Be Assured
(Hebrews 12:2-3 NASB) Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
(Matthew 27:46 NIV) “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Principle #4: Realize that until you get to heaven, there are some things you will never understand.
When God Doesn’t Make Sense
(Job 3:23 Message) “What’s the point of life when it doesn’t make sense, when God blocks all the roads to meaning?”
(Job 38:1-5 NIV) Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!”
(Job 38:18-21 NIV) “Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!”
(Job 40:3-4 NIV) Then Job answered the LORD: “I am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.”
✓
Think eternal.
(Job 42:2 NIV) “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.”
✓
Let go.
(Job 42:3 NIV) “You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”
✓
Get close.
(Job 42:5 NIV) “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”
Be Assured
(Hebrews 10:22 NIV) “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith...”
1.
God is there.
(Psalm 139:7-8 NIV) “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”
(Hebrews 4:13 LB) “He knows about everyone, everywhere. Everything about us is bare and wide open to the all-seeing eyes of our living God; nothing can be hidden from Him.”
2.
God is never late.
(Acts 16:25-26 NIV) “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.”
3.
God knows best.
(Hebrews 11:39-40 NIV) “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better.”
(Isaiah 55:8-9 LB) “This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are my thoughts the same as yours! For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts than yours.”
4.
God cares.
(James 5:11 Message) “You’ve heard, of course, of Job’s staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.”