East or West, God's Will is the Best

I know title may contain little humor but to be candid I did find it apt for our little discussion here today. For Last few days I have been listening and meditating the Word of God revolving around the decisions made by few servants of God and how it impacted their whole life. Please read with me Genesis 13:8 onwards. We could see that there was a little strife among the men of Abram and his nephew Lot and to avoid any further disputes, Abram offered a seemingly sensibly solution (V 8,9) to Lot that  "Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left.". I want you to be in Lot's place for a moment and consider what options you might have had when Abram told that  its time to part ways. I thought of following four options might have opened in front of Lot.

Option 1: Take the best land and move towards it (as Lot ultimately did)
Option 2: To please his uncle Abram (so that he should not feel bad), make a self-sacrifice and take the lesser fertile plains and move towards that land.
Option 3: To stick to his uncle Abram, and ask him to make peace among their herds somehow and move forward in harmony together.
Option 4: Pray to God and ask for His guidance that if separation is inevitable then what is God's plan for his life and his family.

Bible says that Lot was a righteous man and I know you may think that since it was Abram who asked him to separate and so what Lot did is right after all as he had to choose what is good for him. And as expected, Verse 13 says that "So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out towards the East.". Bible clearly says "He Chose for himself".

I am sure every christian at sometime of his/her life are presented with an option to Choose for themselves. But as Proverbs 14:12 says "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.", Something similar happened with Lot also as we could see in later chapters that the Land turned out to be a curse for him eventually.  He suffered Shame, Loss of his Inheritance, Loss of his dear Wife and even Loss of his Dignity.

Now consider another example from the Bible that we read in 1 Kings 17. Elijah after prophesying against King Ahab that there will no Rain or Dew again except at his word (v 1), we can see that immediately God commanded him to Leave and move towards "East". v2,3 "Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: Leave from here, turn Eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan" and we can see there How God himself provided for him through Ravens (V4) during those times when there was famine in the whole land.

If you observe these two cases, in First example "Lot Chose for himself and set out towards the East" and in Second example, "The word of the LORD came to Elijah and told him to Turn Eastward". What I concluded is that its not the Place (as in here direction East) which has got problems but it was how the Choice was made by these servants of God.

If we depend upon our own wisdom and Choose for ourselves then rest assured howsoever the Opportunity, Place or People looks good initially it won't be fruitful for us in the long run and may even result in our Spiritual devastation.
While on the other hand if we let God make a choice for ourselves (when we are presented with a choice to make), we can see God's mighty Hand of deliverance and provisions for us even if our wisdom may go against that decision initially.

I may sound bit philosophical here when I say that every Decision or Choice that we make, we must make according to God's divine will. It may even sound bit impractical as well at times to ask for God's will in every small and sometimes trivial decisions of life but let me boldly assure you that every decision that you make according to God's will, releases God's provisions for you and you will find His mighty hand sustaining you at every step there after till your goals are accomplished.

I would like to agree with Jim Elliot "God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him."

Next time when you are faced with making a Choice in your Personal, Spiritual, Financial or Family life, try asking God's will sincerely and make a Choice that pleases Him.
I'm sure you will see that your life will never be the same again if we move ahead in our christian life with this attitude in Christ.

I pray that God may help each one of you to make Choices in life that are driven only by His Will.

God Bless You,

In His Vineyard,
Bro. Santosh Thankachan

True Exaltation

True Exaltation !!

The only address and background that we know about Elijah, one of the greatest prophets of God in Old Testament history is "And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead" -1Kings 17:1
No Family background and No qualifications to boast but Yet this man of God was exalted highly among all known prophets and was even one of two persons who never saw death and was taken to Heaven in a flaming chariot.

The reason I concluded for the exaltation of this Humble servant of God is that he stood up boldly for God and His true Worship in a time when idolatry was ruling over the land and when wickedness of men was growing leaps and bounds under the rule of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel.

Sometimes feel disappointed and sad when I see people of God all around us trying to establish their own identity using their own means without knowing that true Exaltation actually belongs to God. Many christian Ministers in today's Christian world are striving so hard to do their own ministry but not to do God's work according to His will, Forgetting that its too dangerous as well as unfruitful to do God's work with our own strength and wisdom, as the only outcome will be a life full of disappointments and Spiritual devastation. Bible says, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time" -1Peter 5:6

I like what Servant of God, Anil Kant says here "Serving the Lord is not by COMPETITION, but by CALLING.. We don't do things because others are doing it, but because the Holy Spirit is leading us..!!! NOT BY IMITATION, BUT BY ANOINTING.."

We must remind ourselves the most important message of Christ:
"The time has come," He said. "The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and Believe the Good news!" -Mark 1:15

The world is preparing itself for a mighty Revival in days ahead. I pray and believe that we are going to witness the same soon. The only thing we need to do is "Repent, Believe and Be Ready..."

"He that hath an Ear, let him Hear..."