Trust God in ALL Things

Philippians 4:6 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

I continue to think about what has been happening at church with the resignation of our pastor. Some desire that the truth come out. I have mentioned that I'm not sure that would be the best thing. It might bring on the wrong attitudes for "both sides" of the issue.  Fingers will be pointed and angers will rise to the surface. Our flesh will take over, not our spirit.

One of our pastors said we might not ever get all the answers and we just need to trust God. That's the whole point of this life is to trust God in ALL things...and with thankfulness.

I was so thankful for Oswald Chambers' words from yesterday that I happened to read today about tempers and vindication. He talked about the "Distraction of Antipathy." I have to admit I had to look up antipathy. I knew it wasn't a positive word. It means a strong, deep-rooted dislike or an object of such dislike. Ouch.

He described how we can become so easily distracted from God because of our mindset. "There are certain tempers of mind in which we never dare indulge; if we do, we find they have distracted us from faith in God, and until we get back to the quiet mood before God, our faith in Him is nil, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is the thing that rules." 

If we knew all the circumstances of our pastor's leaving we would not be trusting in God anymore. If we desire the truth, is it solely to satisfy our own curiosity, to settle in our hearts what we believed to be right...or wrong? Our human nature, our anger or bitterness would rise and distort the issue. Fingers would be pointed, thoughts about how wrong so and so was would be right out there. Our attitudes would not be good. It is the rising of our flesh and not our spirit. I have thought and voiced my opinion on this myself and know I'm doing what I should not.

He continues to explain that we are not to worry about the cares of this world. This isn't just some small care, this is an incident that affects the lives of all the congregation, the staff and the pastor and his entire family and accuser(s) and even our church's district supervisor. We're told we need to trust God and move on. But some will never be able to move on. Where's the trust in God in that? There is always a good plan in the future for today's trouble. God's will will be done.

We are not called to point fingers. We are called to pray about God's intervention in all this. He alone is the one who knows the circumstances and knows where conviction, repentance, forgiveness and healing needs to take place. It is up to us to separate ourselves from the distraction of condemnation and trust God. When we harp on this and unrighteously judge it's like grumbling in God's ears. He chastised Israel when they grumbled. Only He in His perfection is able to judge, in love.

Chambers goes on to talk about the "lust of vindication." He calls it a lust, which is sin. "That temper of mind destroys the soul's faith in God. 'I must explain myself; I must get people to understand.' Our Lord never explained anything. He left mistakes to correct themselves." I've heard people say pastor never spoke up. He just left. Perhaps he has opted not to vindicate himself, which is quite admirable. Yes, it also could mean he is guilty. "Our Lord never explained anything; He left mistakes to correct themselves." I realize that there are times when truth needs to come out. If that's the case, God will allow it. It will be revealed, the mistakes will correct themselves.

I think the truth, like I said yesterday, is knowing that God is in control. What we should concern ourselves with is that He will deal with everyone in this circumstance.

Chambers ended by saying "God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede." Knowing the truth could bring criticism. Without full knowledge of circumstances might it be that we can't criticize because we just don't know for sure? That may be why God does things the way He does because He knows how we would respond. Maybe I'm way off base on all this. I'm just going to trust God to settle the matter.

Hebrews 13:20-21 - May the God of peace ... equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.