Jst Church of Christ | Grants Pass

“. . . and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6).

GOD WILL NEVER DISAPPOINT US. He is the only secure, unchanging center around which we can order our lives, and in which we can ground our peace. He is an infallible point of reference.

To say that God will never disappoint us is not to say that we will never be disappointed. We may sometimes be disappointed that God does not do as we wish. But this is not because of any objective failure of faithfulness on His part. It comes rather from a subjective failure on our part to understand God’s wisdom, His methods, and even His love.

God is often described in the Scriptures in terms of things that are solid and immovable. One figure is that of a rock. David, for example, said, “Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved” (Psalm 62:1,2).

But another interesting figure is that of an anchor. In the New Testament, Christians with a wavering faith were urged to hold on to their hope: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:19). And they were reminded that God’s promise is backed up by His oath, “that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:17,18).

Our frequent frustrations in life result, more often than not, from having an unstable center. In selecting our end-all-and-be-all, we select some fairly shaky things, often with tragic results. And even when we suppose that God is our center, our faith often turns out to be not in God Himself but in certain earthly blessings that He’s allowed us to have temporarily. But like Job, we need to love God for His own sake, even when His wisdom withdraws particular blessings from us. And like Paul, we need to be grounded in God and able to say, “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12).

“Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me” (Henry F. Lyte).

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

“And Elijah came to all the people, and said, ‘How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people answered him not a word” (1 Kings 18:21).

WHEN IT COMES TO GOD, WE WON’T MAKE MUCH PROGRESS IF WE “FALTER BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS.” There is a certain amount of difficulty that has to be overcome in the course of our journey toward God, and that difficulty won’t be overcome if we haven’t made up our minds and committed ourselves to making the journey. The roadside will be littered with the bleached bones of those who wavered — those who weren’t sure what their opinion was as to the importance of God and weren’t sure whether devoting themselves to Him was something they wanted to do.

Less important excursions in life often don’t require any definite goal or decisiveness on our part. For me, one of life’s great joys is the joy of walking, and there are some times when I set out on a walk without any notion of where I want to go. It’s enjoyable just to walk. The destination might change during the walk, and side trips can easily be taken. On such a walk, a little haphazardness doesn’t hurt; it may even enhance the pleasure of the trek.

But haphazard progress won’t get us to heaven. We won’t reach God by casually strolling through life admiring the scenery. God is the God of those who “diligently seeking Him” (Hebrews 11:6), and that implies the necessity of conscious decision. If God is our goal, we won’t move toward Him if we don’t reach for Him.

In the end, there’ll only be two groups of people. The dividing line won’t be between the fortunate and the unfortunate, or between those who had it easy and those who had it hard; it will be between those who decided to go to heaven and those who didn’t. When “every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14) is gusting every which way, it’s the set of our sails that will get us home.

One ship drives east and another west, 
with the self-same winds that blow; 
’tis the set of the sails and not the gales 
that determines where they go. 
Like the winds of the sea are the ways 
of fate, as we voyage along through life; 
’tis the set of a soul that decides its goal 
— and not the calm or the strife. 
(Ella Wheeler Wilcox)

Gary Henry – WordPoints.com