Annie
Scriptures
Hebrews 11:1
Hebrews 10:22
James 1:2-3
Malachi 3:16-17
“We are never more safe, never have more reason to expect the Lord’s help, than when we are most sensible that we can do nothing without him.”
So wrote the former blasphemous, slave trading sea captain, John Newton, the man who subsequently surrendered his life to Christ, became an abolitionist, an evangelist and the writer of some of the best loved hymns of all time. The words he wrote in the hymn Amazing Grace, highlight his understanding and experience of his assurance of God’s love for him, protection of him and of God’s total, undeserved gift of eternal salvation to him.
There are times in the life of all believers when fear overtakes us, when circumstances, troubles, just the stress of living in a world that seems to become more and more broken each day, causes us to waver in our trust in God’s deliverance and salvation. To hold on to the words of scripture that tell us how much God delights to give us the assurance of salvation, can sometimes feel beyond us. Yet, these are the building blocks of our assurance.
When we can grasp that, from the rubble of this doubt, these broken shards of our weakness, God can build an assurance that will sustain and nourish us, we will be able to see that this is, indeed, our safe place.
In the midst of the pain of sore muscles, of endless hours of repeating the same laps around the same racetrack, what keeps the athlete going is the knowledge that the prize is growing ever closer. The muscles grow stronger, the endurance becomes less laboured, the goal really is attainable. The apostle Paul’s analogy of our journey being like that of the athlete is a sound one, but only when we realise, with him, with Peter, with the all the saints down through the ages, that in our own strength it can never work.
Our sinful, prideful nature will always deceive us into thinking that we are strong enough, knowledgeable enough, spiritual enough, to reach this goal of absolute assurance in God for everything, on our own. Oh, how much did our dear friend Peter realise that this is doomed to failure as he heard the cock crow that fateful day. As he looked into the eyes of his Lord, he knew, that only by the refining fire of trials and troubles, would the dross of his sinful nature be separated from the pure Life of Christ within him. And only then could he know, without doubt, the assurance of his salvation.
Quite some years ago, we planted an olive grove. We dug the holes, carefully placed the young trees in them, then dutifully watered them and waited for them to grow. We waited, and waited, and waited, for years we waited. Until, in the end, we gave up and decided to take them out as they were still the same size as the day we had planted them. As we dug them out, we saw the root balls, with roots wound around and around, not one root had spread into the surrounding ground. Just digging a hole in that hard packed soil simply hadn’t allowed the roots to penetrate. We had neglected to do the one thing we should have done, we had not broken up the surrounding soil, not cultivated the ground to allow the growth to happen.
God lovingly, tenderly, repeatedly cultivates the soil of our lives, breaking up the hardness, crumbling the lumps of clay so that His Life in us will have room to grow. So that our assurance of His love, His protection, His eternal salvation will grow and flourish. That breaking up is essential.
It is such a paradox, yet a paradox that we can be eternally and joyfully thankful for each day of our lives.
Prayer: Father God, help us to always remember that You will never test us beyond what we can endure. You know how and when the cultivation needs to happen so that our assurance will grow, in and through You. Thank You, thank You. In the Name of Christ, Amen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Y8s-Sz_ac&ab_channel=CityAlight
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