Because

 

I have a lesson that I sometimes do for ladies’ days that is entitled, “If the Lord...” I take those last few words of the preceding sentence from the scripture Romans 8:31 which says, “If the Lord is for us, who can be against us?” I paraphrased that a bit, but you get my drift. We will come back to that statement in a moment.

But, first I want to ask you something. Why do you suppose that we have trouble? I figure like this:

Christians have trouble because they have given their allegiance to God. And you know the scripture says that all who live Godly shall suffer persecution.

• Why was Daniel thrown into the lions’ den? (Working behind the scenes because He had already talked to the lions and made sure they knew what was what. Either that or He locked the lions’ jaws and crippled their claws or immobilized them. We do know that the lions were hungry because of the fate of the men who were thrown in later.)


• Why were the three Hebrew boys thrown into the fiery furnace? (He was working behind the scenes because He was already in the fire waiting for them and suffered them to come to no harm.)


• Why did David have to hide from Saul? (Working behind the scenes when He had Jonathan, Saul’s son, to tell David to flee because it was not safe for him any longer at Saul’s place.)


• Why did Pharaoh tell Moses to see his face no more because on the day that he did, Pharaoh would have him killed? (Working behind the scenes because He had already said that He would show His powers in Egypt. Had already arranged for the angel to go to the homes that did not have the blood on the doorposts.)

I could give many other examples, but the ones listed above are enough for our lesson today. Here’s the thing. All the people mentioned in the bullets above were in trouble because they all were trying to carry out the will of God. So, that ought to tell you that if you are trying to carry out God’s will for your life, you will suffer for it.

And

Why didn’t they stop when they were threatened with death? What drove them to keep going despite mortal peril? Why would God let them go through so much when all they were trying to do is serve Him? Remember yesterday in the poem at the end of the blog; I talked about how things from my past had been worked out when I prayed, and that fact has me moving steadily on in my quest to do my work for the Lord.

 

But

Oh, but wait a minute! We can see from the people above that, though they had some hard knocks and some trials while trying to do their work for the Lord, God had them in mind all of the time. He had a plan and was working on it all the while, sort of like behind the scenes. Say what? Yep, that is correct. Now you know why it is necessary to have faith and how it can make you feel like a million even though the weight of the world is resting on your shoulders. I told you yesterday that 1 Peter 1:5-7 says that God cares for you.

I am going to tell you tomorrow about two times in my life that He was working behind the scenes, even though I did not know it. When I finish my stories, you will be like me and give new credence to the words of the scripture, Romans 8:28 and Romans 8:31. To me, those two scriptures go hand in hand. One supports the other, and the other supports the one. I am going to do a crude drawing of how they play out in my mind. It will give you something to think about concerning your faith in God and continuing to step on.

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma L. Jones

Christian Author and Poetess

Will post my crude graphic sometime tomorrow if the Lord wills.