Day 17 meditation reveals the power of grace in troubling circumstances.
Oh, the insights of the apostle Paul should challenge every Christian to higher heights of understanding the grace of God. Circumstances, good or bad, cannot be the sole indicator of whether one is living in the will of God. In fact, the important truth of this scenario is that it is not the circumstances a person faces, but how he faces the circumstances that determine the accomplishment of the will of God. Paul, instead of being down in the mouth and critical about the adversity he had to endure, took those potential calamities and, through the grace of God, turned them into greater opportunities for ministry. Day 17 meditation explains this mystery of the miracle.
Day 17 proclaims the will of God will not always be accomplished by deliverance from troubling circumstances.
Instead of becoming the victim of the circumstances, he allowed God to use those circumstances to become the victor. Regardless of the slanderous remarks (Rom. 3:8), the bad things he had to take because of envy (Acts 13:45), and the trying experiences of Roman imprisonment (Acts 28:16), Paul knew “. . . that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Because his face was set upon the will of God, the terrifying circumstances that faced him could not deter him. The will of God would be accomplished not by deliverance out of the troubling circumstances, but in the very midst of them.
Prosperity must always be measured by the accomplishment of the will of God, and not by the conditions that surround the believer. It would seem that this truth was the essence of Paul’s life: “Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:9,10). Paul’s understanding of the will of God should bring all of us to our knees of repentance begging God for forgiveness. How shallow our understanding to interpret God’s will by the circumstances we face instead of allowing the grace of God freedom to work in our circumstances.
