April 2, 2020
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We saw it a few years ago. Boy, in one weekend, it was like a string of corporate meltdowns. And when that happens, Wall Street gets a very bad case of the jitters. I mean, when you suddenly discover that a major company that we thought was doing well was actually in big trouble, it doesn't exactly inspire investor confidence. In some cases, some have some shall we say unusually "creative accounting." And it can, for a while, conceal how bad things are. Of course, the fundamentals of financial viability, they don't ever change. Your outgo and your income, your losses and your gains have to at least balance. That's why you look at your checkbook. And it's management's job to, of course, be sure that they do balance.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Heaven's Balanced Books."
When you open your heart to Jesus Christ, it would be appropriate to hang a sign that says "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT." You step down and the One who should have been your Chief Executive Officer all along finally takes charge. And you can be sure He's committed to balancing the books in your life, keeping a loving balance between gains and losses.
In the midst of horrendous personal losses, Job was still able to see this balancing work of God in his life. It's in Job 1:21, where he expresses it. It's our word for today from the Word of God. He says, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." Later, Job would have this balancing work of God more than proved when, as the Bible says, "the Lord...gave him twice as much as he had before...the Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first" (Job 42:10-12).
In God's deep love and infinite wisdom, He knows we just can't stand to have all blessings or all burdens. We can't have all happiness or all heartaches. That may be why the writer of Proverbs 30 says, "Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you...or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God" (Proverbs 30:8-9).
Solomon assures us that, in God's great management of our life, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...a time to tear down and a time to build...a time to weep and a time to laugh" (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3-4). See the balance?
Maybe right now you're particularly focused on a lot of bad news, some losses you've been experiencing. This might be a good time to step back and look at the big picture of what heaven's CEO is doing in your whole life. It's time to review the blessings that are still there side-by-side with your burdens. God has this incredible way of knowing just how much loss you can handle and how to balance that with some good news, just in time. And how much victory you can handle and how to balance that with some struggle.
This loving God, who knows exactly what you need and when you need it, is working this very day on His gracious, life-building balance. At any given moment, you're going to have something discouraging, but always something encouraging to offset it and make it bearable. At any given moment, you'll have some wonderful answered prayers and some yet-to-be-answered prayers. You can be sure that until the day you see Jesus, you will always - I mean, always - have plenty to thank Him for and plenty to trust Him for. That's how spiritual babies become spiritual adults. That's how spiritual wimps become spiritual warriors. Always something to thank Him for, always to something to trust Him for.
Don't miss the good things God's doing because you're nearsightedly focusing on the hard things. You have a Savior who's always balancing the gains and the losses to make your life more profitable than you could ever imagine.