Tuesday, July 26, 2016

The Challenge of Faithfulness

UV 2022/10000 The Challenge of Faithfulness
Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow
2 Samuel 23 v 5
David was looking back at his entire life from the perspective of his relationship with the Lord and found that while he himself was found wanting in many aspects, the Lord had been faithful to Him in every way. It is true that when we are weak, we are strong and when we are strong, we are weak. When David was young, weak and vulnerable, he depended on the Lord. When he became strong, a powerful and victorious king, he stopped depending on the Lord. He had been faithful as a shepherd boy but as a king, he had failed the Lord and broken the covenant by committing adultery with Bathsheba and getting her husband Uriah deliberately killed in battle. The Lord did not play favourites and overlook the weakness of his chosen king and leader of Israel. He pointed it out without mincing any words through the prophet Nathan. David repented and was restored to the covenant relationship. But David had to pay a price for his failure all through the remaining years of his life. He experienced strife and struggle with his own family and sons. The power of the Almighty was responsible for his anointing and elevation as king of Israel. The counsel of the counsellor gave him wisdom to rule and lead wisely. The Prince of Peace imparted the peace that passes understanding to David in impossible situations. But it was the love of the Everlasting Father that restored him when he repented. In each part of the covenant the Lord manifests His love, power and grace in different ways.
We should not wait for the end of our lives but we need to constantly ask if our house or the way we and our families lead our lives are acceptable and pleasing to God. This is our fit response to the covenant of love the Lord has offered us. The covenant is basically a personal and eternal relationship with Almighty God, with His Wonderful person, with a Counsellor, with an Everlasting Father, with the Prince of Peace. The relationship is perfected or ordered in all its parts when we too live a life that is worthy of such love and grace. Though our salvation is not obtained by our merits or our good works, we are called now to live a life that demonstrates that we are experiencing the love of an everlasting Father, the peace that the Prince of Peace imparts, the wisdom of the Counsellor and the wonders that the Lord does. We should humble ourselves and be in awe of the power and mercy of the Almighty that enables us who are in no way equal to Him, have a relationship with Him.
Salvation is primarily an experience of love. It is a result of faith. We also experience the wisdom and power of the Lord in our lives. At all times, the peace of the Lord surrounds us and fills us. The Lord counsels us in our decisions. As a counsellor, He trains, comforts, guides, strengthens and coaches us. We need to treasure our salvation and not take it for granted or lightly, consider it as more important and significant than any other experience of our lives. We need to be passionate about sharing our experience of salvation with others. At each stage of our lives, we need to discipline our bodily passions and submit our wills to the Lord so that our house or our relationship is consistently right with the Lord.
Prateep V Philip

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