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July 22, 2008
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
The View from a Troubled Heart, by Bill Sherrill
O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would
consider their latter end! (Deuteronomy 32:29 KJV).
And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou
hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning,
inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich (Ruth
3:10).
So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning:
for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a
thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses (Job 42:12).
Have you ever had the feeling that no matter what you tried to do
nothing ever seemed to turn out alright? Most of us have felt that at
one time or another. Some continually feel this way because life has
been so difficult for them.
Jeremiah was distressed because the righteous seemed to suffer and the
wicked prospered (Jeremiah 12:1). Job, in his terrible trials, forgot
all the good he had enjoyed and became so focused on his tragedies that
he wished to have never been born. The prophet Elijah cried out that he
would be better off dead since he was hunted by his enemies and "I,
only I am left." To which the LORD replied, "I have 7,000 left who have
not bowed their knees to Baal" (1 Kings 19:18). The truth is, that
until these "considered their latter end" of God's work, they could not
make any sense of the affairs of their lives. It is not possible to
see, from our limited viewpoint, just what God has in store for us or
how He will use us in His service.
Through God's providence they found joy!
One of the best told and most beautiful stories found in the Bible is
about just such a situation. An Israelite wife and mother, Naomi left
her homeland with her husband and two sons because there was a great
famine in their land. After arriving in a foreign land, her husband
died and left her with the two sons. After a time, the sons married and
then they also died without children. Naomi had heard that her homeland
was once again reaping harvests so she determined to return to a place
where she had kin. After her two daughters-in-law had traveled with her
for a distance, she implored them to return to their own houses in the
hope that they, being young, might find other husbands and raise
families. When they pleaded with her to let them continue with her, in
the accumulation of misery that had befallen her, Naomi said "My life
is much too sad for you to share, because the LORD has been against
me!" (Ruth 1:13).
"The LORD has been against me!" How bitter Naomi must have felt! After
all, nothing of value in her entire life remained; she was old and
alone. But that for which she could never have dreamed was in the
making. One of the young women who were her daughters-in-law refused to
leave her and under her direction married the wealthy and kind Boaz.
And beyond anyone's wildest dreams, Naomi's faithful daughter-in-law
became one of three foreign women in the line which produced the Lord
Jesus the Christ! Through God's providence, Naomi and Ruth found joy in
the present world and have gone down in history as two of the most
famous women of all time!
Perhaps we -- like King David, Job, Elijah, and Naomi -- need to wait
to see the "latter end" before we assume that the LORD is unfair. When
we look back at our lives from the Eternal Kingdom, I suspect we might
just find a few things of real glory in the life which seemed so empty.
I guess "hind sight" will always be clearer than our present view.
Perhaps that is one of the most important reasons to trust in God's
providence. God didn't make anyone who is not important in His eyes --
no matter how it may look at the moment from our own point of view!
---------
(c) 2008 Bill Sherrill <sherrill@cox-internet.com>'s Thought for
the Week. Used by permission.
RELATED LINKS:
* Steady, It Could be God!
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200505/20050529_couldbegod.html
* Dark Night of the Soul
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200512/20051228_darknight.html
* Good Things from Bad Situations
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200707/20070713_goodfrombad.html
* Bill Sherrill's Thought for the Week
http://new.vchurches.com/northstreetcoc/home.aspx?igid=45081
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200807/20080722_view.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD, by Brother Lawrence
This edition of this timeless devotional classic will help you
cultivate a continual awareness of God in the everyday.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?223
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