Not Etched In Stone!

                 "The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God will stand forever".

Isaiah 40:8 (ESV)

God is so good, and so faithful; so why do we allow a wrench to be thrown in our praise.  In other words, storm clouds rise and  we quickly lose our witness.  We allow the unknown, to blind us and we forget what we already  know. Trials are like pop quizzes, because they come unexpectedly.  The truth of the matter is storms, circumstances, situations, downfalls, are things that we go through.  True some storms seem to last forever, some pains are severe, and some downfalls make us question who and whose we are. 

Jesus himself went through a storm, at the cross.  Suffered and died, and yet he never lost his worship and praise to his father.  He had a situation, because he suffered for something he did not do and gave his life so that we would live.  I have personally suffered great loses.  I have suffered illnesses that made me question Gods power.  I even temporarily  lost my witness and my praise.  My circumstances overshadowed all the blessings God had already blessed me with.   Sometimes the pain made me feel as if I had no value to him.  You would think suffering would be for those he has cast out.

That's when the relevant word of God comes forth, and a conversation with Paul reminds us of this; "Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ". Philippians 3:8 (NLT)  Suffering is gain!

When God allows us to go through various uncertainties, he is not surprise of the outcome, he already knows what will happen.  He gets glory in our testimony, when we give him the glory for keeping us in our storms.  But I believe God sticks his chest out when our storm defeats us, meaning when the outcome is not what we prayed for, but, we still give the glory to God because we realize who God truly is. 

Get this, God prepared a place for his children to be with him in heaven, the transportation to heaven is death, the bible says "Absence in the body means to be present with the Lord".  Ok, get this all the material things we value, is nothing but garbage compared to what the Lord has in store for us.  Ok what about this, you tears are just temporary, God will wipe all your tears away.

You see where I'm going, don't allow the promises of God to be overshadowed with your temporary discomforts,  Grass withers and flowers fade, people are born to die, money is earn to be spent, suffering is temporary but God's word neither withers, nor fades, its real and relevant.

Today someone may need to be reminded what God said in his word, so let me just drop this off right here; in all we go through, whether it be sickness, death, financial problems, loneliness, discomfort, pain; "Don't be afraid, I am with you, don't fear, I am YOUR GOD, I will give you strength, I will help you, I will hold onto you with my victorious hand.".  Isaiah 41:10

Mans word is not etched in stone, what man says one day is quickly forgotten and meaningless but what God says, is true today,tomorrow and forever.  When God announces a pop quiz, don't forget what God has done, what he is doing and what he will do.  If its your testing time, remember all those blessing times.  God is in control!

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