In Blog

There is an appointed time for everything and there is a time for every event under heaven.

Ecclesiates 3:1

Life can certainly seem tragic at times, as well as joyful; there are challenging events and circumstances that we will all face as well as times of prosperity and success. Through all our experiences, scripture teaches clearly that God is in control and knows all that happens. God allows events to occur for His purposes that we may not fully understand as His ways are far above ours! (Isaiah 55:9) The Bible tells us that God “appoints” events in history for His purposes; the question then becomes whether or not we will live by faith and trust God,  or do we panic and become like atheists in our responses? God loves us and seeks to mold us into the likeness of Christ, but the seemingly haphazard trials of life can cause us to doubt this; we may catch ourselves thinking “if God loves me so much, why is He allowing these things into my life?” We need to remind ourselves that God’s purpose for us is not to make things “easy”, but rather to teach us to live by faith and practice love like Christ did and wants to do through us by His Spirit. If we can only love and live by faith in good and comfortable times, we do do not really have much. God will allow us to be tested, and it is the difficult times in life that prove what we really have with God and how much faith and love we truly possess by His grace. This is a mercy of God in that He is giving us opportunity to face the reality of where we are with Him so we can adjust our lives and repent if we need to improve our walk with Him. Truly we live in a fallen world full of pain and trials, the result of man’s sin, but this does not mean God is not using it all for His eternal plans. We cannot control everything, nor should we try, but we must live by faith in His sovereign rule and always do our best to let love be our motivation in all we do. Let us rely entirely on God’s grace and the power of His Spirit as we go through each day. Let us all spend the necessary time in bible study and prayer so our mind and will are in agreement with God as we face each circumstance of our life. The Lord is good all the time, and He is worthy of our trust and love all the time!

Pastor Gary Houdek