Sunday, December 19, 2010

MM Meditation - Want Your Suffering to End?

The following is an exerpt from A.W. Tozer's book I Call It Heresy!  I always appreciate his insights and his powerful way of speaking the truth in love.  He does not tickle ears, nor did he bask in having a following and creating a name for himself.  He only desired to elevate Christ.  You may receive a email daily devotional with Tozer exerpts here.

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But He knows the way that I take;
when He has tested me,
I shall come forth as gold. --Job 23:10



God has said He will exalt you in due time, but remember, He is referring to His time and not yours!

Some of you are actually in a fiery furnace right now. You are in a special kind of spiritual testing. The pastor may not know it and others may not know it, but you have been praying and asking the Lord: "Why don't you get me out of this?"

In God's plan it is not yet "due time." When you have come through the fire, God will get you out and there will not be any smell of smoke on your garment and you will not have been harmed.

The only harm that can come will be from your insistence that God must get you out sooner than He plans.

The Lord has promised to exalt you in due time and He has always kept His promises to His people.

As children, we can always afford to wait. A saint of God does not have to be concerned about time when he is in the will of God. I Call It Heresy! pp. 116-117



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I love Tozer's line that "there will not be any smell of smoke on your garment."

When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were tossed into the fiery furnace,
they proved this is true.

Daniel 3: 26-27
So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire,
 and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them.
They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies,
nor was a hair of their heads singed;
their robes were not scorched,
and there was no smell of fire on them.



What made this happen?  The answer for these men and for us is in verse 25:

"He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire,
unbound and unharmed,
and the fourth looks like a
son of the gods.”




The pre-incarnate Christ was their strength and their protection.
We will not be alone in the flames,
if we know the Son of God as our Savior.
Take heart in your suffering, dear friends,
we will be delivered
in "due time."



6 comments:

  1. Beautiful...comforting and challenging both. He is with us even in the firey furnace, yea even unto death!

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  2. I didn't want to read this becuase I knew it would challenge me. It did. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Awesome to remember, whether in the fiery furnace, coming out of it, or going into it (which seems to be a summary of life).

    Blessings on your day!

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  4. Whenever I see A.W. Tozer, I know it will be good, and these were timely words for me. I like the emphasis that He will be exalted through the timing.
    Thank you for sharing, Mindy! Looking forward to seeing you soon!
    Have a blessed Christmas!

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  5. Sometimes God takes us through the fire, sometimes He takes us out of the fire and sometimes He takes us with the fire. Praise Him always!

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