pramsay posted on May 22, 2008 17:07 2091 views

The Lord Knows How

Is it okay to single out a phrase from a verse in the Bible and mull it over in your mind and enjoy it in your heart? Have you ever found that some days the chapter you are reading is heavy and not quickly digestible yet you need some quick nourishment (energy boost) before you head out for the day?

Here is an expression you can enjoy today:

“The Lord knows how…”
2 Peter 2:9

But do you have any business enjoying such a phrase? Is it fair to lift it out of its context to apply it to your situation just now? After all, those four words weren’t written to tell you the Lord knows how to solve the problems in your marriage or how to get you out of the tight corner you’re in. So how could those four words help you today?

Peter is not writing about your job, your friends or even your urge to commit a certain sin. The Apostle Peter wrote his 2nd epistle to warn against false teachers. He wants Christians to know how sect leaders and heretics worm their way into people’s hearts and sow their seeds of destructive error to produce nothing but a harvest of wickedness.

Peter underlines the fact that the consequences of error perpetrated by false teachers are enormous. The judgment of God will definitely be executed upon the perpetrators and will catch up with those who became their followers.

Peter proves that God will have the last word. Judgment fell on the wicked in Noah’s day. The wrath of God broke loose on sinners in Sodom. But then Peter’s points out that God protected Noah’s family from the deluge. And He had a way of escape for Lot.

It’s at this point in Peter’s teaching that those four words make their debut…

“…and saved righteous Lot, distressed with the abandoned conversation of the godless, (for the righteous man through seeing and hearing, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul day after day with their lawless works,)
the Lord knows how
to deliver the godly out of trial, and to keep the unjust to the day of judgment to be punished;
(2Peter 2:7-9 JN Darby)

The Lord always ensures that the righteous never perish with the unrighteous. The wicked will not have the upper hand. The Lord always does. His judgment is always fair and right. The ark was the way of deliverance for Noah. Thank God, for those of us who are saved, we are safe in Christ. That’s Romans 8:1. There is no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. God knows how to provide a way of escape from judgment for those who are godly and how to ensure the ungodly don’t escape from the judgment that awaits them. The Lord knows how to do both.

So that’s the context of those four words. But can those four words be applied to your situation just now? Yes – because the Lord DOES know how to do other things as well. In fact, He has all the answers. He’s the only one that does. Some people talk like they know it all and have all the answers but they DON’T. Only the Lord DOES!

Dear Child of God – if He knows how to have the final say on the ultimate matters of time and eternity, do you think He doesn’t also know how to work out your situation? He has the ‘know-how.’  Stick close to Him.

There is no problem too big, God cannot solve it,
There is no mountain too tall, He cannot move it,
There is no storm too dark, God cannot calm it.
There is no sorrow too deep, He cannot soothe it.

If He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulders,
I know my brother that He will carry you.
If He carried the weight of the world upon His shoulders,
I know my sister that He will carry you.

He said, ‘Come unto me all who are weary,
and I will give you rest.”

Click on the link below and sing Scott Wesley Brown’s hymn.

http://www.sdcog.org/carry.html

Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.

Warmly in Christ

Peter Ramsay

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