Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Trusting God”
Our Bible verse for today: “Idle hands make one poor, but diligent hands bring riches.” Proverbs 10:4 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Trust God, but then do the hard work to accomplish meaningful things.”
I read a statement in a book last night which impressed me as being profoundly true. So much so, that I want to share it with you this morning as we continue to consider our theme of “trusting God”. Here it is:
“God sets destinies in heaven, but those destinies have to be hammered out on earth one arduous minute at a time. We strain. We bleed. We grieve. We have to conquer each step. No one gets a pass. No one moves to the head of the line. Everyone is flawed.”
Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the great promises of the Bible which helps us to understand that God has a plan, a destiny in mind, for each person who belongs to Him. He has things He wants accomplished in your life. But Proverbs 10:4 is just one of the many passages which remind us that we have a role to play in this too. We have to cooperate with God. We have to do our part. That’s what this author was referring to.
As part of His beautiful and perfect plan, God sets our destiny. But then it’s up to each of us to hammer out that destiny one tough step at a time. In the unfolding of this lifelong process we will have to overcome our personal flaws and weaknesses; we will be faced with innumerable problems that we will have to lean into and push through; we will get hurt; we will encounter disappointments and sorrows; and maybe we will even bleed a little. That’s just life.
The author of the book made the above statement as he was attempting to illustrate the qualities of character and integrity that combined to make great men great. In his example, he referred to the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, both of whom battled lifelong depression; both of whom suffered through multiple personal tragedies; and both of whom had to persevere through numerous failures in life before they experienced great success.
The author then went on to point out that if you conduct a study of the lives of great men and great women throughout history, one common denominator you will discover in all of their lives is that they had to fight for success. They all endured tremendous struggles, great pains, lots of opposition, and numerous failures. But it was their perseverance through such difficulties that led to their greatness.
Don’t ever doubt that God has a wonderful plan for your life. But also know that you have a great responsibility to embrace that plan, and a lot of hard work to do, if that plan is to come to fruition. Trust God for the plan, and also trust Him for the process. Know that He will help you, but also remember that you have to do the hard work in order for the vision to become reality.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 