The Favour of the Lord

UV 1454/10,000 The Favour of the Lord
For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD
Proverbs 8 v 35

We do not please God or obtain His favour by going through painful ordeals or by making sacrifices. The one who is good and wise finds favour with God. But the standards of goodness and wisdom that will pass muster with the Lord is absolute. Only one person has kept these standards of absolute goodness and wisdom- Jesus. Jesus has the favour of God as He is absolutely good and wise. We receive the favour of God when we believe and receive Jesus. Having believed and received Jesus into our lives and hearts, we are now to strive to reach and keep the standards of goodness and wisdom of Jesus. We need to make perfection a goal and excellence a reality. The Word clearly states that life and eternal life are in Christ. When Christ dwells in and with us by faith, we have found life. He is the precious stone, the keystone to life.

A story was told of two learned men of Greece. One became a powerful adviser to the king. The other lived a life of austerity. One day the former visited the latter and found him eating a meal of lentils and remarked, “ If only you found a way to please and flatter the king a little, you would not have to eat just a meal of lentils!” The latter immediately replied, “ If only you found a way to be content with lentils, you would not have to flatter the king.” In contrast, a man chosen by God and who choses to believe Jesus needs only to please God. What pleases the Father and Jesus is the extent of our faith. Faith in anything is proven by belief in our hearts and expression of the same with our mouths. The expression confirms the possession of faith. With our mouths we call that which has not yet happened as if it has already happened.

To enjoy the favour of the Lord is to be blessed. To enjoy the favour of the Lord is to be the recipient of all the great blessings listed in Deuteronomy chapter 28. It also means all the curses listed in the same chapter are cancelled. He redeems us from our limitations and weaknesses. It is a good exercise to increase our faith and consequently our favour with God to run through as often as possible the list of blessings and curses and to thank the Lord for each blessing and for the cancellation of each curse and bondage.

Prateep V Philip