God not only knows about all of your problems and circumstances, He also has a solution for them
Welcome, dear friends, to „Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”! I hope you get edified and encouraged through this daily devotion time.
Yesterday we talked about how rejection of God’s authority and His Word leads to serious consequences and tragedy. We also talked about the devil as one of the sources of tragedy and problems on earth. Satan’s purpose is to make people blame and curse God because of their sufferings. Many people do exactly that: when going through problems and sufferings they blame God. The devil wants to destroy people’s faith in God so that he (the devil) could totally subdue people and take full authority over them.
The devil had this same goal in mind when he attacked Job; he did not succeed because Job refused to sin with his mouth.
«So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to you integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips» (Job, 2: 7-10).
Did you notice who the one that struck Job was? It was not God, but Satan. Satan is the enemy of the souls of men; he strikes people to cause them curse God and die ending up in his company in hell. And today I would like to summarize all those things that we discussed during this past time and to point out four main sources of problems.
- Problems as consequences of personal choice and decisions of a person.
The Proverbs tell us about different sinful decision that can become a source of problems in our life. For example, the lack of patience, the lack of honesty, selfishness, anger, even talkativeness – all these things can cause problems in our life and the lives of others. We read in the Holy Scripture that we need to gain wisdom in order to avoid trouble. Every time we ignore God’s principles we cause open the door for negative things in our lives. We reap what we have sowed.
God has given us freedom of choice, but we must know that there is no freedom in the area of consequences of our actions. King David prayed: «I am surrounded by many problems because my sins have caught up with me»
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«For innumerable evils have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart fails me» (Psalm, 40:12).
«O God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hidden from You» (Psalm, 69:5).
- Problems that bring pain and suffering because of the sins of others or persecution.
- Problems as consequences of Satan’s temptations that are meant to lead people away from God and destroy their character.
- Problems as trials from God that are meant to draw us near to Him and shape our character.
Sometimes we are confused about the source of our problems, and often we blame God even though our problems are a result of our wrong choices; and sometimes we blame the devil for the things that have been planned by God. God never tempts us with evil causing us to sin, but He continually tries our character and faith.
When problems come into our lives, we need to define the source of these problems. But we must know that despite the source there are no problems that God would be unaware of. God not only knows about all of your problems and circumstances; He also has a solution for them and He has power and resources in order to change your circumstances. God is able to change the course of our lives for our good. God’s Word says that
«all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose» (Romans, 8:28).
May God abundantly bless you on this wonderful day!
Pastor Rufus Ajiboye
