God Is Not Done With You

By Pastor Ken Gorman Jr

During my hospital stays, I have also been praying about where God wants me to go with the ministry. I thought about stepping back from ministry till I got everything under control; then my brain started wondering, what if I never get my health under control?  God brought a few verses to my mind, and I began meditating on them. This is what the Lord is saying to me during this time, and I hope it also encourages you regarding what you are going through.

God cares for You

King David wrote in Psalms 56:8: "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?"  Let me give you a little context into where this verse originated. David wrote this when he was in a period of life where he thought he was utterly alone.  David was a man after God's own heart, and he reached out to God in one of the deepest, darkest times in his life.  He was comforted by knowing that the Lord cared about him.  David's example helps us understand what we may be going through and also lets us know that God is right there caring for us in our times of great distress.

Christ Jesus also echoes this point in Luke 12:6-7 "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows."   Jesus starts by talking about how five sparrows are sold for two pennies, and to us, that does not mean a lot; however, it shows that God cares about the sparrows; he cares about all his creation; we see this as the verse continues: When Christ Jesus says, and not one of them is forgotten before God. It's amazing how God cares about the smallest creatures out there. 

However, Jesus didn't stop there; look at how he continues, "Why even the hair of your heads are all numbered."  This is even amazing because we can only guess how many hairs we have as humans.  Scientists have said that Depending on the person's hair color, a person has between 90,000 and 145,000 hairs. It may be impossible for us to count the hairs on our heads; however, God knows and numbers every one of our hairs. He cares about us that much to see where each hair is on our heads.

Jesus closes this verse by telling us to Fear not, for we are more valuable than many sparrows.  He is telling us not to worry because God cares about us. He wants us to know how valuable we are to God the Father. This fact should bring us great comfort when facing Dark and uncertain times in our lives. He cares for us and has a plan for us.

GOD has a Plan for You

If we look at Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."  When Jeremiah wrote this, the nation of Israel was being exiled from the land for not listening to God. Look at what the Lord says here, I have a plans for you.  The Jewish people being brought into exile did not know what to expect.  God is declaring He knows precisely what is going on. God is Not allowing his chosen People to be destroyed.  Look at what God says to them, "a plan for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."  

He cares about them, and we can take from this verse he cares for us in that his plans for us when we are facing dark, deep times are not to destroy us.  When we are discouraged during the dark, deep times in our lives, that is Satan trying to take our focus off of God. We need to remember what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."  Things that happen in our lives are not by coincidence. Sometimes, it's to help us grow deeper in the Lord; Other times, it is a way to correct us for going astray, just like the nation of Israel being exiled to Babylon; and still other times, it may be neither of that, but for us to be able to reach out to somebody else in need.

  At the time of writing, we are in what we call Holy Week, and I remembered a story about when I was in the Hospital on Palm Sunday. My wife went to church that morning and was coming to visit me after she went to church.  I was talking to my day nurse about how it was Palm Sunday. She told me she hates working Palm Sunday because she can't get any palms to make into crosses. So, I reached out to my wife and asked her to bring as many extra palms as she could and bring them to the Hospital. The nurse made many crosses out of the palms we got and gave them to different people in the Hospital. She brought me just one because it was all she had left. They were doing a change of shift. The daily nurse told the night nurse about how my wife brought the palms and made crosses out of them.  The night nurse commented about how she wished she had one, so I handed the one I had to her.  Being in the Hospital on Palm Sunday was a blessing, with the help of my wife, not just the day nurse but also the night nurse and many others I did not know.

God does have a plan for us and my Hospital stays, I can boldly declare what the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6: "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."  As we saw with the nation of Israel being brought into exile 70 years later, they were brought back into the land that God promised them. That return partially completed the good work God was doing for Israel. God had an ultimate goal of bringing the Messiah through the nation of Israel to bless the whole world. The Apostle Paul wanted to remind us that God is still working with us from day one until he calls us home to be with him.  We will complete the good work that he started. We need to remember that this gives us great hope that we are not a project that will be worked on a little bit and put aside for all not to see. God is working on you and will complete the good work he started in you.

What do We need to do?

Now, it begs the question: What do we need to do?  As King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."  If we break down this verse, we see that It gives us three things we need to do in one promise.

The first thing we must do is trust the Lord with all our heart. Solomon was advising his son that he needed to trust in God. Solomon found God to be worthy of trust. He was telling his son that if your trust in God is true, you must be 100% giving everything of yourself to him. We cannot trust the Lord 10% of the time, 50%, or even 99% of the time. It must be 100% of the time.  I know it isn't easy, but we need to do it. Look at what we are going through and remember his promises that he will never leave or forsake us. 

Second, we need to not lean on our own understanding. When we trust in the Lord 100%, it may go against our natural instinct.  Do not lean means do not rely upon our understanding. We must trust that God is working despite not seeing it. We must rely on God's understanding.  God sees the whole picture, But we only see a small part. God wants us to depend on him.

Third, we must acknowledge him and everything we do.  Trusting God wholeheartedly means acknowledging and honoring him in everything we do. We have a choice for it. Even though God is everywhere, he does not force his way into our lives. We must invite him into every aspect of our lives. We must practice the presence of God in our regular and sometimes mundane things during our day.

How can we Trust in the LORD with all our hearts and not lean on our own understanding In all your ways, acknowledge him? Let me give you four things we should do. 

1. Read, Study, and Memorize your Bible.

While God talks to us in many ways, and he can use any means to communicate with us as he chooses, the Bible is his primary way of teaching us. We need to get into a habit of reading the Bible whenever we can. 

You may tell yourself, Pastor Ken, I don't have the time to read the Bible. You could find 10 minutes daily to do it, and as that becomes easier, find more time. Or you might say, Pastor Ken, my eyesight is not that good. I would reply there are things you can do to listen to the Bible. We can make excuses for not getting into reading, studying, and memorizing the Bible, but it is an excuse, after all. If something is important to you, you make the time. I know you guys go through a lot and have a lot on your plates—especially parents with kids. If you are not in the word of God, you cannot expect your kids to be as well.

2. Pray every chance you get.

Prayer is our vital communication with God. God wants us to talk to him. Yes, he knows all our requests ahead of time. He knows everything. He still wants us to talk to him. Prayer is the way we do it. The Bible is quite clear on this, and 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, "pray without ceasing,"

3. Fellowship with mature believers in Christ.

First, we are commanded to fellowship with believers. Hebrews 10:5 reads, "not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."  There's an important reason why God is commanding us to do this. When we struggle with things, we first turn to God and seek out more mature believers to help us through it. As it says in Proverbs 27:17, "As iron sharpens iron, so does one man sharpens another." We will sharpen one another. Also, if we are with more mature believers, they can help lift us.

4. Step out in faith.

We need to practice our faith. If we stay where we are and do not take it out there and risk being thrown into the fiery furnaces of this world, we are useless to God. Our faith needs to be lived out and to build the faith up; we need to step out and do it. Because of my health issues, I am going through physical therapy to build up my strengths. That is how our faith needs to be worked out as well. We need to do it.

Finally, when we "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him." God Promises us that he'll make our path straight.  While it may not look straight to us, it is a straight path to God. It may not be easy and filled with turmoil, but God is on our path with us, and we can rely on him. So, let me encourage you to follow what Solomon wrote and hold on to the other promises God has given us throughout his Bible. Continue to walk with him and acknowledge him in everything we do. I know it will be difficult, and I struggle with it at times, but I will tell you that when you trust the Lord and hold on to his promises, it is much better than trying to solve it yourself.