God's Purpose

The past three days' reading in My Utmost for His Highest has really been speaking to me about God's purpose.

The August 3 devotion says:

In the natural life our ambitions are our own, but in the Christian life we have no goals of our own. We talk so much today about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, and our decisions for this and that, but in the New Testament the only aspect that is brought out is the compelling purpose of God. "You did not choose Me, but I chose you..." (John 15:16) ...God's aim appears to have missed the mark, because we are too nearsighted to see the target at which He is aiming.

Ouch! I have been too nearsighted to see the target at which God has been aiming during the past year of our lives. I still don't see it, but I'm not sure that I need to.

August 4, Chambers writes:

We do not know what God's compelling purpose is, but whatever happens, we must maintain our relationship with Him. We must never allow anything to damage our relationship with God, but if something does damage it, we must take the time to make it right again. The most important aspect of Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain... That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is continually under attack.

Oh, it would be so much easier if the things we DO were the most important part of Christianity! But maintaining a relationship is hard work, especially when I can't see God's compelling purpose in my circumstances.

And then today, the knife to my heart:

God called Jesus Christ to what seemed absolute disaster. And Jesus Christ called His disciples to see Him put to death, leading every one of them to the place where their hearts were broken. His life was an absolute failure from every standpoint except God's. But what seemed to be failure from man's standpoint was a triumph from God's standpoint, because God's purpose is never the same as man's purpose.

This bewildering call of God comes into our lives as well... His call is simply to be His friend to accomplish His own purposes. Our real test is in truly believing that God knows what He desires. The things that happen do not happen by chance--they happen entirely by the decree of God. God is sovereignly working out His own purposes.

If we are in fellowship and oneness with God and recognize that He is taking us into His purposes, then we will no longer strive to find out what His purposes are. As we grow in the Christian life, it becomes simpler to us, because we are less inclined to say, "I wonder why God allowed this or that?" And we begin to see that the compelling purpose of God lies behind everything in life, and that God is divinely shaping us into oneness with that purpose. A Christian is someone who trusts in the knowledge and the wisdom of God, not in his own abilities. If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the calm, relaxed pace which should be characteristic of the children of God.

Lord, help me to trust in your knowledge and wisdom and not in myself. I want to live a life of simplicity, characterized by the calm, relaxed pace of your children.