Where Is God #509

Surfing with Jesus #50901102008
Pastor Gene A. Dasher, Sr.
gene@SurfingwithJesus.com

I want to thank Pastor Thompson who wrote this article for allowing me to share it. I feel it will be strength to many of you that have shared prayer request. Allow God to bless you with it.

DAILY-E-VOTIONAL(BLESSINGS FROM THE HEART)
Pastor Cecil A. Thompson, January 7, 2008

"WHERE IS GOD?"
John 17:9-11
"I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they are Yours. All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name—the name You gave Me—so that they may be one as We are one."

"Where is God when I need Him?" "If God is a God of love, why did He take my loved one?" "If there really is a God, why does He allow such terrible things to happen in our world?" "Why does God answer some prayers, yet seemingly ignore others?" "Why do the righteous seem to endure hardships while the wicked seem to prosper?" Have you heard these questions before? Have you asked these questions before?

I was sitting beside the hospital bed of our oldest daughter, Brenda. The doctors had made the prognosis that she had a very short time to live---possibly a matter of days. Brenda commented, "You know dad, I think I have been cheated." I acted innocent although I was sure that I knew what she was referring to. She continued, "Grandpa lived to be 74. I am only 33. I feel that I have been cheated out of half of my life!"

That night I went into the garage and swept some sand onto a sheet of paper. I sat at the kitchen table and carefully counted out 74 grains of sand. I placed these in a small sample perfume bottle. The next day when I went to the hospital, I placed the small vial on Brenda's bed. She asked; "What is that? I told her it was grandpa, or at least the number of grains of sand that represented the years of his life.

I asked her to imagine that each of these small grains of sand represented one year. Next imagine that the entire world to its very core was entirely made up of sand. That would be only a small iota of the length of eternity. "Now," I asked, "What are these 74 small grains in comparison to our world of sand?" Brenda replied; "Nothing." I then asked; "What is one half of nothing?" We began to laugh together.

The reality is that it is eternity that matters, not the length of our life or even the quality of our life. It is being washed in the blood of Jesus and becoming a new creation in Him that prepares us for eternity. Not the things we do for Him, but by accepting what He has done for us.

Jesus told a wonderful parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Here was a man who seemingly had all that the world could offer, yet he had made no provision for eternity. By not receiving eternal life in Christ, he was damned to a terrible eternity of suffering. Lazarus was just the opposite. He had experienced poverty and pain in his life, but he had also received the Lord as his Savior. His eternity was filled with peace and blessedness.

You may have recognized today's Scripture as being part of the prayer which Jesus prayed for His disciples. The prayer was not restricted to the disciples of His day, but for us as well. He wants His disciples of all ages to focus our attention on Him, not the temporal things which will pass away.

Let me share a little more of the prayer Jesus prayed in our behalf. John 17:14-19; "I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."

The Lord Jesus has prayed for our sanctification. That means that we are to turn from sin and walk in a new sense of commitment and dedication. Let's quit trying to play God by blaming Him or questioning the things that occur in our life.

One last verse. Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing. ---Pastor Cecil (You may SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE by visiting: https://listserv.reachone.com/e-cast/mail.cgi/list/cecil)

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Pastor Gene A. Dasher, Sr., 2355 Parkway Dr SE, Cleveland, TN 37323
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