Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Heaven's Balanced Books - #5398

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

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When there's a string of corporate meltdowns, Wall Street gets a very bad case of the jitters. The sudden discovery that a major company we thought was doing well is actually in big trouble doesn't exactly inspire investor confidence. In some cases, some unusually "creative accounting" can conceal how bad things really are for some time. Of course, the fundamentals of financial viability never really change. Your outgo and your income, your losses and your gains have to at least balance, and it's management's job to, of course, be sure that they do.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Heaven's Balanced Books."

When you open your heart to Jesus Christ, it would be appropriate to hang a sign that says, "Under New Management." You step down and the One who should have been your Chief Executive Officer all along takes charge. And you can be sure He's committed to balancing the books in your life, keeping a loving balance between gains and losses.

In the midst of horrendous personal losses, Job was still able to see this balancing work of God in his life. In Job 1:21 , our word for today from the Word of God, he says, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." Later, Job would have this balancing work of God more than proved when, as the Bible says, "the Lord...gave him twice as much as he had before...the Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first" (Job 42:10-12 ).

In God's deep love and infinite wisdom, He knows that we just can't stand to have all blessings or all burdens, all happiness or all heartaches. That may be why the writer of Proverbs 30 says, "Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you...or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God" (Proverbs 30:8-9 ). Solomon assures us that, in God's great management of our life, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven ... a time to tear down and a time to build ... a time to weep and a time to laugh" (Ecclesiastes 3:1 , 3-4).

Maybe right now you are particularly focused on a lot of bad news, some losses you're experiencing. This might be a good time to step back and look at the big picture of what heaven's CEO is doing in your life. It's time to review the blessings that are there side-by-side with the burdens. God has this incredible way of knowing just how much loss you can handle and how to balance that with some good news, and how much victory you can handle and how to balance that with some struggle.

This loving God, who knows exactly what you need and when you need it, is working this very day on His gracious, life-building balance. At any given moment, you will have something discouraging, but always something encouraging to offset it and make it bearable. At any given moment, you will have some wonderful answered prayers and some yet-to-be-answered prayers. You can be sure that until the day you see Jesus, you will always - I mean, always - have plenty to thank Him for and plenty to trust Him for. That's how spiritual babies become spiritual adults. That's how spiritual wimps become spiritual warriors.

Don't miss the good things God is doing because you're nearsightedly focusing on the hard things. You have a Savior who is always balancing the gains and the losses to make your life more profitable than you could ever imagine.