City Life Starter

Start with the Word

Devotional for April 22nd, 2018

I. The Word
 

2 Corinthians 4:13-18

13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Isaiah 14:12-15

How you have fallen from heaven,
    morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
    you who once laid low the nations!
You said in your heart,
    “I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
    on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
    to the depths of the pit.

Psalm 119:69-72

69 Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies,
    I keep your precepts with all my heart.
70 Their hearts are callous and unfeeling,
    but I delight in your law.
71 It was good for me to be afflicted
    so that I might learn your decrees.
72 The law from your mouth is more precious to me
    than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

II. Reflection Questions:

1. If God allows trouble in my life, do I accept the circumstances as His good provision for me?

2. When I see evil around me, does it cause me to lose heart and become frustrated/exasperated? Or do I seek for King Jesus to bring righteousness to the earth in that situation?

3. Are the precepts of the LORD my total delight, so that I will be strengthened regardless of what life throws at me today?

4. If I see evil or brokenness, do I trust that God sees, understands, and cares even more than I care?

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By Jason Schezer

In our natural (unspiritual) state we tend to think that if God would just make life easy for us, it would show more fully that He loves us. The truth is, it would be hard to come up with a more inaccurate assessment of God’s wise, all-knowing perspective. His best for us will necessitate that some trials are coming our way, without our choice of the type of trial or the timing. Paul tells the church in Corinth that trials (troubles) are light and momentary. From a human perspective, Paul’s troubles were anything but light: shipwrecked, put on trial, imprisoned, etc. However, from Paul’s heavenly perspective, he had the grace to see it as light, in the grand scheme of things.

From last Sunday’s message, it is natural for someone to reason the following presuppositions about God in a logical progression:

1. A good God would destroy evil.
2. An all-powerful God could destroy evil.
3. Evil is not destroyed,
4. Therefore there cannot possibly be such a good and powerful God.
The first item in the list we can easily agree with the basic premise: If God is truly good, then He would destroy evil, and the second is nearly as easy to believe, yet the problem with the presuppositions is that an immediate result is demanded; a result that is immediate enough to satisfy human wants. It does not leave space for God to determine the best, most thorough course of history to work out the complete destruction of all evil together with the restoration of all things, without destroying mankind in the process of destroying evil. It is too simplistic to demand an immediate destruction of evil.
The concept in 2 Corinthians 4:16 (read it again, above if you haven’t already) is that we rejoice at seeing ever increasing people reached by God’s grace, which keeps us from losing heart. Inwardly we are renewed day by day through a continuous but gradual process of being made more like Jesus – more holy in character and godly desires, more loving, kind, selfless, patient and so on. We will probably never be as patient as God is, but we do need to be thankful that He is so patient with us, which means salvation. Because if God were not patient, then we would have been destroyed a long time ago, very quickly.
In Isaiah 14, we can see that evil is a very ancient problem – there has been evil in our world for a very long time. It is hard to comprehend how God is good, yet He has allowed evil to go on for what seems like an eternity. Isn’t He good? We wonder. Isaiah’s prophecy reveals the ultimate act of rebellion, Satan opposed God directly and exalting himself as if higher than God. For that rebellion, he was thrown down from heaven and cast down to the earth. His moral authority, a position of honor, and right relationship were all stripped from him, yet he maintains tremendous power to deceive people in our world, keep them in bondage, and to oppose the progress and well-being of the Church.
We cannot totally blame the problem of evil on the devil, of course. We sinned by proxy, through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, in a real (not metaphorical) act of defiance against God’s clear guidelines. We have to accept the disease, and we must accept the cure if we would live.
Delight in God’s law, His guidelines today. He has not promised to make it easy to deal with troubles/hardships. But He has promised to walk with us through our troubles while giving us perspective, meaning, strength, and joy. The psalmist, in Psalm 119, shows why affliction can actually be a very good thing for us: It was good that I was afflicted so that I might learn Your decrees. When the going gets tough, I have to take a step back and make sure that I look at the situation from God’s perspective. May He help each of us to do that.

IV. Prayer: 

LORD, I want to tell You that I don’t always understand what you’re doing in my life, but You are in charge. I choose to trust You in all that You are. You will put an end to all evil, in Your good timing, and by Your sovereign power. You are a good God, beyond our comprehension, good in ways that we can only begin to imagine. Help me to see your goodness and live in Your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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