“Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted” (Psalm 107:17).
According to the dictionary, a fool is someone who lacks judgment or good sense — one who makes silly mistakes. He does his own thing without thinking of the consequences.
A young pastor called me, ready to quit the ministry. The Lord had been using him in a wonderful way, but now he was discouraged, feeling worthless, useless, no good to God at all. When he called me, he was devastated over some decisions he had made and indicated that he was ready to give up. He was angry at God and when he talked with me, I sensed that he expected me to be angry with him. But he was so broken and beaten down that I felt only God’s love and compassion for him.
In John 13, Jesus took a towel and a basin and washed the feet of his disciples.
“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). After he had washed their feet, he asked them, “Do you know what I’ve just done for you?” In other words, “Do you understand the spiritual significance of foot washing?”
I believe when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, he was teaching a profound lesson on how to obtain unity of fellowship within the Body of Christ.
“O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children” (Isaiah 54:11-13, KJV).
The secret to understanding how God delivers us from afflictions can be found in comprehending how he delivered Israel from their bondage.
“Now these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition” (1 Corinthians 10:11)
Everything that happened to Israel — their bondage, their trials, their deliverance out of Egypt — are testimonies, patterns and examples to us today. Indeed, Israel’s physical deliverance represents the spiritual deliverance we are to see.
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11). The love for each other described here is not a mere handshake, a quick hug or flattery. No, this kind of love sees another’s need and does something about it. In fact, according to John, if we see our brother in need and do nothing, the love of God is not in us.
All the true treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus Christ and they are available to us.
God wants to do the impossible because the more impossible the situation, the more glory he receives!
"[God] delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us” (2 Corinthians 1:10).
Paul is speaking here of God’s delivering power — past, present and future! He is saying, “God has delivered us in the past, he is delivering us now, and he will deliver us in every future trouble and trial. We do not have to fear anything that comes our way because we know God is going to deliver us!”
A crucial link is missing in many of our lives, which often is the reason we do not receive answers to many of our prayers. Beloved, that missing link is faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).