Recovery Devotional 280 Impedance

JMD Devotional 280 1 Thessalonians 2:17,18 Impedance

But since we were bereft of you, brethren, for a little while in person, [of course] not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great longing to see you face to face, because it was our will to come to you. [I mean that] I, Paul, again and again [wanted to come], but Satan hindered and impeded us.

Is not God sovereign? Why does Satan seem to have free reign to torment, hinder and frustrate our progress? In the book of Acts, when the Apostle Paul was being taken to Rome to stand trial, the ship was so buffeted by a typhoon and was so in danger of capsizing that they threw the cargo and the ship’s furniture overboard to preserve their very lives. Jettisoning the primary source of the ship’s revenue was not an easy choice; they had to be brought to the brink of catastrophe to make the decision. The Devil is not an ‘equal and opposite’ force to God, just a created being, like the angels. He is no real threat to God, except for the sorrow caused by corrupting His creation. God gives him a pretty long leash because in the greater scheme of things, even he serves His purposes. A spiritual plot complication that stresses our resources, and forces us to jettison cargo, and to be resourceful. To manifest our maturity in Christ, we need an adversary just as Notre dame needs a strong opponent to display their skill at football. But make no mistake, our adversary wishes us only slavery, pain, harm and destruction: it is God who redeems even this to our benefit.

Dear God,

I am at the edge of exercising myself in things too high and wonderful for me to contemplate; but I long to know You and Your work in my life. Help me to cling to that which is GOOD, and to accept my limitations and losses with grace and faith. So much of this life will end up as ashes; help me to value most that which will endure.

Amen

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Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

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