanctified in Christ who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the
cross, despised the shame and is now in the presence of His Father. Our faith,
hope and love is now governed by Him, we are not our own anymore, we are His. 1
Corinthians 6:19-20.
Cast
off those shingles of fear and apply the grace of God our Savior as the
soothing balm He provides to live life abundantly. John 10:7-18.
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