heaven

has God forgotten me?

Posted on by Grace Day

Do you ever wonder what God’s up to? I mean, He said He’s coming back for us and that He will set all things right – but that was centuries ago when Jesus made those promises. The days are certainly evil. There are wars and rumors of wars. There are floods and famines. But that’s been true of life here on earth ever since Eve made her choice in the garden. It was the same condition of life Jesus found us living in when He came here two thousand years ago. And since the time Jesus ascended into heaven, things have continued in their sorry state. So it’s understandable if we humans are growing weary in the wait these days, even as we long for Jesus’s return. To us it may seem as if Jesus is being unnecessarily slow in returning to rescue us from the mess we’ve made of things. But Peter reminds us –

“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

So what I perceive as God’s slowness or even indifference to our current human suffering, is actually God’s mercy and compassion, giving each one of us more time to come to faith in Jesus and receive His gift of forgiveness and eternal life.

During this extended period of proffered grace, God is not dilly-dallying while we are enduring the hardships of this life. No He is busy on my behalf and on your behalf, dear readers. We know this because Jesus told His disciples –

“In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:2-3)

So Jesus is busy preparing a place for me. BUT – He’s also doing something even more important simultaneously. Jesus is preparing me, in order that I might be made ready to inhabit the place that He is getting ready for me. Somehow, I think the former task is infinitely easier than the latter one. It is a really hard, painstaking process getting me prepared to take my place in heaven. No wonder Jesus is taking so long – I need a lot of work done in order to be ready for His return! Is that the case for you, too? Jesus does that work for us, described this way in Ephesians –

“. . . just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)

That’s the preparing work Christ is doing in you and in me now so that we can be “holy and blameless”, when He comes, ready to take our pre-prepared places in heaven. But getting all my stains, wrinkles and blemishes out is quite a painful process – it is the process called “life on planet Earth.” When I am feeling overwhelmed by life’s hardships, hurts, and heartaches, I remember these words –

“For our (my) light and momentary troubles are achieving for us (me) an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

My preparation though painful, has a greater purpose and a good outcome. It’s like Job said when he was in the midst of a painful life trial, having lost everything, with no end in sight and no hope on the horizon –

“But He (God) knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10)

Job felt like God surely must have forgotten about him because his circumstances were so dire and they continued on, even getting worse, for so long. But even so, Job trusted God to bring him through the painful preparation he was experiencing. Job believed that he would “come forth as gold” – having been cleaned from all stains and blemishes and dewrinkled – Job was now prepared to receive what God was preparing for him all along. Peter had the same kind of faith, saying this about the preparation we experience –

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)

Here again I see that my suffering “grief in all kinds of trials” is part of the process, preparing me for what God has in store for me. God is refining my faith. It’s not pleasant, but it is necessary. And I have this promise from my Heavenly Father –

“And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:10-11)

Interesting that both verses refer to “suffering for a little while” because it seems much longer to me as I wait for His work to be completed in me. Does it seem that way to you, too? Still, I have this assurance –

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

You and I are being transformed into Christ’s likeness! (after all, we were created in His image) That’s hard work. Transformation takes time. God is continually at work in our lives, preparing you and I for the place He has already prepared for us. He does this work in order that you and I might be transformed and conformed to the likeness of Christ.

In the middle of my dark nights and painful trials, I can know that my Heavenly Father hasn’t forgotten about me at all. On the contrary, He is right here with me and I can know that –

“it is God who works in me to will and to act according to His good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13)

Has God forgotten me? Never! I have this promise, this assurance from His word.

“being confident of this, that He who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

God is working on me. Actually, God is working in me and I have His promise that He will complete the work! God will not abandon me, nor will He give up on me. I need to remember that truth when things get hard, so that I will not give up on myself and I will not give up on other people. If God doesn’t give up on us, we have no reason to give up on ourselves or on each other. After all,

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32)

God hasn’t forgotten me. And He hasn’t forgotten you either. He’s working on me even in the worst of my circumstances – refining my faith, building something beautiful out of the ashes of my life, washing away the stains, ironing out the wrinkles – then He will clothe me in His righteous robes when I am finally ready for the room He is preparing for me even now. God’s doing the same for you, too, dear readers.

“For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,” (Isaiah 61:10)

sincerely, Grace Day

controversial conversations

Posted on by Grace Day

A friend posed a question today that made me think. Those are the best kind of questions after all, the ones that don’t have an easy answer, the ones that require some thought on my part. So, this question was a “how do you know?” question. More specifically, it was “how do I know if I’ll go to or get into heaven?” My friend was saying that we can’t know until we face God on the judgement day what our eternal fate will be because we don’t know what God is going to say or to decide at that time. However, I found myself disagreeing with this premise. I do know my outcome. I do know how the conversation will go down for me on judgement day.

Which is an odd thing for me to say, because as I write this, I couldn’t tell you what I’m having for dinner tonight or anything else about how things will go for me for the rest of this day. I can’t predict what the weather will be, let alone any of the myriad things that could happen between now and say tomorrow. It’s not that I don’t have plans. It’s just that my plans constantly get interrupted or changed. People cancel on me or someone calls unexpectedly with an invitation. I feel fine, then I suddenly feel ill. My car breaks down. (I never plan for this to happen, my car does this all on its own, never giving me the courtesy of a heads up before it happens, so I can plan around the breakdown, the malfunction or whatever it is that leaves me without transportation)

So, if I can’t see even twenty-four hours into my earthly future, how can I be so sure about my eternal future? Maybe it’s because with my earthly future I see “through a glass darkly” but with my heavenly future, I am told “then I will see face to face.” But I think it’s more than that. I can be certain about my heavenly, eternal future because I am certain about the One to whom I have entrusted that future. I just admitted that I don’t know what’s going to happen in my life from one minute to the next, from one day to the next, let alone from year to year. I just don’t have that power of prediction. BUT – I have entrusted my life to Someone who does know these things, actually to Someone who knows ALL things, to Someone who is sovereign over ALL things. I have committed my life, both currently and in the future, to Someone I can trust – my Heavenly Father, God. These words from Isaiah affirm for me the wisdom of my decision –

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. . . . What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.’ ” (Isaiah 46:9-11)

Nothing takes God by surprise. He alone knows “the end from the beginning.” I can trust God because, as I read in Numbers –

“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19)

God doesn’t lie, which is good to know since I have some very specific promises from Him that I am counting on Him to keep. I am told –

“If I confess my sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive me my sins and purify me from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

These words give me hope as does this truth about God –

“if we are faithless, He (God) will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13)

I am really glad to know that no matter how many times I let God down, how many times I am faithless, God will remain faithful and true to all His promises. God will not let me down! I find great comfort, encouragement and hope in knowing I can count on my Heavenly Father’s faithfulness to me. He does not give up on me. I have this promise from His word which is true –

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

The reason I could say with confidence to my friend, “Yes, I do know what God will decide about my eternal future when I die.” is because I am not depending on myself for the outcome. I am depending on God. And God can be trusted! He keeps His promises. His promises are true!

If my eternal future depended on me, it would be most uncertain. BUT – because I have chosen to trust God with my future, it is certain. I can know the outcome! Paul too, had the assurance of his eternal outcome and shared the reason why in his letter to Timothy, where Paul stated –

“I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12)

Interesting statement, right? Paul said nothing about himself or about his abilities to bring about a preferred outcome. Paul said it was “whom he had believed” aka Jesus Christ, who was holding his eternal future safe and secure, and that he, Paul, was convinced that Jesus alone “is able to guard what he had entrusted” – (what Paul had entrusted to God was himself, his very life) “for that day” – meaning his final judgement day.

This statement is even more surprising given that Paul was persecuted for his faith in Jesus, endured many hardships and was often put in prison for preaching the gospel. Paul’s earthly future was always uncertain. He would make plans to visit a church somewhere such as Corinth or Ephesus or even Rome, but before Paul had the chance to carry out his plans, he would be arrested and put in prison, leaving him unable to do what he had originally planned.

Paul didn’t have any confidence in his own ability to guarantee a certain outcome, BUT – Paul had every confidence in God’s ability to guarantee a certain outcome. Today the answer to my friend’s question is that I do know my eternal destiny. I don’t have to wait to find out what will happen to me. God’s word has already made it clear. I can say along with the apostle Paul –

“I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12)

I may not be prepared, but my Heavenly Father is preparing me and will complete His good work in me in His perfect timing. He will even provide my wardrobe!

“For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, . . . I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God.” (Isaiah 61:10)

I have confidence in my destiny because it doesn’t depend on me, it depends on God and God is dependable! God is faithful. I can trust Him today with my life. I can trust Him tomorrow. I can trust Him forever with my eternity.

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 4:18)

sincerely, Grace Day