Leave Them Alone

As we enter this New Year, many of us just dread the challenges ahead and are dreaming of change; looking for some bright possibilities, hoping that some or all of the burdens and problems we have and some of the people we know would just disappear. You may even be making plans to ensure that this is so. That person you have grown tired of; can’t live with, don’t want to see or hear from. You are learning to hate, finding it hard or downright impossible to love. There may be many of them.  You want to effect change in them. You want them to be loving, kind, fair, compassionate, tolerant, obedient, well mannered, understanding or to just leave you alone. You want to make them more acceptable; make them better. You may even be planning to straighten them out if you get a chance. They may include a Brother, or Sister, or Mother, or Father, or Son, or Daughter, or Grandchild, or Grandparent, or Uncle, or Niece, or Aunt, or Nephew, or Wife, or Husband or a Boss, or a Co-worker, or a person in authority, or a neighbor or maybe just some distant relative. You are Saved and they are not or they are Saved and you are not. No matter what you do they are always the same. They make your life miserable some of the time, most of the time or all of the time. You may be at the point where you believe you just can’t take anymore. You have prayed and prayed and even begged for them to go away, but here they are poised to cause more grief in 2008. Presently they may just be little specks of blemishes on your horizon; that you know for sure will become great mountains to climb in the noon day sun and you are bubbling hot already. Just one slip and you will boil over. It’s only January 3, 2008 but you are already hoping for December 31 2008 to come, because somewhere between now and then you hope they will just disappear for good.

The truth is; for most of us these problems will not be solved, these people won’t go away and they may never change. They are not there of their own will or by the will of man, nor by chance or coincidence. The LORD placed them there. They are the infirmities of life and thorns in the flesh given to you by your maker. They are used by God in ways that we may not now understand. They are there to help you, to buffet you, to keep you in check, to guide you into a closer walk with God. They are the barb wire fence that is preventing you from going into the fields of stinging nettle. They are the walls at the edge of the precipice without which you would have taken the fatal step. They frustrate your efforts to self destruct. They force you to call on His Name more often and with more earnestness. They make you pray even more. They are agents of the molding and refining process. It’s time to just leave them alone. Yes you heard me right: LEAVE THEM ALONE. Learn to endure longsuffering; pray for them and love them. Remember they belong to the LORD. The Lord has made all things for himself; yes even the wicked for the day of evil (Proverbs 16:4). Most of all you may be their only example of a true child of God placed there by the LORD to endure longsuffering that He may make known to them the riches of His glory. They may be there to learn from you.

He created Cain who killed his brother Abel who was the first true worshipper we know of. Then God gave Cain protection from his would be enemies making sure no one kill him. He created the sons of Jacob who sold their brother Joseph into slavery so that He could use the same Joseph to rescue the whole family in the time of Famine. They were all His chosen people. He created a Pharaoh who knew no Joseph, who afflicted the Hebrew people and sought to destroy all their new born males. Out of this he raised up a Hebrew child named Moses as a Grandson to the same Pharaoh. This grandson would later kill an Egyptian who was attacking a Hebrew. As a result he had to escape for his life and go to dwell with his people in another land. In due time God raised up another Pharaoh for the purpose of showing His power and to declare His name throughout the earth; using the same Moses to perform great miracles against this Pharaoh. He raised up a king name Saul to put his anointed and faithful servant David to flight. He raised up a prince name Absalom, son of David who would also put his father to flight in an attempt to kill him. He would not allow David to them harm. He raised up a King name Ahab with a wife Jezebel who would kill all the prophets who had bowed their knees to Baal and caused Elijah to run for his life. Yet He would not allow the mighty Elijah to destroy them. He rose up a Herod who sought to kill the Christ Child, killing many innocent children in the process. He rose up a Herod who beheaded John the Baptist. He rose up some Priests, Scribes and Pharisees who wanted Jesus dead. He rose up a Disciple name Judas to betray Christ. These are just a few. He rose up many more before during and after Christ birth who would persecute both Jews and Gentiles; Judeans and Christians leading to such horror as the Holocaust and the many Christian Martyrdoms. None of these suffered in vain, neither will you. They were our examples to follow; so must you be for others to follow.

God has the power to make some of us vessels to honour and some vessels to dishonour. To show His wrath and to make His power known; endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath are fitted to destruction.   And that he might make known the riches of his glory, the vessels of mercy, he had before prepared unto glory. He knows the thoughts He think towards you; thoughts of peace and not of evil; to bring you to an expected end. He therefore works all things together for good to them that love Him. Don’t be troubled by the vessels of wrath. They can’t destroy you. God is with you always. He will never leave you or forsake you. There is no one or anything that can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. (Romans: 8 & 9)

 So leave those other vessels alone. Just love the LORD your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and love those same vessels as yourself. Know that God will keep you and see you through 2008, even to the end of the world.

Romans: 8 & 9

                        W. Bennett.

W. Bennett