Bill Johnson, of Bethel Church in Redding, CA., preached 3 days after losing his beloved wife, Beni, to cancer.
This was a quote from his sermon: “God is not a vending machine that I get to put a quarter into & withdraw from Him what I want. He chooses what He gives. But it is the wicked at heart that say ’God didn’t do what I wanted, He is a liar’.
May I never be found critiquing God when things don’t go my way. May I always be found having a heart ready to be critiqued by Him. Is God my friend?
He is. But He is my Lord first, and I’ll never have the pain I’m feeling right now in eternity, so in this moment it is a privilege to respond rightly to the Lord of my life with deeper trust and devotion.
I will bow before the Lamb on the Throne in awe, and worship Him forever, but never will I have the face to face chance to do that while I’m in pain, so in this moment I choose to do that. When I said yes to Jesus, I gave up my right to fully understand or be in charge of my life.”
Re-Post Pat Bruner