Vince Deagler

hi everyone.  can i bring up something god has been impressing on me lately?  one of the things we believe as followers of jesus is history is “his story”.  we believe god has everything under control and events will play out according to his plan.  now that gets complicated, and conjures up many questions i’m not really planning on dealing with today.  you are welcome to ask questions and i’ll do my best to answer, but i want to touch on something quite simple that grows out of that belief.  if everything that happens is a part of god’s story, doesn’t that mean there is a purpose, a reason for what’s happening at any given moment?  that certainly is what scripture teaches.  for instance, ecclesiastes 3:1 says “there is an appointed time for everything, and there is a time for every event under heaven”.  now if that is true, doesn’t that mean we should try to understand that purpose?  and going a step further, couldn’t we assume that at times, the purpose might be that i need to learn some lessons in a given area, and the events that define my present reality are the classroom in which i can best learn those lessons?  for instance, when paul experienced what the bible refers to as a “thorn in the flesh”, it seems to me that a part of the purpose for paul’s experience was to learn that god’s grace was sufficient for any and all circumstances, and that when paul was at his weakest, god’s strength could be displayed in a way that it could not if paul had everything covered.  so, let me ask you a couple questions.

1.  look behind you, look at your present reality, look at what lies ahead as best you can, is there a lesson there?  may i humbly point out, it is my experience that god is quite patient.  so, he is willing to keep teaching the same lesson over and over until we get it.  (i know that is how he has worked within me.)  what is it that god is trying to teach you.

2.  why do you suppose he is trying to teach you that lesson at this time?  could it be that this lesson is very important to successfully navigating the road you are on?  (think of how god brought a lion and a bear into david’s life to prepare him for the goliath that was out in his future.)

3.  if you are unsure about all this, is there anything you can do?  thankfully the answer is yes.  look at what james teaches in james 1:5 “but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of god, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”  what i think james is saying to us is we may not understand everything right now, and that is ok.  as we seek god’s insight into the matter, he will reveal what he is up to, why, and how we should proceed.  i am a firm believer in the promise “i can do all things through christ who strengthens me”…but i may need to learn how first.

4.  once you have understood, what will you do?  that may seem like a dumb question, but the reality is that it is not always easy to do what god wants you to do.  sometimes we look at it and conclude it is simply too hard, would cost too much, won’t work, i can’t, etc.  it is wise to decide in advance to obey rather than wait.  sometimes in the heat of the moment we take the path of least resistance, rather than the path god intends.

anyway, god has really been impressing me with these thoughts lately.  thought i’d pass them along.  hope they help you as they have been helping me.  blessings, vince