April 10, 2016

The Shepherd's Corner

God has a school.  In His school there is only one teacher—He Himself—and there is only one text book—His Written Word.  To all of us who want to enroll in His school, He will teach us about His Word.  The goal of this learning is to know and to be like Him. Often times He uses life’s experiences to make these lessons come alive.

In his book, Abiding in Christ, Andrew Murray, a 19th century South African pastor, shares about the first lessons in the school of God, “Receive what you do not comprehend.  Submit to what you cannot understand, and accept and expect what appears to reason as a mystery.  Believe what looks impossible, and walk in a way you do not know . . . .”  Simply put, the Teacher asks us to trust Him!

“The believing surrender to Christ, and submission to His Word to expect what appears most improbable, is the only way to the full blessing of knowing Him,” Andrew Murray concludes.  We must trust God wholeheartedly even though we do not understand and we must expect the outcome even though we can’t think how.

I am sure we have something that we must surrender to God.  Perhaps that something is a personal struggle or a problem we are facing which we can neither solve nor understand.  In times like these our faith gets its test in the school of God.  Can we trust God that He means well and can we trust Him to do the improbable?

Back to the book, Abiding in Christ, that book was actually a birthday gift from Santy’s brother and sister in-law to our youngest daughter three years ago.  The reason the book is with us, and not with her, is because she left it behind—the same way she has left her faith behind.  This is our faith test in the school of God.

Pastor Paul

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