A Moment With Pastor Fred
How are you doing? We ask that a lot – we use it more or less as a greeting vs. a question seeking an answer. A dear friend would ask me a second question after my usual, “Fine.” He’d say, “How are you really doing?”
The London pastor of the 19th century Charles Spurgeon well said, “There are some of your graces which would never be discovered if it were not for our trials.” God sees to it we are immersed in circumstances best designed – or allowed by him to give us opportunities to bear fruit. Because we are not God, we will face mystery in this life. Sometimes downright confusion. We simply need to rest in the truth that God’s in control. We need to take heart – our Savior actively (yes, I said actively) sits in sovereign control over all things that confuse, overwhelm or even trouble us. That is a tremendous comfort to me.
Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “God makes us wait. He keeps us on purpose in the dark. He makes us walk when we want to run, sit still when we want to walk, for he has things to do in our souls that we are not interested in.” God knows what is best – and we must trust him. She continues, “It is always possible to be thankful for what is given rather than resentful over what is withheld. One attitude or the other becomes a way of life.”
“Lord, help me to be thankful in all things. Forgive me of complaining, even about the small things. Make me a person who is filled with your Spirit thus joyful and deeply thankful. May I remember the secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances. Amen.”