190
THE ETERNAL SECURITY
OF GOD'S WORD
A Short Address Given to the Oslo (Norway) Local Colony
& L'viv (Ukraine) Mission, 24 October 1993, Moss, Norway
by Monika Bonkerud
Dear brethren and sisters, today I would like to address a subject that has occupied my mind alot for the past few weeks. I have been through some personal difficulties that have forced me to make some important choices about my life. As some of you will already know, I have resigned from a secure job and am now trying to find a way to make a living.
I came to a point where I had to choose between something secure and steady and a very unpredictable future. And there was no way I could know which of the alternatives was the best solution. I could not see the future and I did not know all my needs and all the needs of my family. The only One who knew what was best was God...so I had to ask Him. And He answered -- and told me to quit my job. I do not know what His intentions are and I still don't know my future, but I do know that God knows everything -- and that if I trust Him, He will give me what is best for me -- always.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us not to worry about our needs and our future:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' Fore the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (
Matthew 6:25-34, NIV).
The Psalmist wrote:
"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you all the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this... Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him..." (Psalm 37:4-5,7, NIV).
It is really important that we understand that God actually knows EVERYTHING. He knows all our needs -- spiritual as well as physical and psychological. He knows the needs of our families and social environment, and He knows the future. He actually knows about everything that is going to happen in the future. But most important of all is that He loves us. He loves us with a far greater love than we can comprehend. He loves us to such an extent that He offered His Firstborn Son for us, that we might obtain everlasting life, joy and love. He would never dream of neglecting our needs or giving us second best. He only wants to share His glory and happiness with His children. He will never give His children if they ask for bread. Jesus told the Jews that He was powerful enough to care for our needs. Jesus said:
"My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no-one can snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one" (John 10:27-30, NIV).
During the last few months I have been faced with decisions I have had to make about my life. I have had to measure this world's social and financial security up against God's will and the security of His words. And my conclusion is that God's Word cannot be measured at all. I don't have to worry about what to eat, or drink, or wear, because the only real need in my life is the need for salvation. I need to be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ because I will die otherwise:
"Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is My father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread-"
"Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen Me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who send Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. For My father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day" (Jo
hn 6:32-40, NIV).
And to the woman at the well He said:
"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14, NIV).
I trust God to save me from death. I believe that He has the love and the power to release me from all my sins and worries. I believe that he will open His arms wide for everyone who wants to be His child. I believe that He created me and this beautiful and rich planet we live on -- even the whole universe.
So why is it so hard to believe that he is able to take care of the trivial, practical things in my life? A God who created a universe must, of course, be able to find ways to give me the food, the money, the clothes and the warmth I need!
If I trust Him to give me external life, I must also trust Him to know what is best for me in my every day life as well.
And this is my testimony today -- God knows what is best for us -- and what is even greater is that he will give it to us. He simply loves us. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Monika Larsen Bonkerud is a former teacher in the Oslo local colonial School of Taphim (children).
This page was created on 31 May 1998
Last updated on 31 May 1998
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