In our real life, when misfortunes in the family, difficulties in
the work, the illnesses of the body, or various dangers and pains befall
us, often times we don’t know how to face them and are always anxious
and panicky, so that we neither see God’s deeds nor gain God’s guidance.
This gives us food for thought: As Christians, how should we experience
crises?
I thought of the story of Moses in the Bible.
Moses was originally a prince, but shepherded sheep for forty years in
the wilderness without anyone even to talk to. His descent from a prince
in the palace to a shepherd in the wilderness and forty years’
experience in the wilderness made him achieve the knowledge of God’s
almightiness and sovereignty and also his hot-bloodedness was worn away.
When God commissioned him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he could
obey God and accept His commission with confidence. Especially when he
led the Israelites through the Red Sea, it looked like they were
finished because they were caught between the Red Sea in front of them
and the Egyptian army behind them. In that situation, what approach did
Moses take? He firmly believed that God would surely lead them through
His authority and power, still prayed to and relied on God with
confidence, then lifted the rod and stretched it over the sea. Finally
he saw God’s deeds—the Red Sea was divided and the Israelites safely
passed through it.
There were also the deeds of David recorded in the Bible. When the
Philistines fought against Israel, Saul and all of Israeli soldiers were
terrified when facing the giant Goliath, could only let him hurl
invective at and blaspheme against God but no one dare go forth against
him. At that time, David was a shepherd boy but he worshiped Jehovah God
and had faith in Him, so facing the ridicule from Goliath, he said,
“You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I
come to you in the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the armies of
Israel, whom you have defied. This day will Jehovah deliver you into my
hand; and I will smite you, and take your head from you; and I will give
the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day to the fowls of
the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may
know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know
that Jehovah saves not with sword and spear: for the battle is
Jehovah’s, and He will give you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17:45–47).
Because David relied on his faith in God
to fight, he only used a catapult to defeat Goliath in the end. It was
due to his faith in God that he saw God’s deeds and power.
Click here to donate as The Spirit leads you to support the vision of this mission and the orphange for God loves a cheerful giver - Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: -Jeremiah 32:17
Through the account of Moses and David, we can see that it is very
important to experience crises with true faith in God. I read two
passages of words in a book: “What does faith refer to? Faith is
the genuine belief and the sincere heart that humans should possess
when they cannot see or touch something, when God’s work is not in line
with human notions, when it is beyond human reach. This is the faith
that I speak of. … No matter how God works or what kind of environment
you are in, if you are able to pursue life, seek to have God’s work
carried out within you, and pursue the truth, and if you have an
understanding of God’s actions and are able to act according to the
truth, then this is your genuine faith and this shows that you have not
lost hope in God” (“Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement”). “Therefore,
only when you have faith and you do not harbor doubts toward God, only
when you have true faith in Him no matter what He does will He enlighten
and illuminate you in your experiences, and only then will you be able
to see His actions. These things are all achieved through faith” (“Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement”).
From these words we can see that, no matter whether or not the
circumstance we encounter accords with our notions, or no matter how
dangerous it is, as long as we quiet our hearts before God, pray to Him
all the time, rely on Him with a sincere heart, and seek the truth, then
we will experience God’s marvelous deeds and surely see how God leads
us to escape all dangers. I couldn’t help but think of a brother’s
experience. He got cancer and in his misery, he prayed to and relied on
God, saying that no matter whether he lived or died was ruled by God,
and that he was willing to completely submit everything to God.
Unexpectedly, his cancer miraculously disappeared. After that
experience, he gained a more practical understanding of God’s
almightiness and sovereignty, and had greater faith in God. There was
also a sister. Her son suddenly got into a car accident and even the
doctors said he couldn’t be saved and even if his operation was
successful, he might suffer brain death. In her suffering and anxiety,
she prayed and leaned on God and believed that heavens, earth, and all
things are ruled by God, and that man’s life and death are in God’s
hands but not up to doctors. She was willing to rely on God and
experience that matter, and entrust his son to God. As a result, after
the operation, her son came to in a very short period of time. The
doctors all said that was a miracle, and that in so many of those
operations, they had never seen anything like that.
Click here to donate as The Spirit leads you to support the vision of this mission and the orphange for God loves a cheerful giver - Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: -Jeremiah 32:17
The Lord Jesus said, “For
truly I say to you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you
shall say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall
remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matthew
17:20). So, no matter what environments, setbacks, tribulations, or
sufferings we face, we believe that all things are in God’s hands. As
long as we pray to and rely on Him, and have real obedience to and hold
fast to our faith in Him, we can gain His guidance and see His marvelous
deeds.
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