I think it's interesting that the NIV translates Peter's teachings, using the word "someone" to devour. The King James version says "whom", while the Holman Christian Standard says "anyone". I respect these versions and how they are used, but the NIV presents 1Peter 5:8 as if the devil is purposely seeking someone to devour. That word makes me sit up and notice the devil's intent more closely.
I would accurately describe the past week, purposely using particular names in place of "someone". It all seems to come back down to purpose, eh?
The past week or so has brought into my path a mammogram (due to a sore breast), which revealed that "everything is fine", a financial situation that has brought a sister unmeasureable stress, a miscarriage of a 5 week old fetus...from one of my MOPS sisters, and another miscarriage of a 3 month old fetus...from a different one of my MOPS sisters. Not to mention a marital issue with one of my soul sisters.
What is all this about???
When will God say "ENOUGH"?
And I haven't even blogged about the financial mess that so many people are in...our economy...or the life-changing election that we will be participating in within 3 weeks, 1 day.
What is this world coming to ?
It's coming to an end...
PRAISE GOD!
When God settles the score, and the last battle has been fought...and the war of the ages has taken place,
the devil will be in hot water.
Our faith will be proven effective with no further challenges from the lion who wants to destroy us. We'll finally be free!
No more worries about our health. No more financial disasters. No more devastating personal issues where we must face losing a precious baby and all the unanswered questions that come after. No more broken marriages. No more...
No more.
Sin will be put in it's place.
The devil will be crushed under our heels!
God will make judgement and we'll forever be freed from the destruction that sin leaves behind.
It is an awful and seemingly injust act that we suffer from these personal issues, anyway...right? We don't deserve this!...do we?
God loves us so much. He sent His Son to die for the sins we commit daily. That's the punishment for sin...death. While we may not think that we ever deserve to suffer...I can assure you that we don't deserve God's grace...mercy...blessing...or fairness.
I've been asked the question many times..."How do I deal with this?"...and "Why did God do this?"...and my response is this...
don't forget.
I don't have all the answers. But I have the Bible. And I know what it says. Don't forget God's promises. Don't forget to keep talking to Him. Even when you're mad. Even when you don't know what to say. Even when you feel as though your whole world is off the axil.
Don't forget.
He promised that He would never give us something we can't handle. He promised that He would prosper us and give us hope. He promised us that He has a plan for each of us. He promised that He would never leave us...that He is always with us. And those are KEPT promises that still apply to our lives today.
What God did NOT promise was that we'd never be broken hearted. He did NOT promise that this life would be easy or even bearable at certain times. He did NOT promise that OUR plan would be His direction. He did not promise to bless our sin.
And while there are things that He allows into our lives that have nothing to do with our short comings...they have nothing to do with us drinking Diet Coke, being intimate with our husband, being the perfect weight/height with gorgeous hair, spending $20 on something we really didn't need (in excess, of course) or that we failed to prepare ourselves for something we had no idea would happen...!...we still have to remember that God knows what's best for us and He's promised to move us in that direction. We just have to move out of the way and let Him work in our lives.
Easier said than done. But when we are trying to make sense of a senseless situation, all we really have to rely on is...
His Word.
We can't play the blame game. We can't carry burdens all by ourselves. We can't wallow for too long in heartbreak. Pretty soon, we have to trust Him.
We have to remind Him of those promises...not for His sake...but for ours.
So don't forget to talk to Him daily. Don't forget to take Him at His Word daily. Don't forget that daily is every 24 hours.
And every 24 hours, we wake up to a whole new day. A whole new opportunity to take Him at His Word.
A whole new opportunity for God to reveal His purpose for each of us.
And for us to purposely shut the devil up.
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