Opinion

GOD’S WORK IN THIS WORLD

Friday, August 25, 2017

On New Year’s Eve 1939, King George VI addressed the Commonwealth by radio. Britain had been at war for four months. Canada, along with Australia and New Zealand, had joined at the beginning of the conflict. Norway had not yet been overrun by Germany. France had not yet fallen. Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg had not yet been subjugated, but would be in the next four months. On the precipice of what could have been global ruin, King George VI made this statement: “I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’” “And he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way.’”

This statement stands true, not only at the gate of a new year, but at the gate of every new day. There is the big picture we have of God’s sovereignty in a world described as being under the control of the evil one. We live in a fallen world, but it is a world in which God works out His purposes. Every Christian needs to be a part of God’s agenda, and we need to be asking God to put a compass in our hearts that will lead us in the direction He will use us. It has been said, rightly or wrongly, that “God will only guide a moving vehicle.” If that is true, then we must be people who are spiritually growing and developing in Christ. God’s direction only comes out of a living, active relationship with Him.

Isaiah 30:20 says, “Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.” Adversity will actually be the bread that feeds us and affliction like water to us. They will be our teachers and in looking back, we will see each and every valley of trial and turmoil were used to bring about God’s purpose, both strengthening and sustaining us.

We cannot have a program of guidance that is detached from our walk with God. He works through His people and in intimate relationship with Him, God sets us on the path He has planned for us. Let us not be afraid of the unknown, but resolve to put our hand in God’s hand, and run the race He has marked out for us with perseverance, serving Him in a world that so desperately needs Him.

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