Michael continues: The Apostle Paul asked God three times to remove his painful “thorn in the flesh”. He said, Lord, I’ll serve you better without this constant suffering. The first two times God did not answer. The third time, God answered Paul’s prayer, but it was not the answer that Paul expected. However, this is one of the great lessons of life, learned only through suffering, pain and tribulation. God’s answer was, “My strength is made perfect in thy weakness. My grace is sufficient for thee.” God is blessed when we endure the pain, the hardship and the testing with a singing spirit. There is nothing in this life that God can’t handle. God is the God of grace… he alone is our sufficiency.
Jesus said, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Live in the present and all you have is now. Our joy is in the Lord. It’s not completely about the destination, it’s about the journey also. A Sabbath day’s journey was the distance you could walk in one day according to Jewish law. The Christian’s journey is walking with the Lord one step at a time and one day at a time. The concept of the “denarius” was a day’s wage. This was enough pay to keep a roof over your head, and to keep your family fed and clothed. It wasn’t enough to store up a “rainy day fund” for tomorrow. Jesus said, I’m your sufficiency for today. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of the things for tomorrow. Your responsibility is to live in today’s day-tight compartment. Walk with Jesus on today’s sabbath day’s journey. Christ is your sufficiency and your strength for today’s walk … todays Journey.
As Americans we are taught the pursuit of happiness. However, Jesus taught that joy in the Lord supersedes happiness. Happiness depends on circumstances; upon happenstance. However “Joy in the Lord” is everlasting for He said, “I shall never leave you nor forsake you.” Joy is not the absence of pain, rather, Joy is the presence of the Lord. According to Romans 8:35-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
In Jesus Christ we live and move and have our being. The Lord takes care of the sparrow and the lily of the field. Will He not therefore, also take care of you as children of our loving Heavenly Father? He is our sufficiency in all things that we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ, Michael
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