God’s Wake-Up Calls
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. - (Psalm 119:67)
Sometimes God will allow suffering and sickness in our lives to get our attention. We may be rebelling against Him, and He wants us to change our direction. He wants it to stop.
We see an example of this in the life of Jonah. God told Jonah to go preach to the Ninevites, but Jonah went in the opposite direction instead. He was disobeying the Lord. And because the Lord loved Jonah, He went after him. God will not let His children run too far. He got Jonah’s attention, turned things around, and turned the prophet around.
As the psalmist said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.” (Psalm 119:67). Sometimes God will allow a situation in our lives to wake us up to our real need.
Maybe you have had a wake-up call recently. Maybe you’ve received a call from a doctor who said, “I am concerned about these tests. I want you to come back in. I want to run some more.”
Suddenly you’re filled with panic. You’re saying, “God, I love you. I’m going to follow you and serve you. I’m going to go to the mission field. I will do anything.” Then you go in and they run the other set of tests. Everything looks good. You’re okay. And suddenly you’re back to your old ways again. What happened to all of those vows?
If you’ve had a wake-up call, then wake up.
Maybe God is allowing you to go through something that doesn’t make any sense right now. But one day it will make sense.
The Devil can do nothing in the life of the believer without God’s permission. The Lord is ultimately in control. He is in control of all circumstances that surround the life of the believer.
Copyright © 2016 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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