GOD’S RESUME
Psalm 145:1-21
What is the one thing a great
majority of us have done to tell someone else about who we are? The
Answer...............A
RESUME! Resumes
are very important especially if you’re applying for a job. Resumes
give information about the character of an individual. Resumes
help the employer to make the right decisions when it comes to hiring the best
person for the job. Resumes
are like a short biography of your life experiences and abilities. What I’m trying to get at
is..........
when I read this Psalm I see something amazing about the faithfulness and
providence of God. I see God’s awesome resume.
Just from this Psalm alone we
see that God is:
Great
in every way (v1)
Commendable
in all that He does (v1)
Consecrated
and worthy of honor(v2)
Unsearchable
because He is so big(v3)
Magnificent
in His character (v5)
Awesome
(v6)
Blameless
in all His doings(v7)
Graceful
and compassionate to all(v8)
Calm
and collective when dealing with His creation (v8)
Considerate
to those who call upon His name(v9)
Mighty
an powerful to get the job done (v11-v12)
Strong
tower for our souls(v14)
Sufficient
for all our needs (v16)
Omniscient
in every way (v18)
Preserves
the faithful with His faithfulness (v20-v21)
That’s an awesome resume
would you say? Now look at your resume! How
does your resume stand it comparison to God’s awesome resume? Let’s
be honest! Not to good right! So let me ask you this
question! Who
are you going to put your trust in then? Yourself or God? Because
God, is............ great, abounding, glorious, perfect, strong, mighty,
satisfying and most of all faithful in all His doings. You and I on the other hand
are prone to.........
doubt, worry, panic, become bitter, resentful, and forgetful, lazy, and lack
patience to name a few. Sadly
though, all these character traits ultimately lead to a lack of faith which always gives birth to SIN. A
lack of faith will always bring us to a place that we doubt God’s awesome
resume. Take the disciples for
example! The
disciples are in a boat in the middle of a storm........Jesus is sleeping in
the boat He is tired from all the miracles and ministering that He has been
doing. What
did the men say to Jesus in the boat “Lord,
save us! We are perishing.” (Matt 8:25). What
was Jesus’ response after waking Him up from probably a good sleep? “Why are you
fearful, O you of little faith.” (v26) There was another time
shortly after this incident that the disciples were in a very similar pickle,
found in Matt 14:25-33. The
only difference is that the disciples are without Jesus this time! They
just finished witnessing one of the greatest miracles ever! The feeding the
five thousand. Jesus
told them to get into the boat and cross the Sea of Galilee. Again, they are in a storm
that could end their discipleship program with Jesus. They
see Jesus walking on the water and Peter cries out “Lord, if it’s You command me to come to You” so what’s Jesus response? “Come” (v29) But what happens? Peter see’s the
waves crashing around him and he begins to sink and cries out “Lord save me” (v30) Again
Jesus to the rescue and these are the words that followed as Jesus helped him
back into the boat “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (v31)
A
lack of faith will always give birth to doubt and SIN!
John MacArthur
said “For some reason, we think of doubt and worry as "small" sins.
But when a Christian displays unbelief...or an inability to cope with life, he
is saying to the world, "My God cannot be trusted," and that kind of
disrespect makes one guilty of a fundamental error, the heinous sin of
dishonouring God. That is no small sin.”
What
did the Hebrew writer pen? “And
without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw
near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek
him.”
Heb 11:6. See, faithfulness in God’s
resume will always lead to
joy.....peace......understanding and perseverance. Take the resume of godly a
man named George Mueller, a missionary who lived by one thing.......faith! He
and his best friend, Henry Craik, founded the Scriptural Knowledge Institution
in Bristol, England, with one of their prime objectives being to establish
Orphan Homes for the many homeless children in Great Britain. Mueller
and Craik had no money, nor did they intend to ask anyone for it: they believed
that God would provide everything they needed - without patronage, without
requests for contributions and without debts. All they had to do was pray, and
God would provide. For 64 years, that was how George Mueller operated. In that
course of time, he built The Orphanage campus at Ashley Down, where he cared
for and educated over 18,000 children; educated over 100,000 more in other
schools at the Orphanage's expense; distributed hundreds of thousands of Bibles
and tens of millions of religious tracts; supported about 150 missionaries;
travelled over 200,000 miles as a missionary himself; and shared the Gospel
with over 3 million people around the world. And in all that time, he never
asked for one penny from anyone, his children never missed a meal, and he never
had a debt.
Once,
when there was no food to give the children and it was almost lunch time, one
of Mueller's assistants came to him, worried. Mueller said, "It's not
twelve o'clock yet." Just then, a truck pulled up to the orphanage loaded
with food from an unsolicited donor. Often, Mueller had no idea where their
next meal was coming from: he just trusted God's promises. Another time, when
Mueller was onboard a ship that was lost in fog, he comforted the anxious
captain by saying, "My eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the
living God, who controls every circumstance of my life." They came out of
the fog, and that captain later gave his life to Christ.
George Mueller was totally
dependent on God. That was how he wanted it. He wanted people to see that God
was faithful and could be trusted. He once said, "I have joyfully
dedicated my whole life to the object of exemplifying how much may be
accomplished by prayer and faith." His life certainly exemplified that.
He wrote "There was a
day when I died, utterly died: died to George Mueller, his opinions,
preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval; died to the
approval or blame even of my brethren and friends. And since then, I have
studied only to show myself 'approved unto God.'" GOD IS AWESOME! God
is so awesome.......He faithful not only in the big things but also in the
little things of life! God
is so awesome.......He greatly concerned and involved in your life whether you
believe it or not.
I remember a time when our
pastor back in Ontario told my wife and me the story while he was at Dallas
Theological Seminary as we were preparing to leave for ministry. There
was time when he and his wife had nothing to eat! They lived in a small one
bedroom apartment. The only thing they had was a couple pieces of bread and a
bottle of ketchup left in the cupboards! But they accepted their present
circumstance.........Allen, was about to pray and give thanks when all of a
sudden there was a knock at the door! His next door neighbour had this massive
plate of spaghetti asked if they could use this because they were invited out
for dinner by visiting friends. They gladly accepted the gift; sat down and
gave thanks to God for His faithfulness by providing for a need [not a want].
This is why God’s resume is
so awesome! He is always faithful and worthy to trusted at all times
Whether
your life is tough right now
Whether
you lost a loved one naturally or tragically.
Whether
you are battling cancer or another life threatening illness
Whether
you’re out of work and see no hope for the future.
Whether
you finances do not equal out according to you.
Whether
your marriage is on the rocks and it seems like divorce is around the corner.
Whether
your child has gone astray and living with the pigs.
Whether
your husband or wife have lost their fire for Christ.
Whether
your life seems to be a living train wreck that seems impossible to recover.
Whether
you feel alone and god seems distant.................................God is faithful
Look at some the wonderful
examples we find in the Scriptures!
Job
the oldest letter in the bible..... Job said “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the
LORD.” Job 1:21
Abraham when
he said “God will provide for Himself the
lamb for a burnt offering” Gen 22:8
Joseph “you meant it for
evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is
this day, to save many people alive.” Gen 50:20
David
from what we read in this Psalm
Elijah
a man of faithful prayer
Habakkuk
“the just shall live by faith” Hab
2:4
The Centurion and his ill servant......”Jesus
said “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” Luke 7:9
The blind man from birth “Jesus said...Do
you believe in the Son of God? He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I
may believe in Him?” And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is
He who is talking with you.” Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshipped
Him.”
John 9:35-38
The
apostle Paul
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is
no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in
the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me.” Gal 2:20
You and I when He grabbed a
hold of our lives through His wonderful grace found in His salvation. Faithfulness will always
bring about
contentment and joy even in the midst of struggle....even in the midst of
sorrow.....even in the midst of suffering. As
David says in (v14-
v16) It’s a faithfulness in His resume because He is Great and
worthy of praise. Great
is the Lord.........there are no mistakes to God’s providential plan when it
comes to His sanctified children. He
is so faithful He cares for you! Remember what Jesus said to His disciples? Let
this not be true with us here today or the next. Jesus said to His disciples in the Gospel of
Matthew something profound and a truth that we can hold on to even in a time
like this. (
Turn to Matthew’s gospel chapter 6:25-33)
So let me ask you the hard
question!
DO YOU BELIEVE JESUS? The Christian faith
is an active life that has been transformed by the Gospel which leads to a committed
life unto Jesus Christ by Obedience. The Christian faith isn’t mere
Intellectual exercise that we do from time to time. The
only way to find victory to sin of doubt and lack of faith, is to seek the Lord
and His righteousness, not the worlds or from looking within. James said in his letter “If
any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally (bountifully)
and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5)
This
only comes when God allows trials to come into our lives.
It
only comes through walking by faith.
It
only comes by trusting in who Jesus claimed to be “GOD”
It
only comes by seeking His Word for answers, not the world.
It
only comes when we put our trust in His resume.
I like what Hudson Taylor says “I have found
that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is
impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done." As
Jeremiah said “'Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the
earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard
for You. (Jer 32:17). Don’t doubt what you cannot
control! Seek
the Kingdom and not your own understanding. May
we never doubt the sovereign protection of our Lord and God? May
we take this passage of scripture and grow from our mistakes, and learn to
apply the wisdom from this passage to strengthen our faith in the living God.
“The
God who knows you best knows the best for you.” Woodroll Kroll
God is awesome and so is His
resume! He will provide and prevail every time no matter how uncertain your
situation might seem! (v14-v16) But!
It comes down to this one question.........DO
YOU TRUELY BELIEVE HIS RESUME OR DO YOU BELEIVE HE CAN’T BE TRUSTED?
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