This Is How God Prefers It

God’s pattern is to have all odds against Him so victory can only be credited to Him.   ~~~   We ended last week by saying that we are to focus on the promises of God and our calling as Christians and not the circumstances. If we survey the Bible, we will over and over where odds and circumstances were stacked against God’s people, and that is just how God likes it. Joseph and brothers—you meant it for evil but God meant it for good. Moses backed up against red sea—facing the red sea looked like nothing but death for Moses and the people of God. It was the end of the road, but the LORD intervened, made a way, and the red sea delivered God’s people but crushed God’s enemy. Esther and Haman—Haman had devised a plan to have the Jews extinguished and especially Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, hung from gallows fifty cubits high. But when the news came to King Artarxerxes that a plan had been hatched to annihilate the Jews, of which his wife was one, the king’s wrath turned against the man who had hatched the plan, Haman. And Haman was hung in the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Job’s ailments, at Satan’s request in order to separate Job from God, bring Job closer to God, not cursing God. Three Hebrew boys and fiery furnace, didn’t die, but burned the servants of Nebudchanezer Daniel and Lions den—Daniel, because of his faithfulness to God, was set up and conspired against by jealous men, and was eventually was thrown into a den of lions. But no harm came to him. God had shut the lions mouth. And when King Darius saw that Daniel’s God had delivered Daniel, he brought Daniel out of the tomb, and tossed in Daniel’s accusers and their families. And before they hit the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces. Paul in prison—you can put bars around his body, but not around his mouth. It was from prison that joy in the gospel spread all around, and eventually delivered him in front of kings. John on Patmos—you can seclude him to try and keep him from influencing others, but God will use that time of seclusion to deliver one of his most fascinating and comforting pieces of the Bible. This is the way of God. This is God’s pattern…to have all the odds against him, all the circumstances against him and his people, so that when overwhelming victory comes, it can be said, “This is God!”