HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div
And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Genesis 20:6
Every man longs for an opportunity to do something to assist and help the community, to put bread on the table for the family. You ask at times and there are others that receive it by merit. Either way, it is an opportunity to serve for the good of the people. Just do not use the occasion for malicious purpose and to try to bring reproach or shame to the Name of God our Father.
As we review our lives, we can see many occasions on which our feet had well-nigh gone – our steps were on the very brink of the precipice. Another inch and we should have brought shame on Christ and lasting remorse to ourselves. To what can we attribute our escape but to the grace of God, which withheld us, even though we failed to recognize it?
He does not withhold us from temptation. He could not do so without serious and permanent loss. The waves of ink will surge up against the white marble palace of the soul. To us, as to our Lord, fresh from under the opened heavens, the tempter will come. What the fire is in fixing the colour on the porcelain vase, that temptation is in rendering permanent the lessons and impressions made by God’s providence and grace.
He does not withhold us from occasions in which it would be easy to transgress. Abimelech was not hindered from taking Sarah into his palace. The door of occasion and opportunity stood open before him, but he was withheld from the fatal act. We must never infer that occasion confers license. The fact of an opportunity being present does not warrant indulgence in wrongdoing.
If God withheld Abimelech, who did not seek His special help, how much more those that seek Him! You are not insensible of the perils of your life but wait earnestly and persistently on God. Are you more eager to be kept than He to keep? Did He not implant that desire? Will He not do exceeding abundantly above what we ask or think? Is not the good Shepherd strong enough to keep one poor trembling sheep? Begone, unbelief! My God whom I serve is able to deliver, and He will! (Daniel 3:17).
So many take the opportunity given to you to do injustice to the same hand that was laid on your head in consecration and ordination. You sometimes forgot the circumstances that brought you to the current place. You forgot the lane you were in and is moving wild across the highway. God will bring all that into judgement on that great day. It is time to get back to the place where you said “yes Lord” and make amends by turning to God for re-direction.
