June 10, 2024 Devo

There is a lot I don’t understand about God and this whole journey of faith. I guess that’s why it is a journey of “faith.” I don’t understand why God heals some people and doesn’t heal others. I don’t understand why God blesses some people and doesn't seem to bless others nearly as much. I don’t understand why some churches seem to explode with growth and why others work themselves to the bone and are barely surviving. There are a lot of things like this that I see and I just shake my head and say, “God, I don’t get it.” Does anybody else feel this way sometimes?
There are a few things I have learned that help me to stay steady when these questions start coming to my mind. One of those things is that I’ve learned that God’s plan is much bigger, wider, and longer than I realize. I’m looking at one moment in time and one situation, while God is looking at a much longer timetable and is taking in a much broader audience of impact.
I’ve also discovered that God always works with eternity in mind, and I’m just looking at the here and now. Praying for someone to be healed and then they die feels like a failure. That is, until you factor in eternity. Then you remember that heaven and eternity are the ULTIMATE healing. No one lives forever physically on this planet. So when we pray for believers and they die, that is God granting our request in the most wonderful way—temembering eternity changes everything.
The other part that Nicodemus reminded me of was how little we understand about the nature and work of the Holy Spirit. Our systematic theology puts the Holy Spirit in a box and says He works this way and that way. But Jesus laughs at that thought. Look at what Jesus says. “The wind blows wherever it wants.” In other words, you can see the impact of what the Spirit does, but you don’t know what the Spirit is up to or how He does it. We don’t even understand how He works IN US! We only know that He does. All we can do is seek Him with all our hearts, set the sails of our faith in His direction, and pray with humble hearts, “Blow, Holy Spirit, blow!” That’s God’s Word for you today.