Could it be any more obvious that your days left on this earth are short? You are about to be in God’s presence—where worshipping Him will be the main focus. Get a good start on that right now. It begins with knowing some awesome things about your awesome God—things for which you can’t help but praise Him.
Take this verse: For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Rom 11:36)
First, what does it say? All things are of him, they go through Him and they are to Him. And so, all glory goes to Him. This speaks of the sovereignty of God in everything. Before you lower your eyes to the circumstances of your life, think of the testimony of some Bible characters. Think about Joseph’s life. His 11 brothers hated him and sold him as a slave where he ended up in Egypt. He had some bad times (unjustly accused of sexual misconduct and sent to prison) and good times (interpreted fellow prisoners’ dreams and was promoted to second in command under the king). Think of the Israelites enslaved in Egypt. They had some bad times (their hard labor was doubled) and good times (God released them and miraculously led them on dry land through the Red Sea). Are there others you can think of who had super highs and lows? How about Daniel, Samson and Paul?
Now back to our verse. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things. All things. That means the things that happened in those character’s lives were all of him, and through him and to him. And now, in hindsight, we see how that worked out in their lives. Not just their lives… go ahead and think of Sarah, Ruth and Esther. Good times and bad times, but all things in their lives were of him, and through him and to him. All their stories are testimonies to God’s glory that we learn from. (The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple Ps. 19:7b.)
He allows all things that happen for a purpose in His eternal plan. All those I mentioned above… God’s eternal plan. Life is a tapestry that we only see part of from the underside. He sees the beauty that He is creating from the top over time. We will get His perspective later. When he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2). Time doesn’t permit me to give the example I’d like to give regarding our Rom 11:36 context. The chapter is about how things have been working for the whole nation of Israel (bad and good) for the sake of us Gentiles that we might be saved.
But here’s the final point. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Rom 11:36) Let’s start giving Him that forever glory right now as we understand the truth of this verse.
Tell me what you think.
Jody