God is good, and He does good!

Today, I had an opportunity to hangout with some precious ladies from my church, virtually of course. With the current circumstance of COVID-19 we have been unable to meet in person since March 2020, however I truly believe we are strong in the Lord and more people are able to attend more regularly with the use of technology!

"You are good, and what you do is good..." 

Psalm 119:68a

A clip was shared from a virtual conference called "Desperate for Jesus - Rooted" hosted by Priscilla Shier on YouTube. We were instructed to watch only 9 minutes of it, from 1:59:33 until 2:08:21, as we were to discuss the clip in our time together. Click this link to view the conference. 

Trust God

We discussed the topic of "how to trust God during difficult times/situations", and although we each have our own expectations on how we think life should go, most times these expectations are not met yet we still need to trust God. How do we do it?

Experiencing God for ourselves is the most efficient way to build our trust in Him. Psalm 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him". Now, if you have made a beautiful dinner for yourself and a loved one, you know that unless they bring the food up to their mouth and chew on it, they will never know the taste of that food. No one else can taste and see for you. We need to taste and see the goodness of the Lord for ourselves, spending time in His Word and seeing His heart within the pages of it, is a key way to build our confidence in Him.

Dr. Tony Evans made this statement during the clip of the conference, to be able to trust God in difficult situations is to "know His heart, even when we are unable to see His hand" at work in our lives. With the recent loss of his wife, Dr. Evans reassures that knowing God's thoughts for us will enable us to put our confidence in Him. Psalm 119:68 says, "You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees", which echoes this truth, when we are rooted in God's Word we will know He is good, always. 

Why Pray

Another topic we discussed this morning was "what to do when are prayers are not answered". We are instructed to pray, but "if God already has a plan for my life; why pray?". I believe we pray because this is how we can get involved in God's plan and will for our lives - not that our prayers are contingent on what the will of God is for us. Yet, when we are in relationship with God we will want to pray and seek His plan for our lives. We are to pray without ceasing (see 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

We also learned that there is a conditional and an unconditional will of God for each of us. There are some things God has simply promised He will do, and we can be assured that He will see them through. This is part of His unconditional will, as there is nothing required of us for it to be fulfilled. The most common example of this would be when God said "I establish my covenant with you... never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth", as we see in Genesis 9:11. However in Jeremiah 29:11-14 we see how there is also a conditional will of God, specifically in verse 13 it says, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." So if we truly desire to find and know the Lord, we are required to seek Him, and to seek His with all your hearts.

The final takeaway from todays meeting can be summed us as this; Trust God, He does not change, He is good and He does good, always!