Rooted in the Word
Bearing Fruit in the Spirit
Toledo Foursquare Church
Monthly Letter
God’s Amazing Strategy
God’s ability to plan our lives often amazes me.
I believe He is ever capable to plan my life and has a strategy that is
unshakable. I gave my heart to Christ in an unwavering way in 1977.
Since that time, I have often looked back over the years stunned by the
detail of God’s plan as events have unfolded to reveal His intelligent
design in my own life. I also believe He takes the same approach with
each of us. Make no mistake, God has a plan for you, and the
circumstances of your life will be used to bring that plan into
fruition.
The detail of it all is amazing. Psalm 139:15, 16
says, “My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and
skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my
substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written,
the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.” Before
you were born God was writing down in His book the days fashioned for
you. Nothing in our lives is catching God by surprise. The detail
involved in the forming of a human being is incomprehensible. I am not
just talking about the formation occurring in the womb, but the impact
that a life lived has on an individual and the extent to which it forms
one’s character and personality. There is often a debate regarding the
origin of personality. That debate is whether or not personality is
formed by nature or nuture. Was it formed in the womb or by the
surroundings of life? It has largely been agreed that both are
contributory. That being said, God had a hand in it. Not only were we
formed in the womb by Him but He numbered our days as well. This
knowledge blesses some while it may discourage others. But let me say
that “It ain’t over till it is over.” (While some would object to the
use of “ain’t” as a contraction, I want to note that it is listed in
dictionary of my software.) I take from this that the bad as well as the
good in my life work together for a greater good. I am confident then
that, when I come to the end of this race, I will easily see the
artistic design of it all.
Some of us who live in the Toledo area will recall a few years back when an individual decided to make a picture of the Mona Lisa on the side of a hill along the highway. He did so by staining the grass, or killing it or something, I am not sure exactly how. But I watched it unfold each day as I would drive home from the office. He would lay out shapes of tarps over the grass and work with it and so on. Each day in the beginning I remember wondering what was going on. It was a huge project and early on it made no real sense. It didn’t really appear that he knew what he was doing. But from a distance as time went by you could see it taking shape. Eventually, you could tell the likeness of a person was developing. While you could guess its final outcome, you weren’t quite sure. Then one day it was finished. It was beautiful; a master piece had slowly developed before my very eyes. Out of what appeared to be chaos came a work of art.
That is what is happening in our lives. Up close it is hard to tell but,
when it is time to stand back and take a look, we will see that God has
worked a marvelous work of art. Sometimes, parts of us must die so that
we can truly live. God knows this. I was intrigued by something I read
this morning in my devotions. In Judges 14 it tells the story of Samson
and how he wanted his parents to get a Philistine bride for him. His
parents were disappointed by this. It is important to remember that
Samson had been raised by them as instructed by the angel of the Lord to
not only be a good Jew but a Nazarite for life. To take the vow of a
Nazarite was to take a vow of extreme purity and separation. For Samson
to ask for a Philistine wife was insulting to this sacrificial way of
life. It was a frustrating thing for his parents. Here they had
faithfully raised their son to embrace absolute holiness only to find
out that he wanted to marry a pagan woman who was among the enemies of
the Jews. Samson had a calling on his life from birth. It was promised,
that he would deliver the children of Israel from the Philistine. Now
not only was he not living up to his calling but he wanted to marry a
philistine. So they asked, “Is there no woman among the daughters of
your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife
from the uncircumcised Philistine?” (Judges 14:3). In that same verse we
read Samson’s reply, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.” How
broken hearted his father must have felt to have given a life of raising
Samson to fulfill God’s plan only to be confronted by this issue.
It was then I read something that seemed to jump
out at me in verse 4. “But his father and mother did not know that it
was of the Lord – that He was seeking an occasion to move against the
Philistines.” This verse really struck me. God was using a negative to
create a positive. What looked like the very opposite of God’s plan was
going to be used as a catalyst to its fulfillment. Samson’s own
rebellion was going to be used to take him where God wanted him to go.
Samson’s own desire for foreign women was going to put him in a place to
fulfill his call. Now don’t get the idea that I am condoning sin in the
interest of completing God’s call in your life. There is no question
that scripture clearly teaches that we will get further with obedience
than rebellion. I am merely pointing out that we cannot escape God’s
plan and He is able to take something very wrong and use it to
accomplish His will. Samson had a lustful eye for philistine women. We
see that in the scriptural account of his life. This was wrong and was
sin in his life. But it didn’t keep God from moving forward on behalf of
Israel or Samson. When he got mad at the wedding party he ended up
fighting against the Philistines as God had intended him to do. Later,
Samson went to Gaza to visit a harlot (another Philistine woman). While
there they tried to attack him and he won another victory and carried
off the gates of the city. Finally, what appeared to be his greatest
failure was when he met Delilah (a philistine woman). But it was that
relationship and betrayal which put him in a place to destroy a city and
judge thousands of the enemy. His greatest failure miraculously lead to
his greatest victory.
Samson was wrong. It would have been better for
him to have walked in obedience to his vows, but God, in His infinite
wisdom aware of Samson’s weakness, implemented an amazing strategy to
effect victory. Not only was it a victory for Israel, but for Samson as
well. He didn’t finish his life as a sexual miscreant sneaking around
the back alleys of heathen cities. He died, serving the Lord and
fulfilling His call. It sounds strange to us, but Samson was called to
kill Philistines. The Bible tells us that at his death he killed more of
the enemy than in his entire life. He didn’t live well, but, thanks to
God’s amazing strategy, he finished well.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9 we are told by the Lord
that, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect
in weakness.” God is without measure. I count on this all of the time. I
am readily aware of my weaknesses and that in spite of them God has
worked wonders. I am forgetful and eccentric (Not and exhaustive list of
my misgivings) which allows for very poor timing. What is amazing,
however, is that God’s plans continue to work out with perfect timing. I
have realized that, when God wants to accomplish something through me,
He says to Himself, “Now Charles is going to forget about this at least
4 or 5 times, which means it will not happen when it should, so I am
going to start stirring his heart on this issue early.” You see, it is
part of God’s amazing strategy to calculate for our weakness. What is
the message in this? You don’t have to be the best because God already
is. I am not arguing for weakness, I am simply facing it. We all have
it. God’s sufficient favor means that He is well able to compensate for
our weakness. When you are scuba diving, if you plan to take an
inexperienced diver into the water with you then you better be good
enough to take care of yourself and him too. Everyone thinks it is
always safer to dive with a buddy than alone, but if that buddy doesn’t
know what he is doing and panics underwater you would be safer alone.
His weakness could get you killed. You have to care enough about that
person who wants to go with you to be willing to expend a whole lot of
extra energy compensating for what he doesn’t know. Let me tell you it
can be exhausting. That is how I see God’s grace, it would be much
easier for Him to go it alone, but He cares enough about us to invite us
along and carry our extra weight.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts
that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of
evil, to give you a future and a hope.” This is a great verse in regards
to what we are talking about. God has made good plans for us, not evil
ones, in order to give us a future. In the original, the word for
thoughts carries the concept of plans made, and the phrase a future and
a hope could just as easily be translated a future hoped for, or an
expected end. Each and every one of us has a future hoped for by God or
an expected end. The thoughts and plans of God for us aren’t for evil,
but to take us to that goal. These are steps in His amazing strategy.
What is that goal? To be conformed to the image of His Son, Christ
Jesus, we are told in Romans 8:29. That is why it says in Romans 8:28,
“All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who
are the called according to His purpose.”
The other day I was visiting my mother. She is 87
and came to Christ when she was 28. Life has not always been easy for
her or on her. Her father was an abusive alcoholic. When she was a young
woman she wasn’t the kind that polite people wanted to be with. When she
met and married my dad she already had two kids. Later, when she was
sick and had another child by him he abandoned her. He left her alone
with nothing. She came to Christ, he returned home and accepted Christ
and they raised seven children. We were poor and never had many of
things my mother dreamed of. She has survived the great depression,
WWII, seven children and a lifetime of being a pastor’s wife. God took a
person who felt unloved and unlovely and used her to touch many lives,
and He doesn’t seem finished yet. People who have known her over the
years, people to whom she has ministered have exclaimed to me how much
they loved and admired her when they realized I was her son. She has
Alzheimer’s now. She doesn’t always remember much, but she senses the
Spirit of God in others, prays in tongues, and is the sweetest person
you could hope to meet. I am often told by everyone who works at her
care facility how wonderful she is. So, the other day I took her out to
lunch, watched her interact, and realized she seemed to be more spirit
than soul. Early in her life she had a lot of rage and abandonment
issues. She had unfulfilled dreams. But now she is a joy to all who meet
her. She is a blessing to those around without even trying. What did God
do with the hardships of her life? He made something beautiful of them,
and named His masterpiece Marjorie. I didn’t tell this story to brag on
my mother but to let you know that God isn’t done painting. He has a lot
of masterpieces in His brush. None of them will be left undone. One of
those masterful works of art may even have your name on it. What do you
think? It is up to you; just give the canvas of your life to Jesus
Christ.
Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this
very thing, that He Who has begun a good work in you will complete it
until the day of Jesus Christ.” So, in your pursuit of Christ and
ministry, you may fail to do everything right. You will fail to make
perfect decisions; you won’t always be the best parent, person, or
Christian etc. But you will have to trust God. He will continue to work
His amazing strategy. And when all is said and done and we look back at
our life we will see an amazing work of art which He accomplished, a
masterpiece. The glory will be His, and that is fine as He has done all
the work. Stay on the path, love Jesus Christ, do the best you can and
let God cover your weakness. He can!
In Christ, your friend,
Charles
Copyright 2007 Toledo Foursquare Church, Toledo, Oregon