“And we know that all things work together for good—“ Romans 8:28

We all claim to believe Romans 8:28, but there are times when it does not seem to be true. We often do not see the good that is produced and we wonder if our situation is an exception to the rule. The following story I read several years ago serves to illustrate what sometimes happens:

A young woman, a great lover of flowers, had set out a rare vine at the base of a stone wall. It grew vigorously, but it did not seem to bloom. Day after day she cultivated it and tried every possible way to coax it to bloom.

One morning, as she examined the vine disappointedly, her invalid neighbor called to her and said. “You cannot imagine how much I have been enjoying the blooms of that vine you planted.” The owner followed her neighbor’s gaze and on the other side of the wall was a mass of blooms. The vine had crept through the crevices and produced flowers on the other side.

How often we think our efforts are thrown away because we do not see fruit! We need to learn that in God’s service our prayers, our toil, our crosses are never in vain. They will bear fruit and hearts will receive blessings and joy, sometime, somewhere.

“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”–Psalms 37:4 You never know what a day may hold. Life has a way of changing, and not everything is pleasant. All of us tend resent these intrusions into our life–we prefer comfort and ease. In this ever changing world it would do us good to remember these words by Jonathan Edwards:   The enjoyment of God is the only happiness
with which our souls can be satisfied.

To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better
than the most pleasant accommodations here on earth.

Earthly fathers and mothers, husbands, wives,
children and earthly friends, are all ‘shadows’.
But God is the ‘substance’.

All earthly delights are but ‘scattered beams’.
But God is the sun.

All earthly delights are but ‘streams’.
But God is the ocean.

“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.”–Psalm 95:6

Have you ever watched how a bird sleeps on its perch and never falls off? How does it manage to do this?

The secret is the tendons of the bird’s legs. They are so constructed that when the leg is bent at the knee, the claws contract and grip like a steel trap. The claws refuse to let go until the knees are unbent again. The bended knee gives the bird the ability to hold on to his perch so tightly.

Is this not also the secret of the holding power of the Christian? Daniel found this to be true. Surrounded by a pagan environment, tempted to compromise with evil, urged to weaken his grip on God, he refused to let go. He held firm when others faltered because he was a man of prayer. He knew the power of the bended knee.

From sleeping birds we can learn the secret of holding things which are most precious to us-honesty, purity, thoughtfulness, honor, character. That secret is the knee bent in prayer, seeking to get a firmer grip on those values which make life worth living. When we hold firmly to God in prayer, we can rest assured He will hold tightly to us.(From A Treasury of Bible Illustrations)

“If your knees are knocking kneel on them.”

” O death, where is thy sting?–“–1 Cor. 15:55

Donald Barnhouse was the pastor of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church when his wife died and left him with young daughters to raise alone. He conducted his own wife’s funeral. While driving to that funeral, he realized that he had to say something to his girls to somehow put in perspective for them something with which he himself was already struggling.

They stopped at a traffic light. It was a bright day, and the sun was streaming into the car. A truck pulled up next to them and its shadow darkened the inside of the car. Barnhouse turned to his daughters and asked, “Would you rather be hit by the shadow or by the truck?”

One of them responded, “Oh, Daddy, that’s a silly question! The shadow can’t hurt you. I’d rather be hit by a shadow than by a truck.”

Then he explained that their mother had died and that it was as if she’d been hit by a shadow. It was as if Jesus had stepped in the way in her place, and it was He who’d been hit by the truck.

“Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou my God, shouldst die for me.”

“That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”—John 3:15   Several years ago, Johnny Carson asked a guest,”Would you rather go back into history or forward into the future?”   The guest said she would rather go back into history.   Carson replied,”I’d like to go ahead 500 years and see where we’ve been.”   That’s interesting, but here’s something even more so—we believers will still be around 500 years from now, and much longer than that! We have eternal life! As Christians we are destined for eternity. We are not going to life, we already have everlasting life. Why do we keep acting as though our funeral will be the end of it all?   That glorious fact ought to change how we view everything. Death will indeed end some things, but it doesn’t end us. Carson said he would like to go ahead 500 years “and see where we’ve been.” Well someday we will look back and see where we’ve been and all the mysteries will be solved. As the old song says,”We’ll understand it better bye and bye.” Seeing that is true, should we not then live for those things that are of eternal value? Every kind deed will pay eternal dividends—don’t waste your opportunity. If we’re going to be around forever we ought to do something that matters. Today is a good time to start!