All to Him I Owe

“God, when He pleases, can make the worst of places to serve the best of purposes.” What a startling statement by Matthew Henry!

All of us are quick to recognize the worst of places. Sometimes it is an actual place like a waiting room, DMV, funeral parlor, or a broken-down car. Other times it is not a place but rather a season: a season of sickness, transition, moving, or death.

When we are in these places, it is easy to simply think about getting out of them! We sit in them poised to jump out of that place at the first opportunity God affords. If we are not careful, the intense desire to get out of that place can cloud our ability to see the best of purposes.

I’m thankful for the way that Deuteronomy 8:2-3 enables us to break through the fog and see a glimpse of God’s good purposes. It says, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”

Notice the three good purposes that God served Israel in their difficult place:

1. Her eradicated their pride: “to humble thee…”
2. He revealed their motives: “to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart…”
3. He showed them the sufficiency of Scripture: “man doth not live by bread only, but by every word…”

Please don’t forget that God can make the worst of YOUR places to serve the best of purposes.