His, Not Mine

"Much of it was between him and God."

THERE ARE things God will tell you that others won’t understand. You understand it but to explain it to them takes revelation that word meanings won’t correctly transmit. Anyway you try, it will be incorrectly seen. Yet, you know God said it.

People have to grow where they’re at. They can’t uproot and suddenly be somewhere else. It would cause confusion, and HEAR THIS: God NEVER causes confusion.

There are examples of growth in the Word of God where historic figures in both Old and New Testaments said or did one thing then saw Truth and changed. Change is a part of growth. King David had one of his growth moments when the prophet Nathan told him a story. The purpose of the story was to reprimand David for his affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband at his request (2 Samuel 12:7). The story pictured what David had done, but David didn’t realize it at first. Hearing what he thought another man had done and then asked for his verdict, he spoke harsh. It was then the bomb dropped.

“That man is you.”

David repented of his actions. Though he could not undo them, he regretted them, and God blessed a son of that union, Solomon, with the continuance of the throne.

I like the EasyEnglish translation’s definition of the words “repent” and “repentance.” It says, “You must change your minds.” This is the meaning of “repent”. It is a turn around, a 360 in thought. And sometimes … often, it is uncomfortable. It means burying our unruly emotions, the anger, impatience, and pride which isn’t love (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). The apostle Paul, who wrote those verses listening to the Spirit, says in Ephesians 4:31, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.” How do we do that? Well, the healing of the mind is the Spirit’s work, but our first step is to recognize what needs fixing.

I am a creature of habit. Everything (in my thinking) should be A-B-C simple. There’s no need to update what’s working, nor to add anything to the path of my life. I prefer a straight line with neither mountains nor valleys. This, obviously, hasn’t worked out, so I become frustrated. Realizing I can’t maintain my boring ideal (it’s SO ideal) is my first wake-up. Then I must continually, every time I return to it, lay it down at Jesus’ feet. I did the same thing when it came to yelling at cars. The Spirit, my Papa, told me to stop, and yeah, I knew it was dumb. But it took continual effort to stop, and He helped me in a way I can’t totally express. Knowing I’m not alone in these personal battles is my peace. God is WITH me and FOR me.

Knowing I will grow up and not stay here, fighting against them, is strength. His, not mine.

Paul faced this on several occasions. He said so to Corinth, telling them of a time when he’d pleaded with God to remove what he called “a messenger of Satan.” This could have been an unclean spirit or a person acting like one, but in either case, God said he’d made him strong enough. He was all he needed (2 Corinthians 12:9). In other of his writings, we see him in one place, say being single is it, and in another that marriage is meant to be as beautiful as Christ’s sacrifice for the church. He matured in thought, something he says in Galatians 1, that he was eager to do.

Our maturity is known fully by God. He doesn’t have to guess how strong we are and so will work through us at our level. We can know He knows us and not fight against Him. Because all He reveals to us comes from His trust of us. What Paul knew goes far outside of his letters. Much of it was between him and God. But he learned it directly from Jesus through the Spirit long before he put it to paper and pen (Galatians 1:18). He treasured it, and that is God’s biggest desire. We must say less, and when we speak, it be all God and none of us.

Like that moment when what we know isn’t able to be correctly said and so we choose love, to hold Truth in our heart, and not use it to condemn or criticize another person. Jesus knew the Father. He’d seen Him. He said this (John 3:13). He had complete revelation of Him, and obeyed Him, even to what caused His death. But He told His disciples, they were not able to know everything yet.

That day would come (John 16:12). And it did come. Here is our trust. That what we don’t know is in God’s hand for our blessing when it is time to receive it.

Photo by Jack Sharp on Unsplash


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