Lessons Learned Well

"I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.” Isaiah 45:3 (NIV)

by Alexandra Copeland

Heavenly Father is intimately familiar with every detail of our lives. He knows everything there is to know about us. He knows our past, our present, and our future. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:30 that even the hairs on our heads are numbered. This should go a long way towards our confidence in knowing how much God loves us. It also affirms that we are not accidents or an afterthought. We were destined and appointed to live at this particular time in the earth. God is an on-purpose God, and everything—from the tiniest to the grandest detail—is done with a purpose, and it is woven into our individual lives. The problem is that we sometimes allow ourselves to become absorbed in the noisiness of the world and the busyness of our everyday routines. This will undoubted throw us off the trail. 

In Isaiah 45:3 (NIV), God told the Children of Israel, “I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.” He gave them this promise under the old covenant; how much more will He do for those of us under the new one. God is our everything. We can do nothing without Him, and with Him all things are possible. He doesn’t require anything from us to make Him more of who He is, but we need everything from Him to make us more of who He desires us to be. He is the ultimate Giver, and He delights in providing for His children.

 

God has proven the level and lengths to which He will go to bless us in John 3:16(NIV). It says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Through Jesus Christ, we not only have a witness of the Father’s love, but because of Christ we have eternal life. And not only this, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we can live a more than abundant life on this earth. 

As we observe those around us, it might seem to us that many are not living more abundantly; some are far from it. Jesus Christ provided access. It is our privilege, responsibility, and right to go after what God has given us through Christ. God has equipped us to get it done, but we have to be wise and seasoned with His Word. We have an enemy who works against us, and will stop at nothing to keep us from walking in the truth, and living the life that God desires us to live. 

Our weaknesses and our ignorance are two of the main weapons that the enemy will use to paralyze us. For some, addictions and phobias are a real stronghold. Others of us have issues with things like resentment, jealousy, and pride. One of the most common problems among us is that we simply are not as thankful to God as we should be for all that He’s done for us. We struggle with many flesh issues, and God doesn’t want us to get down on ourselves and start swimming in the lake of condemnation. He does, however, want us to recognize the degree to which a sin issue can keep us from the blessings He has in store for us. 

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that God is a Rewarder. He rewards diligent effort. It would be very wrong of us to expect that He will reward poor choices, wrong decisions, and bad behavior. His Word is our roadmap for success, and if we follow it diligently, none of those things would trip us up. 

We’re not going to resolve all the negatives in our lives, but to the extent that something we’re doing is causing us to fall away from the path of purpose and miss the blessings God has for us, we have to wake up and strengthen the weakness. The Apostle Paul said it best in Hebrews 12:1 (ESV), “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” It is our distinct responsibility and obligation to Christ to lay aside the heavies of issues that keep us from running the race that God has purposed we should run. 

In other words, we have to deal with the bad programming that causes us to cling to sin. God will help us to do it through the Holy Spirit that indwells us. This isn’t something that we can take lightly. It is the work of our souls of which we absolutely must attend. If we don’t attend to it, we will see something quite remarkable. We’ll see circumstances on repeat. That’s right! If we don’t choose love and surrender the things that keep us spiraling downward, we’ll see that life will continue to cycle back circumstances until we wake up and smell the coffee. 

The nature of life is growth and expansion. The nature of sin is death and depletion. We get to choose the nature we will assume. The result of the wrong choices isn’t punishment, it’s consequences. The cycle of life will propel us in the direction of what we choose to feed. God roots for us to make good choices according to the wisdom of His Word.  

Refusing to wake up regarding what is truly causing our hiccups and missteps blocks our faith. It causes our aim to be unsteady because our focus is off. Instead of giving our all to God and His Kingdom, we let ourselves get lost in the minutia, chaos, and confusion of this world. The Holy Spirit that indwells us will lead, guide, and direct us into all truth (John 16:13). He will shine a light of the thing that is causing us to veer off the path, and he will help us to surrender it so that we can get back to God’s business. 

We don’t have to do this on our own. As a matter of fact, we can’t do it on our own. If we could make ourselves all that God desires us to be, Christ would not have needed to give his life for our redemption. The truth is that we desperately needed the redemptive work of Christ, and because of it we can learn the lessons we need to learn about God, His love, and what we can become through it.■ 

New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.