There is a children’s story that has serious lessons for the grown ups. A king had a minister with a very strange habit; for everything the minister would say “Everything works together for good” and the king would laugh away as foolishness this statement from his trusted and honest minister.
One day the king was practicing sword fighting with his trainer, when the trainer missed and the sword hit the king’s hand, cutting off his finger. The minister standing there, like he always did, said, “Everything works together for good.” The king, in pain and irritated, ordered “Put this useless man in the prison; let him enjoy all the good behind bars.”
After some months the king went on a hunt, in the dense forest he got separated from those with him, and fell into the hands of some tribals. The tribals were for a long time looking to offer a human sacrifice to their deity. Now this able bodied person had landed into their hands, they did not waste time and started preparation to sacrifice the king. As the king was brought to the altar for sacrifice, one of the tribesmen noticed that a finger of the king’s hand was missing. He immediately called out to halt the sacrifice since sacrificing a person with any defect could anger the deity and bring trouble. The king was released because of his missing finger, and he made his way back to his kingdom.
Upon reaching his kingdom, he sent for the minister from the prison, and said to him, “Today I have accepted what you always said, that everything works together for good. Had this finger not got cut; my head would have been cut off. But tell me one thing, you spent so many days in the prison, what good did it do to you?” The minister replied, “Sir, whatever the Lord does, He does for our benefit for He is a good God. Had I not been in the prison, I would have gone with you to the hunt, and though you escaped from those tribals, they would have surely sacrificed me. Therefore everything together works for good.”
Maybe in today’s difficult conditions I cannot see anything good; but tomorrow I will see that my Lord has turned everything ultimately for my benefit.
John Bunyan remained imprisoned for twelve years and prayed for his release but for twelve years there seemed to be no answer to his prayers. But the Lord made a good thing out of his imprisonment. In those twelve years God made him to write a book – Pilgrim’s Progress, said to be the second most read book in the world, after the Bible.
Not here but there
There are many ‘How to’ books on various topics in this world, to teach you to – live a good life in this world, to earn good money, to achieve a good position, to have a happy family etc. if you are not a Christian believer, you can give them a try, maybe something might click and you may manage to acquire something.
We have many dreams for our lives, but not everything happens the way we want it to happen. The Lord Jesus never gave any assurance that in this life we will always have wealth, fame and success. But He gives us an assurance about a glorious life hereafter. A life that is beyond our imagination, of things that we have never seen or heard about; He has made available such a future for us (1 Corinthians 2:9, 10).
Black cat in a dark room
We do not need to know everything, but we need to the One who knows everything; and He can only be known through His Word. If we try to know God through our intellect and knowledge, it will be like “A blind man, on a dark night, searching for a black cat in a dark room.” A person living in darkness is unaware of where his life is headed. He is preoccupied in pursuit of money, position, pleasures of the world and in his family. Eventually when his eyes will open, he will find himself in a place where he never wanted to be, but it will be too late by then and all ways to turn back would have been closed.
The god of this world blinds us, and so does the glitter of the things of this world e.g. the glitter of money, of status, of sex, of possessions etc. But God’s Word enlightens our eyes so that we may see ourselves clearly. A day will come when this sun shining so brightly will be darkened, the glitter of this world will deceive us and then for many only an eternal darkness will remain.
Words are not mere words but power
The Lord has woven His unique love in His Words. If a man says, “Friend, don’t be afraid, I am there;” his words have nothing to validate the assurance. But when God’s Word says “Fear not, I am with you” to me; it gives me a renewed vigor. His voice speaks to my spirit and enables me to know what I really am and mean to Him. God’s Word has always encouraged me. He has converted all my defeats into victory. Even if I stumble, I don’t fall because a hand upholds me – the hand of God; and I know that even the clutches of death will not be able to take me away from His grasp.
Amazing
My Lord is an astounding Lord, everything about Him is amazing. His love is amazing, His works are amazing, His birth was amazing, His life was amazing, His death was amazing and what He has made ready for me after death is also amazing. All our words are not enough to speak of His mercy and forgiveness.
Words inflict worse wounds and more pain than stones. Many people often thoughtlessly hurl words at others that continue to give them pain for the rest of their lives.
In John chapter 8, the Pharisees brought a woman and stones to kill her with, to the Lord Jesus. At the end of the chapter, they want to stone the Lord Himself. But for those who had stones in their hands for the Lord, the Lord had love, mercy and forgiveness in Him. Even today, for those who have taken up stones to hurt Him, He has love, mercy and forgiveness.
That which you are incapable of, the Lord can accomplish for you. He can turn your defeat into victory. Just trust Him and His words. If in doubt, taste Him and see for yourself (Psalm 34:8).
My life was odd
My life was weird
Many-a-times I was wayward
Every time He restored
My life, for me.
For the last 4000 years, there have been numerous attempts to destroy God’s Word – the Bible; yet it is the only book in the world that has been read the most for centuries.
Satan hates this book; therefore no other book has been attacked as much as this one. Many have tried to do away with it, even the Pope kept it out of sight till the 16th century, but let alone destroy it, they could not even suppress it. Even today Satan instigates many to pollute its teachings and spoil its sanctity. Many people deliberately misinterpret and distort its teachings in an attempt to nullify the effects of its teachings; yet, everyday many lives are being changed by the living words of this book.
God’s Word is a book that is not limited by any religion, because this book does not teach about any religion. God moves and speaks in this living book. God has knit His love in this book; if you take away love from this book, you take away its very life force.
Often believers, especially new believers, are in doubt whether or not they have been saved. I harbored this doubt within me for many years. It is that Satan torments us with the doubt that your sins have not been forgiven. We allow this to happen because we do not pay heed to God’s Word and His assurance.
For the forgiveness of sins, His sacrifice on the cross is sufficient. Once we accept this and submit to Him, He transforms us into what even we cannot imagine about ourselves. By rejecting God’s love, we do not cause any harm to God, only to ourselves.
“If you hear His words today, do not harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 4:7).
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