a good reminder on easter

Today's devotional in My Utmost for His Highest addresses some of the things that I have been thinking through and processing for the past month or so. It deals with the questions of where we place our trust and where we derive our hope, particularly in those times when we are "scattered." The underlying Scripture for this reading is John 16:32 as Jesus tells his disciples that a time is coming when they will be scattered and no longer in his immediate presence.

I share here the majority of the devotional...

The Way To Permanent Faith

"...We will be scattered, not into service but into the emptiness of our lives where we will see ruin and barrenness, to know what internal death to God's blessing means. Are we prepared for this? It is certainly not of our own choosing, but God engineers our circumstances to take us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is sustained only by feelings and by blessings. But once we get there, no matter where God may place us or what inner emptiness we expereince, we can praise God that all is well. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life.

"'...you...will leave Me alone.' Have we been scattered and have we left Jesus alone by not seeing His providential care for us? Do we not see God at work in our circumstances? Dark times are allowed and come to us through the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in His blessings, instead of in God Himself. The sense of God's blessings is fundamental.

"'...be of good cheer, I have overcome the world' (16:33). Unyielding spiritual fortitude is what we need."

Twice in this reading, Chambers uses the phrase "Are we prepared..." I have found that, in significant ways, I was unprepared spiritually to be taken to this place. Clearly, I have had my own goals which I serve. Fortunately for me, "God is never in a hurry." And so I return again to the place of waiting; and I wait with expectancy of the goodness of my risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

He is risen. He is risen, indeed!

Happy Easter.