Know-It-All

"But there is no condemnation from Him for what we are not ready for."

THERE IS an element of maturity God asks for in us to enable us to face challenges. He sees ahead of us and would have us prepared for them so that they are not challenges at all. But there is no condemnation from Him for what we are not ready for. Nor am I here to cast blame. Put simply, not everything we must overcome is even our fault. I myself had to stare difficulty in the eyes and refuse to blink. What happened to me was unexpected, and though I took steps that led me toward it, they were nothing I could have foreseen. God will protect us and prevent us from falling into traps (Psalm 91:3), but not everything we come up against can be shown to us without causing fear and our own disbelief. Put simply, if God said, “You’re about to go through (insert problem),” we wouldn’t see it clearly. The disciples dealt with this before Jesus’ death. Though He told them of His death and His Resurrection, when going through those moments in their lives, they were confused and afraid. They did not believe He’d Resurrected when they were told either but had to see Him for themselves.

“And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.” (Luke 24:11)

“And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.” (Luke 24:36-37)

To WALK IN THE SPIRIT, a phrase often used by the church, means knowing the Spirit’s Voice, and knowing His LEADING. By LEADING I mean things He desires of you that are not necessarily put into words. As example, my husband can ask me to do something for him, and I will then do it. But there are many things I know he wants me to do and relies on me to do that he never has to speak a word. The Holy Spirit is God. I say this to make a point. He knows what precedes us and how we will react to it. We tend to know this but still give Him a certain amount of surprise. We blame God for things we are dealing with, as if His reaction is last minute or that He knew of it but chose to say nothing, when the Truth we need to see and hold close to us always is He knows everything.

He's already stated how the earth will be remade and death and sorrow will be no more (Revelation 21:4).

We don’t know everything, and we usually do not see from God’s point-of-view. He would like us to but, again, He knows each of us down to the finest degree. Nothing we do is out of His view. He speaks to Israel in Deuteronomy not of what might happen to them but of what will. His words are “when you” and not “if”. The only thing conditional in what He prophesied is their choice to act like LIFE or DEATH (Deuteronomy 30:19). There again, though, we can read His words of what will happen. He had done the same with their father, Abraham. God allowed Abraham to see their bondage in Egypt, in a vision of great darkness (Genesis 15:12-13). But know that when Jacob and his sons moved there it was to escape famine. It had a good purpose.

We are not at the will of life, being pushed around out of our control. We have the Spirit to guide us, to reveal things to us, and empower us to overcome them. Whether through avoidance, we don’t encounter them because of our obedience to Him, or through strength – we are the well-dressed child of God who is standing in strength and confidence in our Savior.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com