I have tried hard to find you—
….don’t let me wander from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart,
….that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:10-11 NLT
Romans 8:28-30 (<<click here to read the passage)
Maybe you’ve seen this, but even if you have it’s worth reading again.
One Sunday morning at a small southern church, the new pastor called on one of his older deacons to lead in the opening prayer. The deacon stood up, bowed his head, and said, “Lord, I hate buttermilk.”
The pastor opened one eye and wondered where this was going. The deacon continued, “Lord, I hate lard.” Now the pastor was totally perplexed. The deacon continued, “Lord, I ain’t too crazy about plain flour. But after you mix ’em all together and bake ’em in a hot oven, I just love biscuits.”
“Lord, help us to realize when life gets hard, when things come up that we don’t like, whenever we don’t understand what You are doing, that we need to wait and see what You are making. After You get through mixing and baking, it’ll probably be something even better than biscuits. Amen.”
Most of us are familiar with the 28th verse of today’s passage. Here it is from the New Living Translation,
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
I read through that in my study Bible but when I read it in the Amplified Bible on biblegateway.com it triggered something in my mind. Here’s the same verse in that translation.
And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.
…as a plan… Not will-nilly…not pick and chose what you like and omit what you don’t like… It’s a plan, God’s perfect plan. No matter what is a part of our lives, God can bring it to a wonderful, beautiful finish. We may think that many of our contributions have messed things up beyond repair. But God is the Master Chef knowing everything about everything (omniscient) and He can take the buttermilk (my grandmother liked it but, yuck – I sure don’t!) and lard (it’s OK in certain things but I wouldn’t eat a spoonful of it!) and plain flour (I wouldn’t dare!) and put them all together and make something much more amazing than biscuits from the hodge-podge of our lives!
Lord Jesus, use me as you will! Amen!
Mar 27th, 2023, Mon, 6:29 pm
