I do not plan on going in any specific order as far as the books I list. Some years ago I did this and that list is available if you would like it. [Leave me a comment and request it.] It deals with the older Bible commentaries and some other books that I have found very useful over the many years of study of the Bible that I have been fortunate and blessed enough to be able to pursue.
I wondered many years ago why God had given me such a love and fascination with His word and with books in general. As long as I can remember I have been an avid reader and have always had a library of some sort. My wife considers this a curse more than a blessing since my space is becoming more and more limited and I have now added three four or five shelf shelves in the bedroom on my side of the bed. I cannot just roll out of the sack in the mornings - I have to crawl to the bottom of the bed and get up or else I will break my foot on a shelf. Truthfully, books are everywhere in my house. Inconvenience not withstanding I love having the books there. I sometimes wonder if that is why I do not sleep at night a lot of the time. The authors are whispering in my dreams from the otherwise silent pages on the shelves.
Anyway the reason I mention this is because I have often been amazed at how God prepares us for our lives from the beginning to the end. He knows those which are His and He gives us what we need from birth on through death. Sometimes, though, we may not see His design and may often think that there is no way some of the things that befall us can be from God.
Just an aside here -- in my own life, especially lately -- I do wonder at Gods direction. Things that have been going on have weighted me down to the point of tears and depression. I shout to God in woe begging Him to give me peace and at least a glimpse of the point behind the pain. But I have not been blessed with that knowledge yet and it is often hard to have faith that God is in control. Sometimes it is true we take the reigns from Him. This is nothing but dangerous. But when we get back to where we belong spiritually and still things have not changed - we often doubt. It is at those times when I find the need to pray and beg God to help me turn over my life and the things that happen in and around it to Him and to leave them there. I have learned that it is not for want of His care or His control that I have doubts. It is because of my doubts that I do not trust Him to take control. Yes, even in the bad things that I have had in abundance this year I still have to believe that God is there (here) and that He is in control of what is going on for whatever reason He may have. I have lived long enough and hard enough to realize that there are some things we are just not going to know in this life, try as we may. It is in the acceptance of God’s sovereign will that we can and do find peace. At least, that is, until we once again lose sight of the fact that we are more important than the birds in the air and the lilies in the field. The good and the bad are together gifts of God - our perception notwithstanding.
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