Author: marquitabp

To know me is to accept me, and to love me is to help me.
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Daily Devotion

The 'Why' Paradox
 
"The beginning of Wisdom is: get Wisdom (skillful and godly Wisdom)! [For skillful and godly Wisdom is the principal thing.] And with all you have gotten, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation)." Proverbs 4:7
"Get skillful and godly Wisdom, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation); do not forget and do not turn back from the words of my mouth." Proverbs 4:4
 
Last night at Bible Study, we were studying what it means to be blessed.  In the midst of that discussion, the question was asked, is it okay to ask God 'WHY'?  My immediate answer was yes.  I have come to believe that it is okay to ask God why things are happening to us.  I need to comprehend and learn the relevance of why I am going a particular thing.  Sometimes when I do not have the strength, I rely on God's divine wisdom to reveal to me why I am going through it and for Him to strengthen me to get through.  There have been many things in my life that have happened and at that point in time, I did not understand why.  Realistically, unless you have peace about something, how can you move past it?  I have been able to reconcile some of the things that have happened to me because I have finally received the revelation of why it happened. 
How can you prevent yourself from making the same mistakes if you don't understand why that particular thing is a mistake to begin with?  How are you to go forward from a situation without God's understanding of how you should proceed?  Proverbs 3:5-6 says that we are to TRUST God, we are to not depend on our own understanding, insight, and comprehension, and we are acknowledge–know and recognize–Him.  From there God directs, makes clear and plain the path in which we should go.  Don't try to understand things without first asking God why because you can yield yourself to a fleshly understanding of that situation and make the wrong decision.  Get that understanding that God promises and understand why.
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Daily Devotion

God Sees the Best in You

“In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end.” Deuteronomy 8:16

I love that song by Marvin Sapp. It reassures me that God knows me and sees past all of the things I have gone through, all of the trials I have to endure and my response to life. He sees the best within us. Sometimes even when we do not see it ourselves, when everyone we turn to are saying things to contradict how we feel, we can rest assured that God sees our future selves, the person that He is working in us.

The purpose for this devotion is that sometimes when we feel so low we have to remember that God has chosen us for His work. I personally get weighed down by the negative thoughts of things that have happened to me, and I sometimes wonder how God could want to use someone like me. Don’t get me wrong, I know that God loves me, but the hardest part of loving others is truly being able to love yourself in spite of everything that has happened in your life. The situations we face are often discouraging and disheartening, sometimes crushing our spirits and are intended to ensure defeat. But Jeremiah 17:10 tells us that “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” We know that God is all-seeing, all-hearing, and all-knowing. So with God searching our hearts, He sees our destinations. Not just potential, because quite frankly, some people never reach their potentials. God sees the end result, the result of all those difficult issues, trials, and circumstances that are intended to defeat us. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 God already wrote the vision for your life. He knows what He desires and plans for you; He sees your best, He sees your future. So don’t let the burdens of life lead you astray. Psalm 139:1 tells us that God has already searched and known us; even before we were born. Don’t let what somebody says about you hurt you or turn you away from what God puts in your heart because they don’t know what they are looking at! (1 Sam 16:7) Trust the Spirit of God within you to guide you and know that God sees (and has already seen) your best! As the song says, the best is yet to come!

“And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” Romans 8:27