In previous letters I have written about God’s Thoughts – the magnanimity of them. There are so many promises in the Scriptures that assure us of His constant concern for us; that the thoughts that He thinks toward us are “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give us a future and a HOPE.” Though we are “poor and needy, yet the Lord thinks upon us.” We can let Him have all our worries and cares, for “He is always thinking about us, and watching everything that concerns us.” (Jer. 29:11; Ps. 40:17; 1 Pet. 5:7, LB)
Our devotional reading this morning emphasized another aspect of our Heavenly Father’s constant thoughtfulness of His children. It is the fact of His forethoughtfulness! He is not only always thinking of us, but He is always thinking ahead, and preparing the way before us; He is always in advance of time!
Illustrations from Scripture were such occasions as when Jesus sent His disciples to prepare the Passover. They found an upper room already furnished and prepared, and ready for their Passover meal together. On another occasion, when the disciples returned from a fishing expedition on the Sea of Galilee, they found Jesus on the seashore with their seafood dinner already cooking on the fire. After His resurrection, the disciples were feeling bewildered and all hope seemed gone, until an angel appeared and gave them this message: “Behold! He goes BEFORE YOU into Galilee…” (Mark 14:15; John 21:9; Mark 16:7)
The Lord is always thinking ahead! Preparing ahead! The beloved Apostle John quotes Jesus as saying, “Let not your heart be troubled…..In my Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to PREPARE a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3)
God’s forethought, and foresight, was marvelously described by David in a beloved passage in the 139th Psalm: “I will give thanks unto You; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book they were all written, even the days that were ORDAINED FOR ME, WHEN AS YET THERE WERE NONE OF THEM. How precious also are Your thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.” (Psalm 139:14-18)
This truth is emphasized again in Paul’s letter to the Ephesian Church: “…in His Love, He chose us as His own in Christ BEFORE the foundation of the world…” (Eph. 1:4)
The understanding of God’s foresight and forethought should enable us to always walk by faith without faltering. He has carefully laid out His plans, with purpose and perfection, in the minutest detail. Even the dark days and the trying times have their purpose, as do the clouds as well as the sunshine, the dark as well as the light, the winter as well as the summer, and the storm as well as the calm.
Because of His incomprehensible knowledge, His infinite wisdom, and His unconditional love, “we are confident of this very thing, that He Who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” I also like Weymouth’s offering of this verse: “For of this I am confident, that He Who has begun a good work within you will go on to perfect it in preparation for the day of Jesus Christ.”
(Phil. 1:6)
May I quote again this lovely little rhyme, laden with the truth of God’s forethought:
Before He formed a star
Our God arranged our lot;
Our little lives were planned afar
When we as yet were not!
Our reading this morning also reminded us of an old hymn we remember singing more than 70 years ago, the words of which are so appropriate:
Amid the trials which I meet,
Amid the thorns that pierce my feet,
One thought remains supremely sweet;
Thou thinkest, Lord, of me!
The cares of life come thronging fast,
Upon my soul their shadows cast;
Their gloom reminds my heart at last,
Thou thinkest, Lord, of me!
Let shadows come, let shadows go,
Let life be bright or dark with woe,
I am content, for this I know,
Thou thinkest, Lord, of me!
He did not say we would not have tribulation, afflictions, and struggles, but He did say, “You shall not be overcome!” “These things I have spoken unto you that in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Remember, our Lord Jesus not only thinks of us with forethought and planning, in love and wisdom, but He also intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father. We love Him because He first loved us, and we are called according to His purpose; therefore “we know that all things work together for good” and, when His work in us is complete, we will stand perfected and in His glorious image – “like Him for we shall see Him as He is!” (1 John 4:19; Rom. 8:27,28; 1 John 3:2) What a day that will be!
In Agape,
Eulene
