Concerning wisdom and knowledge of God

Anyone can count the seeds in one apple,
but God can count the apples in one seed.

'Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out!'

Romans 11:33

Partakers of His Suffering

Partakers of His Suffering

        . . . but rejoice         to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings . . . 
       — 1 Peter 4:13       

If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, "Oh, I can’t deal with that person." Why can’t you? God gave you sufficient opportunities to learn from Him about that problem; but you turned away, not heeding the lesson, because it seemed foolish to spend your time that way.

The sufferings of Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered "according to the will of God" ( 1 Peter 4:19 ), having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His dealings with us. When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the "long road home."

Are we partakers of Christ’s sufferings? Are we prepared for God to stamp out our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual decisions by supernaturally transforming them? It will mean not  knowing why God is taking us that way, because knowing would make us spiritually proud. We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— "God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!"

 - Oswald Chambers


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2016 linkupdate

Related articles

• The Contemplative Companion for Monday, May 23, 2016
• The Word: 2 Peter 1:1-11
• The Portal
• 05/16/2016 Scripture
• Monday, 23 May 2016 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)
• Written down in God's Name for righteousness
• Justification - salvation is by grace through faith - JI Packer
• Hearing words to accept
• Scripture words written for our learning, given by inspiration of God for edification
• Names, Titles, and Characters of Jesus Christ

Choices

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Keuzes

"You are who you are and what you are because
of what has gone into your mind.
You can change who you are and
what you are by changing what goes into your mind."
- Zig Ziglar

"Make me know Your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
For You I wait all the day."
Psalm 25:4-5

God shape my thinking. Change me where it is necessary
and leave me to be a good Christian as that may be an example to others.
Make sure that I always make the right choices
to accede to your Kingdom, where I look forward to.