“You can be sure of this: The LORD set apart the godly for himself. The LORD will answer when I call to him”
Psalm 4:3 NLT
Within my business, I am involved in creating bespoke learning products for people. Since the benefit of learning is measured by changed behaviours leading to improved performance, there is a lot of background information needed to ensure a training programme is effective. Much of the education system fails, in my view, because just as when I was at school, it never informs students of what the intended outcome of the learning is, except to pass exams.
God has a bespoke life for each one of us, which means comparing ourselves with others is a frustrating and wasted effort. Life is a unique set of experiences for each one of us. Hence the psalmist can with confidence know that his call to God has been heard. Even though I don’t experience what I assume is a comfortable life, God is with me.
Now I have a challenge. How do I discern God’s presence in the set of circumstances I find myself in? There is no generic answer. Job’s ‘comforters’ reached for their theological framework and only marginalised Job further, while laying the blame for his condition at his door. And there were those who prayed for Katey and me who did the same through ‘faithful prayer’.
All we had to cling onto was the fact that God hears and holds us, even as the winds swirl around us and we assume we are headed for disaster. Indeed, was Katey’s premature death a disaster? For me, yes. I didn’t want her to go, and I wasn’t alone. Yet, for Katey was this not the realisation of her prayer to be one with Christ Jesus? Holding this tension between the now and the yet to come is challenging. But life is only ever fully realised in God.
QUESTION
What are the unique lessons God is teaching you at present?
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank you that you made me, you know me, you hear me and your leading is perfect for me.
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