May 10

“...God does not promise to keep us in perfect peace because we have done Him the honor of trusting Him.  It isn’t a reward.  It is an inevitable result.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 5/10

I think people often think in terms of reward and punishment when they speak of God.  That’s why they are devastated when trials come. They feel they are being punished and find no peace in their situation.  They may even become angry with God. By the same token when good fortune comes their way they may be quick to give God the credit, but inwardly feel they are being rewarded for being good. Both are arrogant because Self is really who is getting the credit.

On the news today when a victim of the many tornadoes that have hit the Midwest in recent days was asked why he thought this had happened to him he responded, “Why not me?”  The Bible says, “God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45b).  We must never presume that our good fortune is a reward and our misfortune a punishment.  God and all that He is is unimaginable to our finite minds.  Instead we are to trust Him, and in doing so, we will receive all that we need--whether it is good fortune so that we have something to share with others, or misfortune as a means of bringing us to the end of our self sufficiency.

“Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trust in thee.”  Isaiah 26:3