A Roadmap to Understanding – paved by God

Devotions

by Cobus du Plessis:

God’s roadmap to understanding has five main points:

  1. It starts with our realization that God is Great

David expresses this so wonderfully in Psalm 145. What makes this song so special? It is a song of praise. He structures it so he doesn’t miss any part of his blessing, just as we should. 

  • He praises God for his fame or glory (Ps 145:1-7), 
  • for his goodness (Ps 145:8-10), 
  • for his kingdom (Ps 145:11-13), 
  • for his providence (Ps 145:14-16), 
  • for his saving mercy (Ps 145:17-21).

It is very fitting for us at this time of COVID-19 to look at the joy that David could write about. – God is great

2. Secondly, God never forgets

God had left Israel in captivity for 400 years in Egypt, but He ultimately brought them back to the Promised Land. We have had several sermons on the journey of Israel to get to Egypt. But then the story goes grey and we only hear about them when Moses was born. Just to give us a background before He calls him to go and lead Israel back to the Promised Land. This was 400 years after Joseph went to Egypt, and all the good deeds that were done by him for the Pharaoh was long forgotten. The land where Isaac came from was inhabited by strangers and there wasn’t even a memory of the Israelites; however, God did not forget. With miracle after miracle God led them back regardless of all the continuous transgressions on the way. 

We should believe – God never forgets.

3. Third, God is All Powerful 

There are many things the Egyptian magicians could do. But they had no solution when Egyptian firstborns died. God is all-powerful and the only ruler over life and death. How can we be so certain about this?

We read the history on how he raised Jairus’s daughter in Mark 5:21-43. When he called death just ‘a sleep’ and rose her from that. 

We also read about Lazarus (John 11:1–44), the one he loved. Lazarus was dead for 4 days but was raised up by Jesus calling his name. His followers did not understand why Lazarus had to die, but like everything that happens, this was by His design. Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death.” No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.

We serve an All-Powerful God!

4. God sees the bigger picture

We read about Job, a righteous man in every way (Job’s story in Job 2). But Job became a broken man.

  • He lost all his children in one day.
  • He lost all his riches.
  • He lost all his friends.
  • He lost his dignity and health

But Job never lost his faith, and never betrayed God. This gives us insight in the bigger picture. Why did it happen and why is it documented in the Bible? The answer is quite simple. So that we can believe, and that we can see that when bad things happen, it is not necessarily to lead us into temptation, but it is part of God’s plan.

We live to glorify his name – that is the bigger picture!

5. We are all sinners! But God planned our salvation, in Grace!          

Ephesians 2:8 reminds us “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

  • God is our ultimate savior. 
  • He saved Isaac when Abram had to offer him as a sacrifice
  • He saved Joseph when his brothers wanted to kill him
  • He saved the whole tribe of Isaac (Israel) so that Jesus can be born.
  • He planned for us to be saved by grace and raised Jesus from the dead.
  • He made sure all this was written so that we can know who the real God is, and that we can glorify his name.

What more do we have to ask? – Let us all proclaim our trust in Him!