Isa. 55:6-9 seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts
There is a story about a man who wanted to climb the highest mountain. After many years of preparation, he was ready to make the attempt....but he wanted to have this glory all for himself, so he decided to go alone.As daylight gave way to night, the darkness of the mountain was overwhelming.....he could barley see his hands in front of him. The moon and stars were blocked by the heavy clouds Everything was black...zero visibility. He was almost to the top, only a few feet away when he suddenly lost his footing and fell. As he fell into the darkness, sucked by gravity, all he could see was darkness all around him. Certain that he would die, he began to reflect upon his life. As he resigned himself to certan death, wondering how much longer he would have before hitting the ground, he felt the rope around his waist suddenly tighten and stop him from falling. As his body was helplessly dangling from the rope in the quietness of the night he suddenly cried out "HELP ME GOD!" All of a sudden a deep voice came from the sky "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?" The man cried out "SAVE ME GOD!" The voice answered "DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT I CAN SAVE YOU?" The man said "OF COURSE I REALLY BELIEVE YOU CAN." The voice answered "THEN CUT THE ROPE"....there was a moment of silence..the man pulled out his knife for a moment.....then put it away. The man decided to hold on with all his might to that rope. The story ends with the rescue team finding a frozen, stiff body dangling from a rope....only 10 ft above the ground! The question is...how attached are you to your rope? Are you willing to "cut the rope" in faith? Do you trust God or only give Him lip service? We all would like to believe we do have that kind of faith....but how many of us REALLY have it? We all say it...but do we REALLY believe it ourselves?
God has a plan....for you! Jer 29:11 says For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. We don’t understand....9/11...Okla. City....Katrina...Bad things that happen. Even in our personal life we experience tragedies. Things happen and we question God. The Bible tells us in Prov 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. We can’t understand how God thinks...but we can know that He is working for us personally a plan that will fit His overall plan. What WE need to understand is the plan He has for us individually will fit perfectly into His plan for mankind. 3 points I want to make today:
1. GOD HAS A LONG RANGE PLAN We tend to see life only as we know it...but there were thousands of generations before us! And millions of people! And God had plans for EVERY ONE of them! We must understand that sometimes a tragedy MUST occur for Gods will to be done......no, it’s NOT Gods will that innocent people should perish. He didn’t fly those airplanes on 9/11....what about Katrina, the Tsunami? I don’t know...we saw there in Isa. that we don’t understand how God thinks...His ways are higher than ours! Turn to Rm 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. How do you think the disciples felt when they saw Jesus ’s bloody, lifless body dead on that cross? He was the Messiah! Hung and disgraced upon a cross. They scattered! What they could not see at the time was that Gods long range plan for our salvation that was begun in Genesis was finally completed when our Lord cried out "it is finished!"
Many times in life, we don’t understand. I’ve had training as a counseler. a minister but...sometimes there just isn’t an answer to certain things that happen in our lives. In those times, we must trust that God is still on the throne..and in charge....and whatever happened, there was a reason for it. He is too loving to be unkind and too wise to make a mistake. Our pain here is temporary...even if you carry it with you all your life (Jesus can heal that) it’s nothing compared to eternity.
2. OUR CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES Whenever something goes wrong some people want to blame God...even when they are in a bad position or place because of their poor choices. There is a story about a one-armed man that went to see his pastor. He blamed God for the loss of his arm...in a car crash in which he was the driver....the DRUNK driver, that is. He screamed and hollered "look what God did to me!" The pastor looked him square in the eye and said "it was YOUR stupid choices that cost you your arm! You chose to get drunk. You chose to get behind the wheel! You drove that car into that tree.....quit blaming God! Sometimes the situation you are in is because of your bad decisions. A young girl may get pregnant out of wedlock and ask God why.......but I think we all know that God really didn’t have anything to do with that situation! I knew someone who just couldn’t make ends meet. They made good money, but always were out of. One thing about them tho...they always had new cars and nice houses and their kids wore the best name brands. That wasn’t Gods fault that they made bad money decisions. Often we blame God whenever we should be blaming ourselves. Most of the time we should be praying "please, God...save me from myself!" 3. IGNORANCE IS DANGEROUS Tragedy is often caused by our own ignorance! When President McKinley was shot, he was attended to by two top physicians, Dr Weiss and Dr Bliss. X-rays hadn’t been invented yet and they could only try to make an educated guess as to the exact location of the bullet. They followed Dr Bliss’s diagnosis but he was wrong. The president died as a result. The next day the newspaper headlines screamed out "Ignorance Is Bliss" and we still say that today! Remember this .......1) Ignorance can KILL you-or even someone you love! 2) Ignorance prevents us from having a cure for cancer or heart disease. 3) Ignorance of God’s exsistance and His power prevents millions from knowing Him! Do you know what Jesus’s very last prayer for man was before He died on the cross? You’ll find it in Luke 23:34 Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Ignorance crucufied the Son of God. Ignorance perpetuates racism and prejudice. Ignorance can keep you from "cutting the rope" to turn over every last thing in your life to God! You want to know the recipe for ignorance? Stay satisfied with your opinions that everything you think is right and be content with the knowlege that you currently have. Ignorance always denounces what it does not understand.
When tragedy stikes you have a choice. You can get bitter.....or you can get better! It’s up to you. Solomon (known throughout the world for his wisdom) wote in Prov 6:2 you have been snared with the words of your mouth, Have been caught with the words of your mouth If you allow your thoughts and your speech to be saturated with resentment, you will self destuct. Keep trusting. Keep praying. Keep believing........even when you don’t understand why. There’s an old song that says "we’ll understand it better bye and bye. Remember............keep on keeping on; God promised He’ll never leave nor forsake you. Cut the rope! Trust in Him.
