Placed by God’s Providence

Placed by God’s Providence

In My Daddy’s Shoes

In my Daddy’s shoes

In my daddy’s ties

In my Daddy’s shadow

By my daddy’s side

Looking at his living

As the days go by

I can see my Jesus

In my daddy’s eyes

Oh to see God living

In my dad each day

Makes me want to be like him

In every single way

So my Lord I ask you

Don’t let me go astray

But keep me on the right path

That leads to you I pray

Charles E. Garrison

Isaiah 44:24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, "I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone,

I cannot but help each day to give praise and thanks to my Lord for the family, community, and nation the He has placed me in. I could have been born to evil parents that only conceived me through their own pleasures and really did not care to mold me into a better person than they were. I never would have met my loving brothers and sister, known their wonderful children, would not have the security of their unconditional love. If I was born other than somewhere God had placed me, I never would have meet my wife, never would have had the wonderful children I have been blessed with. I could have been born into a hostile place where the depraved ran through the streets without restraint. I could have been born into a country that was desolate and did not have the resources to provide for the opportunities that I have been able to take advantage of. If I had been born other that where God had placed me, I would not have been equipped to survive in a foreign environment. I thank God that I did not choose the time and place or the relationships of my life, as I have always been given to make the unwise decisions.As I grow older on the path that I am traveling through my short journey here, I each day come to appreciate the subtle instruction of my father who through the years gave me freely. In my youth I never cherished the wisdom of his words, never accepted his advice, never followed his lead, but now that he has gone home to his Heavenly Father, I have come to understand him through a relationship with his Lord Jesus Christ, and now realize that my father was the greatest treasure found in this world. So many times I hear people say “only if I had it to do over again.” I would not want that opportunity, I have paid the price for where I have come, accepted the gift of God for where I am going, but if could have changed one thing in my life, it would have been to listen to my father. Yet today I do listen to my father, as his words ever return to me because his instruction was founded in God’s truth. "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6)

I admit there are those who have had a more fortunate life than I, probably more than not. I also know that there are many more who have a less fortunate life than I. The greatest quote of my father was “a little faith in a big God.” I thought that was a cute cliché in the earlier days but know I see the greater truth in his words. My father was not living for this world but kept his eye on the greater world to come, the Kingdom of Heaven. This is where his hope was, this is what his faith was in, the Word of God, Jesus Christ. My younger brother nailed the right description of my father, Grace. All the bad I have done, all the pain I have caused him, the years of great disappointment he endured because of me, all the thankless nights of little sleep, and all because I would not listen or obey his word, yet his love was unconditional towards me. "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." (1 John 4:16)

I have rebelled against my father, I have rebelled against my family, I have rebelled against my community, I have rebelled against my nation, and most assuredly I have rebelled again God. In all of my rebellions God who is Love never withheld His love from me. "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love."  (1John 4:8) God knows each and every one of us, even before the foundation of the world. "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love" (Ephesians 1:4) From the Garden of Eden each one of us came with a perfect plan for our lives. But as Adam and Eve we fell into a life of rebellion from God and have lived outside of His will, outside of His plan and purpose for our lives.

We cannot blame God when our life is not as we wish that it would be. The truth is that even for a follower of Jesus, still life will be filled with trials and tribulations. The difference is that for the Christian we have an advocate sitting at the right hand of God. "Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us." (Romans 8:34) What greater power can one have to lead him through this world and having the promise of the next? "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:2) Living out of the will of God leads to a life of hopelessness and ultimately to certain death. Why I wonder would any chose this fate at the end of their journey here? It is the choice that all must make. Can we not look around and see the consequences of that choice made in the Garden of Eden so long ago by the first parents of mankind? Cannot we see through history the sacrifices God has made to restore our relationship with Him that we may have live abundantly now and forever more? "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

We each have a responsibility in the providence of God to fulfill towards our parents, towards our family, towards our community and towards our nation. I have a responsibility to act on the wise words of instruction that my father gave to me in the many years of his upbringing. We have a responsibility towards our parents in sharing the truth that we have come into through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and also towards our children. "For wisdom is protection just as money is protection, But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors." (Ecclesiastes 7:12) We have a responsibility towards our community in that we are to be the light of truth in a darkened place. "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." (John 3:21) We have a responsibility to our nation that through us they will have the opportunity to come to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and also that the Word of God will be known to all that have an ear to hear. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)

In the providence of God we are all faced with a decision that must be made now, for the hour of salvation is now. "For He says, "At the acceptable time I listened to you, And on the day of salvation I helped you." Behold, now is "the acceptable time," behold, now is "the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2) All will be judged for our deeds while we are here in this life after we have passed through to the next. "And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them." (Revelation 14:13) This truth must be addressed and all must be made aware for the Lord came once to save, and through us His work must be done. Jesus our Lord and Savior is coming again like a thief in the night. "For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night." (1 Thessalonians 5:2) When Jesus returns He will judge those whom He does not know. "But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men." (2 Peter 3:7)

Every man has a choice; every man chooses the path he travels. He can travel the path of the world which leads to destruction and stand before God with nothing of value to Him and face His wrath. He can choose to follow Jesus through this world on the path of the Kings narrow highway to the Glorious Kingdom of God. To which are you a citizen? "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20)

In the Garden of Eden God did not speak us into existence but formed us from the dust. He personally made each and every one of us and holds a special love for each. The potter knelt over each one of us a breathed His Spirit into us giving us life. "Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." (Genesis 2:7) We are created in His image made to grow into His image and have a personal relationship with Him in the bonds of His love. Ask yourself, years from now, if the Lord wills, when your loved ones think back on you, will they see the image of Jesus, or will they only see a lost memory of what should have been, planned by God’s providence?

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church Durant, Florida

10/02/13