Today's Word

 

At first glance the picture doesn't fit the word given by Brian today... I'd encourage you to read to the end and all will be made clear...

All writers of books have a style. I have read many of Charles Dickens books and whilst the story moves on, the language can be a bit wordy. John Le Carre, who wrote superb spy thrillers has a very convoluted plot always. One of the major prophets in the Bible, Jeremiah, had a particularly hard time because God had given him a message to the Jewish nation that they didn’t want to hear and Jeremiah was very faithful in proclaiming that message, which got him into much trouble, even being thrown into a slime pit. 

It is hardly surprising that after all his unfortunate and cruel treatment, he wrote another book, Lamentations. He doesn’t bemoan his own experiences in that book, but the attitude of his nation towards God. But as always in the Bible, even in the most difficult and depressing events that are recorded, there are little gems to be found that do our hearts good and Lamentations is no exception. In Lamentations 3 v 25, God gave Jeremiah these words to say, which summed up His and also I hope our experience of God’s dealings. “The LORD is good to them that wait for Him”.

God does not work according to our timetable, He has his own time. We pray and do not see a positive answer to our prayers and sometimes get discouraged. But Jesus gave us this exhortation, “Men ought always to pray and not to faint”. Prayer for personal or physical benefit for ourselves, unless it also has a spiritual benefit, is unlikely to be answered positively. But prayer for others, and particularly their salvation, we should continue until we see a result or God tells us specifically to stop. Recognition of the supreme sovereignty of God must always be in our minds when we speak to Him. In the so-called Lord’s Prayer, there is a request “Thy will be done”. The promise is there in the verse from Lamentations, ‘the LORD is good to them that wait for Him’. Keep going on in prayer and God will answer!

The answer to the conundrum we began with is that Brian's word supports a recent Gospel message that was recorded in Church called "All In God’s Timing", which you can watch it by clicking on the link below...

Article written by Brian Preston, Elder @SFGH Church