Tag: Confidence

At the Crossroads

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Job 23: 8 – 14

“Behold, I go forward but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns to the right, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than any necessary food. But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such decrees are with Him.

Job found himself at the crossroads of life. Until now he thought he was right in the sight of God. He diligently followed the Lord, ensuring there was no sin in him and in his family, and offering sacrifices just in case he or one of his family members sinned in their thoughts. And yet, he found himself in a quagmire from which there seems to be no way out. He recollected if there was something in his past that could have brought about these trials in his life but to his dismay there was nothing. He was willing to seek the Lord’s forgiveness for any sin in his life but God brought nothing against him. His companions reasoning also brought to naught. Job was desperate to know why God allowed such hardships.

Job knew His God. He knew the commandments of the Lord. He knew what displeased Him and what brought pleasure. And yet he found that He could not perceive his God whichever way he turned. Many of us go through life knowing that we are on the right side of God. Diligently obeying His commands, living a righteous life, busy about God’s Kingdom and yet we find ourselves at life’s crossroads. We try to analyze what went wrong and start blaming God for all the wrong going in our lives.

While bemoaning his situation, Job was confident that his God knew which direction he was headed and confessed confidently that God will bring him out as pure gold after testing him. Job was not only confident of his own faith in God but also in God’s faithfulness towards him. He was confident that no matter what situation he was going through, God will direct his paths. Furthermore, he was confident that God will fulfill every promise. Such was Job’s faith in God.

Many of us go through situations where our faith is tested. We first try to reason just like Job if God has turned against us. Then we try to see if there was some unconfessed sin in our lives that is causing the trouble. We seek again Lord’s forgiveness even though He has already forgiven and forgotten. We remind God of our past sins when He has already forgotten. Still when our situation doesn’t improve, we come to terms that it is a trial that God is allowing and we should face that challenge with boldness. In all this, we have focused on ourselves more than focusing on God. ‘What did I do?’ ‘Why did it happen to me?’ ‘What should I do?’ ‘I did everything right.’

Maybe it is time we shift our focus from ourselves, our situations and focus on Him. Just as Job realized that God has the prerogative to do with us what He wants, we too must realize that we are His creation. Our Creator has every right to do what He pleases with us. The clay has no right to question the Potter. We are in His safe hands. The Master has the authority to fashion us according to His purposes. We just must trust Him.

Let us then abandon our confusion at the crossroads. Let us return to Him who is sovereign over everything. Let us harken to the words of Jesus: “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in Him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15: 5) Let us enter in to His rest and allow Him to become the true joy of our lives. When we are confident in Him who is able, then no storm, no trial, no disease, no mountain, etc., can shake us. His confidence becomes ours. God was confident of Job’s faithfulness and knew that he will come out as gold. That is why God boasted about Job’s faith before Satan even before his trials started. Dearly beloved, let us become confident of His faithfulness. No matter the depths of our anguish, our Lord will carry us through. Such is His love for us!

Being Disciplined

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Romans 8: 24 – 25

For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?

But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

An athlete dreams of one day winning that coveted Olympic gold medal. He/she hopes to one day stand on the podium and receive that medal, making their country and family proud. In order to achieve that goal, he/she works hard, trains, sacrifices pleasures and with dedication strives to make that hope a reality. They may not succeed in the initial attempts but they never give up on their dream. Until the goal is attained, they will not rest.

Many of us struggle with weight issues. We all hope to have a healthy, muscular, lean, good-looking bodies. We diet, exercise, sacrifice our food cravings, hoping that one day, we will gain our optimum weight and healthy-looking body. We take all measures to be disciplined about our eating habits. We change our lifestyle to accommodate our goal. We don’t give up on that hope but strive to come closer to our desired goal.

In life, there are several instances, where we have a goal/dream that we discipline ourselves to achieve it and make it a reality. As long as there is room for improvement, any hope of the dream becoming a reality, we will put in extra effort to achieve. Whether it is career, health, finances etc., we will not leave a single stone unturned. We have not yet seen with our eyes our dream/goal coming to fruition but in our mind’s eye, we have already seen the picture.

We, as believers of Lord Jesus Christ, have a blessed hope. A hope in something that we have not seen yet. We are aware of the reward that awaits us, the eternity with our Father in Heaven and Christ His Son. We are familiar about the glorified bodies that we will receive. We are eagerly looking forward to see what we are hoping for now, becomes a reality. Paul, in his letter to Romans states eloquently the blessed hope we have in Christ even though we do not see it now. However, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

When we are waiting, how are we waiting? Are we training our faith? Are we disciplined in working towards that goal? Are we praying, reading the Word of God, meditating on His Word, living out our lives faithfully, and shining His light to the world around us? How have we disciplined ourselves towards that goal?

Fortunately, for us, thanks to His Divine Providence, He gave us His Holy Spirit to intercede on behalf of us. Through His power we inch closer to our blessed hope. When He is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8: 31) He, who is seated at the right hand of the Father intercedes for us. When nothing can separate us from our loving Heavenly Father (Romans 8: 38 -39), who assures us that He is our only hope, all we need to do is just trust Him.

Beloved Saint of God, let us be diligent in pursuing Him, who is our only hope. Let us be disciplined in exercising our spiritual muscles every day by praying, reading and spending time in His presence. Let us persevere in achieving that goal of finally seeing Him face to face, our blessed hope. When we are training in such fashion, we will be confident of the dream becoming a reality. When our blessed hope appears, we will be standing firmly and confidently (1 John 2: 28).

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