Am I doing anything worthwhile?

So often we ask what are we actually doing for the Lord. What tangible service are we offering?

In considering this we need to be reminded that each of us, as individuals, fit into the overall (corporate) plan of God. Our lives represent one piece of God's overall intent.

While the accuser of the brethren has been cast down (Revelation 12:10), it is worthwhile remembering that the dragon still has a voice that can be heard from his place of bondage (Revelation 20:1-3).

Satan's motivation and method has not changed down the ages. As he accused Job before God (Job 1&2) he will attempt the same with us, albeit from his prison.

What is the basic thrust of satan's accusations? Nothing more or less than this: God’s children do not really love Him sincerely. If we look at our own lives intelligently and honestly most, if not all, trials seem designed to cause us to doubt God's love for us. In fact, the reverse is actually true. Satan's challenge to God concerning Job did not question God's commitment as that was beyond doubt even for satan (Job 1:9-11; 2:5).

When the trial is at its hottest, do we really love God and manifest that love through the trust we place in Him even when everything seems to point toward His abandonment of us? (cf. Matthew 27:46).

A question we need to ask is this: Is suffering, in whatever form, a consequence of our commitment to God, or is it an integral part of our service to God? In other words, does suffering form a part of our calling? (Romans 8:17; II Corinthians 1:5-8; Philippians 3:10).

If it is, then the ‘word of faith’ teachings are thrown once more into ever increasing doubt. Such teachings often held forth that suffering was a consequence of disobedience or a lack of faith.

When it comes to suffering among the Godly, we would do well to remember Job, Jeremiah and the so-called heroes of faith as listed in Hebrews 11, to mention but a few.

When we consider the account of Job we cannot fail to see that the battle is one that takes place in the heavenlies - satan attempting to face off against God. However, the practical means of the battle was Job's love for God (Job 1:9-11, 2:3-5).

If we understand this, it becomes clear what significant a role we play in the overall victory that is being won, day-by-day, in the heavenlies. Each time we maintain our stand of our love for God, even in the face of unchanging circumstances, we contribute directly to the victories of God in the heavenlies (Colossians 1:24).

Imagine all of time as a tapestry and each individual redeemed life is a thread in that fabric. Satan is attempting to have that tapestry irreversibly damaged by holes and broken threads ruining the completeness of God's plan. Every time he attacks his aim is to prove to God that His people do not love Him thus rendering His redemptive plan a waste of time and effort. Each time an individual believer rises up in the face of negative circumstances and affirms their love for and trust in God another stitch in the story is successfully completed (Joshua 23:8; Acts 11:23; I Corinthians 15:58; Hebrews 10:39; I Peter 5:9; II Peter 3:17).

Each rip or unravelling gives satan cause to make the following statement: "There is a thing which no child of God can endure and still continue to trust God" (cf. Galatians 6:9).

What needs to be borne in mind is that each of us is an individual before God. Each of us has meaning as a person and we are not mere statistics. While we are not unique in our sufferings (I Corinthians 10:13a), each of us lives a life with a unique combination of experiences, both negative and positive. As such we are very distinctive threads (personal stories) in the great redemptive tapestry of time.

Our own combination of happenings is unique, except that Christ has experienced every possibility from the Garden to the Cross. He alone can sympathize with each of our weaknesses in a time of trial and suffering (Hebrews 2:14-18, 4:15).

A wonderful  discovery to make in the midst of all of this is that all of our finite, weak, imperfect human actions and reactions - those things we whisper to God  as well as the things we do - each matter very much to our heavenly Father (I Samuel 1:3-20).  We bring joy to our Father as we languish in a prison cell or lay in our hospital bed, for instance, and continue to trust Him in spite of the unchanging circumstances (Acts 16:25). In so doing, we bring defeat to the devil (remember the basis of his attacks: He challenges God to doubt our love for our heavenly Father).

As finite beings we may have no conscious knowledge of the most significant moment of our lives, the instance of our greatest contribution to the overall tapestry that tells the story of God's eternal victory (Hebrews 11:4, 31, 36-40 – N.B. “... having gained approval through their faith.”). Perhaps, at that moment, only God and satan may be the witnesses. It may be at that moment that our response to God is the one that wins at once a battle that could have left a terrible tear in the fabric of ‘His-story’ (Esther 4:13&14). 

When we view the overall tapestry at the close of time we will be witnesses to the fact of the totally full cup of proof that will show satan that there was not one single thing for which the grace of God had not been sufficient for someone, somewhere, at some time (cf. Colossians 1:24). The great combination of individual lives with each of their unique combination of circumstances will speak eloquently to that fact (I Corinthians 15:58). 

Peter had a significant place (among many others) in the battle which Jesus warned him of in John 21:18. N.B. God only tells us our own story, not that of another (John 21:22).

One of Paul's great contributions to the tapestry was marked by the sufficient grace of God for the achieving victory over his thorn the flesh (II Corinthians 12:7).

When Jeremiah was lowered into the mire his significant response in the face of growing and persistent despair that he came face-to-face with was at least one of his significant moments to deny satan a rip in the tapestry of time (Lamentations 3:24-26, 31-33, 35-38).

With all of this in mind Romans 16:20 becomes clearer in its overall significance.

So, it is not what we do for God in terms of acts of service, preaching, missionary work, sacrificial giving, etc. But it is how we live, day-by-day, in the ebb and flow of the circumstances and challenges of life where, more often than not, there is no human witness.

It is abundantly clear that we can never be separated from God’s love (Romans 8:35-39). The real question is whether or not God can be denied our love for Him?

In conclusion, perhaps Isaiah 43:21 should be considered with Ephesians 3:14-21.