Vanishing Vern

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
(John 3:30)

It’s more often than not that I seek God to work in an area of my life, turning that situation “totally” over to Him…& still try to fix it myself. But what can I say, I’m a man…we love to fix things. We want to take care of our problems. It maybe that we don’t think that God is doing this just right or maybe He’s not doing it fast enough for our tastes or whatever the case, we often want something fixed so bad, that we will do all we can to fix it…even if we are making it worse. It’s like standing in quicksand and being told to be still, that help is on its way, but instead of being still we fight trying to get ourselves out & end up speeding up the process of sinking to our death.

I was reading a verse the other day that really stuck out to me because of a tough time that I am in right now. The verse is actually one where John the Baptist is sharing with his disciples that Jesus was the Christ, not himself & went on to say that “He must increase, but I must decrease”, though John was speaking about himself & his ministry & how it was about Jesus not himself, God has brought me back to this verse & said. “Vern”, He calls me Vern too… “Vern please let me handle this situation that I have allowed into your life for a very distinct reason that I know, but have not revealed to you. One that I will be glorified in & not you, it will be for my kingdoms purpose & not the happiness of the little kingdom of Vern. But it will cause you & everyone around you to want to draw near to me…if you would just be still, quiet, humble & allow Me to work.” In other words God said that, “He must increase” & “I must decrease” in the fix-it department.

A. B. Simpson once stated, “If we wholly trust an interest to God, we must keep our hands off it; and He will guard it for us better than him; fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass. Things may seem to be going all wrong, but He knows as well as we; and He will arise in the right moment if we are really trusting Him so fully as to let Him work in His own way and time. There is nothing so masterly as inactivity in some things, and there is nothing so hurtful as restless working, for God has undertaken to work His sovereign will.”

Vern

Shakin' It Up

"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat..."(Luke 22:31)

Satan's plans for Simon Peter were to destroy him, to break him down, to wear him out. He demanded, some say requested, to have the opportunity to sift Peter like wheat. To most of us that sounds terrible, even more so when we check out what Jesus said in Luke 22:31. He didn't say, "He asked but I stood up and said no way, no way your laying a hand on my boy Peter". No, Jesus said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." WHAT???? I've prayed for you? Are you kidding?? When you have turned again?? What are you saying? You're going to let him go through this? What happened to, “You are my strong tower refuge when I'm weak and all that??

It does sound horrible, but Jesus knew what He was doing. He knew what Peter was about to suffer through , He knew that on the other side (although Simon couldn’t see it for the cloud of fear), that glorious things were looming on the horizon. I’m sure as Simon Peter lay crying in a pool of tears outside of the house of the high priest, after hearing the third crow of the rooster and realizing that he had betrayed Jesus, just as he was told he would. I’m sure he could not see himself standing before thousands of people proclaiming that the Jesus that he betrayed was the messiah and in that, see three thousand come to accept Jesus as savior. But Jesus did. Jesus saw it all.

What Satan wanted to do was to take Peter and shake the good out of him, just like when they would sift wheat. But evidently he didn’t think about what part is kept after the sifting. When wheat is sifted, the bad is thrown away and the good is used. God allowed Peter to be sifted, so as to make him into a man of God. To sift away the unusable and keep the usable. Often times God allows things into our lives as Christians to sift us. To shake us up, to separate the good from the bad. But we have to be willing to be sifted, to follow Him no matter how painful at times it may be. To say though everyone abandons me, I will still have faith in my God. If we get to that point, then nothing but glorious things will be looming in our unseen horizons.

Vern