Have you ever had certain ugly experiences that leaves you devastated and questioning the place of God in your life, only to discover that it was a blessing in disguise?
A young man told me how a painful experience of a ghastly autocrash made him discover he had a USA visa lost for almost 10 years. According to him, he had applied severally for a US visa many years back without positive results and no response the last time. Out of frustration in waiting he forgot about it and moved on until he had an accident and needed proper medical attention. So he was asked by his mum in the US to apply again. This time he reluctantly made an application and in the process it was discovered he had a valid visa waiting for collection. According to them his address was misplaced and they couldn’t mail his documents to him. He is so fortunate right? What if capitalising on his previous experiences, he refused to reapply?
You may be going through challenges now but not aware it is a blessing in disguise. You need to activate your spiritual instincts to detect this. If you need more understanding continue reading slowly…
John 11:45-56
Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him, but some of them went to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting. ‘Here is this man working all these signs’ they said ‘and what action are we taking? If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy the Holy Place and our nation.’ One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said, ‘You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed.’ He did not speak in his own person, it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation – and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of God.
POINTS FOR REFLECTION
1. Child of God, the activities of the Jews against Jesus borne out of envy and jealousy that heightens to the point of planning to kill Jesus are necessary evils God permitted to happen to Jesus so that our salvation through death will be achieved. While evil rises and rejoices to claim its hour; God perfects and advances his plan of salvation. Even so, God uses the imperfections of the priest Caiaphas that soiled himself with such devilish plans to make true the words of prophecy that says:
‘for the lips of the priest should guard knowledge and all should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is a messenger of the Lord of hosts’ (Mal 2, 7).
Indeed the priest have spoken, as scripture says, all are bound to obey it.
2. For you to see the hand of God in the midst of your storm you must activate your spiritual instincts. You do this by
FOCUSING on Jesus, on what he says and what he does, and
NOT on the
PROBLEMS surrounding you. Jesus calls his hour of suffering
GLORY and asks the Father to
GLORIFY him (
Jn 17: 1); what do you call your problems? Remember the
power of names: whatever Adam called every creature, that became its name (
Gen 2:19). Whatever you call your problems that is what it becomes! Likewise, before his enemies, Jesus lives a quiet or solitary lifestyle that affords him moments to stay with only his trusted disciples and to pray (
Jn 11:55). In moments of crises, a spiritual retreat will help you recollect and reconnect to your spirit man.
TASK: Pray
Psalm 120 now asking the Lord to silence every voice of accusations of the enemy around you: voices of
WORLDLINESS, the
DEVIL and inordinate passions of the
SELF.
I Pray for you: In the midst of your storm may the Lord answer you and come to your aid as He answered Job in his distress (
Job 38:1)
