When considering the providence of God, October 6, 2015

October 6, 2015

When considering the providence of God . . . .

Too vast the ocean, too many the grains of sand.
Such is the providence of God

Such is my reflection and consideration.

Trying to "count one's blessing" is a most frustrating endeavor.

Too vast, too many.

Neatly woven like a web, God's providence touches all, all the time.

There are no loose ends no blind courses

God's providence is a whole - complete and entire.

There are no "great" blessings there are no "minor" blessings.
,
They are all of one value, great beyond grasping.

Though not always in our view they are utterly purposeful and directive.

Those past are our guides and instructors.

Those present are our comfort and consolation.

Those future are our hope and joy.

Our perception of them, often sullied by indwelling sin,
causes us to rate them on a skewed scale feeding our self consumption and yet rebellious wills.

Surrender brings peace and comfort.

Trusting, when trust is hard, brings strength and growth.

We need be patient with ourselves as we learn to appreciate His providence and to see the value in the whole of it.

We need to see the whole of it.  Though hard and demanding we need to do the work that helps us see the whole of it.

One does not look at a part of a portrait and see its beauty, one must view the whole.

How and who?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. (2Co 1:3-7)

I would ask, How are you comforted and whom do you comfort?

I ask because today I was comforted by a brother who need of comfort is very real and constant.

As a "leader-sheep" we all too often assume we are to be care givers and we forget that we are also care needers.  As we fulfill our calling to care for His sheep we all too often make the mistake of forgetting that we desperately need care as well.

When the Praetorian Guard was established in Rome one question predominated, "Who guards the guardians?"  This is no different from what we as comfort and care givers need to be asking of and for ourselves.

I have come to realize that it is all too easy to think that as a leader-sheep I need to be above the fray.  God has made it plan to me that this is a cruel deception and a very real danger.

Oh, I can feed myself but comforting myself  and doing it well is just not effective if it is even possible.  

I have found that I need others who from the comfort they have found in Him - pass that comfort on to me.  I have found that it is a type of pride to see myself as a giver only and not a needer.

Father,

I thank you for the comfort You sent today through my brother.  I thank you for the tears I shed in thanks and gratitude.  i thank you for the boldness of my brother's prayer the the depth to which it touched needs I has not seen.  

Father, keep this lesson in my ,mind and heart.  Keep me from isolation and pride.  Keep me open to the comfort You have for me from my brothers and sisters - AND enable me to be open and honest about my need and grateful for its being met.

Thank You for establishing Your people and for the comfort You provide from one to another.

Amen