Agree With God

Agree With God

Everyone encounters difficult circumstances in life that are hard to understand, but only those who love God choose to agree with Him. They love God’s light and His judgments.

Luke 7:29-30. “And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors agreed with God, having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.” [Norw.] Those who agree with God, humble themselves under God’s mighty hand. The Pharisees, on the other hand, made a fateful choice. They rejected the will of God and His plan for them. They chose instead to follow their reason—their own sense of human righteousness. They would not humble themselves under anything or anyone; they lived a life before people.

We see in Rom. 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” It is only with this heavenly vision that we can comprehend, by faith, that our tribulation will be light and but for a moment. We see that Paul wrote about this to the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 4:17-18: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” It is not the situations themselves that are light and but for a moment, but rather the affliction that is light and but for a moment. We see this in people who are tested with long-term illness, for example, or other interpersonal situations that can last a lifetime. But by looking at the things that are not seen, by consciously choosing to believe, the afflictions become light and but for a moment.

Let’s do as David did. He prayed fervently to God as is written in Ps. 118:5: “I called on the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.” David’s prayer was answered; he came into a “broad place,” while his circumstances remained unchanged. There are many things God can only and exclusively say to us through afflictions.

Job 36:15-16: “He delivers the poor in their affliction, and opens their ears in oppression. Indeed He would have brought you out of dire distress, into a broad place where there is no restraint; and what is set on your table would be full of richness.” First, our ear must be opened, then God can speak. He brings us out, and we lay hold of faith—we see prophetically in the “trials of deepest night.” This broad place is a place of victory. We have humbled ourselves under God’s mighty hand! We are no longer restrained! The richness—that is, the virtues—and God’s eternal and glorious word are entrusted to us.