OF SERVING THE LORD (III)
“But consider the joy of those corrected by God! Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin. For though he wounds, he also bandages. He strikes, but his hands also heal.”
The last two days I have labored to expound on service as a response and the sacrifices concerning that response. Today, allow me to close our study by what service actually does in our hearts and personal lives. Many of the things we do as response to what God has already done have more to do with our transformation than us merely giving or doing something for God.
In our theme scripture, a story is given of the man Job whom we are familiar with for losing everything he had but not sinning against God. The heart posture of Job is a perfect demonstration of what a heart that has learnt to serve as a response looks like.
Circumstances will harden as long as we live in the world, sometimes things won’t always turn out as expected or planned, and many a time we might experience divine interruptions on the course we had perceived as being perfect for our lives; yet all that does not change this one truth: God remains the same. Unchanging, true, faithful, sovereign, good and trustworthy.
Discouragements begin to inform our failure to serve when we, knowingly or unknowingly are under the impression that God could change, God could overlook your pain, even worse God could cause it. Child of God, this is at the heart of all evil. If you are wounded, He bandages. If you are broken, He restores. If you are doubting, He helps your unbelief. If you are weak, He is in you and He is strong.
Therefore, the closer you keep to servitude, the more your heart goes from merely being convinced to being persuaded of who He says He is. Praise God!
Prayer: Father I thank you for this truth. I give you my heart and observe your ways that your counsel will not depart from it. Everything that I offer up to you costs, but rewards even more than I can fathom to give. Let your light so shine in and through me that many will proclaim your glory, in Jesus name! Amen.
CI.
