“Just How Far Has God Brought You?”


BIBLE READING: 1 Chronicles 17-20

                In I Chronicles 17, David is feeling some guilt for building himself a house of cedar while allowing the Ark to remain in a tent. He petitions the prophet Nathan, for guidance. That night the word of the LORD came to Nathan to reveal to David God’s desires concerning David and His house. God reveals to David, through Nathan, that it will be his offspring that completes that House of God and not David. Within this message from God, He reminds David just how far He has brought him on his journey. “…Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following sheep, to be prince over my people Israel, and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all of your enemies from before you.  And I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.” (I Chronicles 17.7-8). This must have served as a good reminder for David as to just how far he had come from shepherding his father’s sheep, to ruling over God’s people. If David had ever begun to think that all his accomplishments were due to his own doing, this was to serve as a great reminder. What about you? Have you ever just taken a moment to examine your own life and think of all the blessings and accomplishments you have? Do you credit it to your own doing? Do you credit it to fate or luck? I want to encourage you to take the time to read this passage again, but this time through your own eyes and experiences. Maybe this will help remind you of all the good and all the blessings you have are all a direct result of what God has done for you. Maybe it would sound a little like this, “Matt, I the Lord of hosts, have taken you from being a mere man who struggles with sin and temptation, who alone can’t survive all of the tricks of the devil.  And I have made you My child, My son and have given you strength beyond your own imagination to withstand any of your enemies. I have also given you an inheritance that you did not deserve and granted you mercy and forgiveness from all the sins that you have ever committed. By My graciousness I have also blessed you with a loving family, a wonderful job, a more than adequate home and talents that you can use to reveal My power to others.  I have done all of this not because of anything you have done, but because of My great love for you”. I am sure that you would feel (just as I do) humbled at the thought of all the blessings God has given to me. I pray we all take a few moments to ponder just how far God has brought us up until this point of our lives and then try to imagine just how far He can take us. Wherever it is, it will not be by any of our own doing, but by His wonderful love that He has for us. Then take a few moments to say, “Thank you Lord!”

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