Pastor's Ponderings, March 6, 2017

Our God Takes Care of Our Good and Bad Times

What if you could go back in time and change history?  In the sixties, I enjoyed the cartoon character, Mr. Peabody, a genius-talking dog.  He had a Wayback Machine, which was used to transport him and his adopted human son, Sherman, back in time to visit important events in human history.  The theme of time travel is the subject of a number of current TV shows such as Time after Time, Making History, Timeless and even an updated movie in 2014 called Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

It would be great if we could jump in a time machine and correct our past mistakes.  We would not take that job, we would not have spoken so harshly to that important person, we would not have dated that person, and we never would have spent that money.  However, we can thank God that He can take our past mistakes and work them out for our good (Romans 8:28).  He can restore the years that we have wasted (Joel 2:25).  When we have been robbed of opportunities and resources by the devil, God promises that He would make the thief pay us back sevenfold (Proverbs 6:31).  Even when we have ruined our health due to terrible lifestyle choices, God can work miracles of healing and deliverance (Exodus 15:26).

It is comforting to know that we serve a God that sees our end from our beginning (Isaiah 46:10). He wants the very best for us even while He watches us make the wrong decisions time and time again.  Before mankind decided to disobey God in the Garden of Eden, He had already sacrificed His Son Jesus to pay the debt of sin (Revelation 13:8).  There is nothing that we have not messed up that He cannot fix up because He is the same God, today, yesterday, and forever. He can do anything but fail.

Thank God we don’t need to fix the past or change the future because we would probably still make bad choices. We serve a God that is in charge of everything.  Let us console ourselves with the knowledge that our God desires to always take good care of us (Ephesians 1:11-12).

Romans 8:28
New International Version (NIV)

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose

Joel 2:25
New International Version (NIV)

25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you

Proverbs 6:31
New International Version (NIV)

31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

Exodus 15:26
New International Version (NIV)

26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

Isaiah 46:10
New International Version (NIV)

10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’

Revelation 13:8
New International Version (NIV)

8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

Ephesians 1:11-12
New International Version (NIV)

11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory

 .