What Do We Want To Know

What do we wish we knew today?  We wish we knew how to bring stability to governments and trading partnerships, don’t we? We wish we knew how to sort out supply chain issues that are feeding inflation and making our lives more insecure.  We wish we could find a solution to the suffering going on in the Ukraine after all this time – not to mention in so many other parts of the world.

What do we actually need to know today in order to be successful and have a good day?  We get a pretty good picture in what we read in God’s Word from one of God’s faithful servants, Paul, when he was facing an unfair death sentence.

I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.  Philippians 3:10, 12-14

I’m not sure exactly what Paul had in mind when he said that he wanted to suffer with Christ and share in His death so that one way or another He would experience the resurrection from the dead! 

From what he next says about not yet achieving this it makes me think that he’s trying to keep the suffering of Christ on his behalf clearly in mind as he goes through hard times himself, even if that means having to die for the cause of Christ. 

How strong is our knowing?  Our faith in God’s resurrection power?  God’s making good out of the difficulty of our lives? I think that’s what Paul was learning to know and what you and I can come to know today and find peace and rest in.

Help us today, God to be at peace, to quiet our hearts as often as needed and remember that You are God.  You are in charge.  You are taking us forward in Your great plan and that plan is full of love and goodness. 

We really don’t know what suffering lies ahead of us or what blessing and in what amount or at what time.  What we know is that You are God and that You love us and You are with us.  We pray to be full of faith as Paul in prison was when he wrote these words:

I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return. 2 Timothy 1:12

Settle our own hearts today in this sure knowledge God.  Help us to know what we need to know and stand strong.  Amen

Let’s live “in the know” today that God is with us and God is for us, giving us this day to rejoice and be glad in.