Monthly Archives: November 2022

I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. (Psalm 119:75)

“The Treasure of Trials” may seem like a crazy title for a word of encouragement, but it is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God! And that’s why it is the truth, because God is helping us through every trial we face, and He is turning all our afflictions into a lasting treasure.

Ruth Bell Graham once said, “When the devil attacks us, he often goes too far and drives us deeper into our relationship with the Lord.” What an amazing God we have, who takes the slings and arrows of the evil one, attacks that were meant to destroy us, and uses them to deepen our dependence upon Him. Left to ourselves, we would all live lives of self-sufficiency. But by faithfully afflicting us, God is weaning us from every earthly treasure we chase after that cannot satisfy.

Jesus is redeeming every challenge, every problem, every storm wind that blows our way and converting all of it into a lasting treasure. To be sure, none of us wants to go through trials, but knowing that God is with us and using all of them for our good and His glory strengthens our resolve to receive all of it with thanksgiving.

These powerful words of the psalmist — “In faithfulness you have afflicted me” — give us the key that unlocks the door leading to the truth about the treasures of our trials, which is the truth that nothing happens to us that does not first pass through our Lord’s nail-scarred hands. God is in control of all things, and our trials are His faithful servants, used to conform us into the image and likeness of Jesus. There is no greater treasure than that for the child of God.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. (Exodus 11:7)

Today’s verse is focused on the tenth and final plague that the Sovereign Lord brought against Pharaoh and the Egyptians just prior to the exodus of God’s people out of their bondage in Egypt: the death of all the firstborn sons. At midnight the Lord sent the angel of death throughout Egypt to strike down every firstborn son, but all of the sons of Israel were protected because of the blood of the lamb that was spread over the door frames of their homes. God said there would be loud wailing throughout Egypt – worse than there had ever been or ever will be again – but among the Israelites not a dog would bark. The power of our God is unmatched, controlling even the barking of the dogs to distinguish between the Israelites and the Egyptians.

The distinguishing power of God should be a source of cosmic comfort for us today. He knows who His people are and He knows how to protect them. The Creator and Sustainer of the universe loves His people so much that He will give them a sign pointing to His awesome power, even directing individual animals to do His bidding. With a power like that working for us, with us, and in us, what have we to fear? No matter what comes against us, far greater is the power that is available to us to rise above it.

God is on His throne, and He is ruling all things to accomplish His purposes in this world. He is in control of all things and all things serve Him (Psalm 119:91). Our God knows everything about the challenges we are facing, and He has given us everything we need to turn opposition into opportunities, problems into possibilities, and setbacks into successes. Truly, no weapon formed against us can prevail. Our God is an awesome, distinguishing-of-the-dogs God. May that truth set us free to follow Him wherever He leads.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. … Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (John 3:19, 21)

The movement of our salvation begins in grace, is completed in grace, and is carried on in grace every step of the way into glory. Grace has brought us out of the darkness into God’s marvelous light. Grace shatters our darkness. Grace sanctifies our darkness. Grace swallows up our darkness. Along the way, grace illuminates the remaining darkness that still looms around our hearts and minds — not to shame us, but to strengthen us. Jesus brings His grace into our lives to deliver us from the darkness that remains in our thoughts, words, deeds, and desires.

In exposing our darkness, it is God’s plan to prompt us and propel us into His glorious presence. Jesus is the light of the world and the light of our world. He is committed to doing everything that is necessary to dispel every bit of remaining darkness in our lives and fill us with His light.

The devil would have us feel shame every time the light of the Lord exposes some dark area in our lives. Shame is one of the sharpest darts that Satan throws our way. It is his goal to cause us to shrink back from our Savior by shaming us into believing that “God could not possibly love someone like me.” But as my friend Steve Brown from Key Life Ministries often says, “That smells like smoke and comes from the pit of hell.”

Because the light of grace has come into our lives, we need not fear any accusation hurled at us by the enemy. As Paul said so well, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?” (Romans 8:33-34). There is nothing that is exposed by the Light of our Lord that He did not already know. Not only does Jesus know every remaining area of darkness in us before it gets exposed, He has covered all of it with His precious blood. His grace is sufficient, both for our eternal salvation and for our daily lives.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!