"Witness Providence"

"But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed." (Psalms 89:38)
Yesterday, as I anticipated these next thirteen verses and what they might be dealing with, I prayed that God would speak into my heart something to put everything into proper perspective; God is always faithful in answer! It was Dr. Jeffress who opened my mind to understanding, and he used a simple story about his mother baking cakes. To set it up, Romans 8:28 was the Scripture and the topic of discussion, which says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, and to them who are the called according to his purpose." In his story, Dr. Jeffress explained how his mother would lay out all the ingredients for her cake prior to mixing them all together. This is not uncommon, I do the same thing when I am getting ready to assemble something I am getting ready to cook. But in this story, Dr. Jeffress explained how one day he had decided to try each of the ingredients by themselves, in order to see how they might taste. Together all the ingredients in the proper order, measurement, and preparation, created something that was enjoyable and good; but by themselves, those ingredients were bitter, unpleasant, and even downright terrible. Have you ever tried a spoon full of baking powder? Yes, it almost taste like something you could use for cleaning a toilet bowl. But without that single ingredient, the cake would not be the same. So to with God's providence upon our lives; some of those experiences are downright terrible to go through, some are things that might seem so bitter and by themselves are really hard to see how they could possibly make anything good. But the Bible does not say everything is good or pleasant, because we know from experience that they are not; but together, in their proper order and measurement, God's divine ingredients create something prefect, which might not even be for our own enjoyment. There is a part we sometimes can't quite come to terms with, our suffering might not actually work towards our good, at least not in this lifetime. But the one thing we can be absolutely sure of, God's plan is to bake something good, because just like James said, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." You take a closer look at the meaning of Romans 8:28, and you just might find a three letter word for excellent, it's the word "the," as in "the called." We are not only called, but we are called for a very specific purpose; just a dash of this, or a spoonful of that, it all comes together for something spectacular and special; something baked for a very special occasion...
""Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, the man who is my partner," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. "Strike down the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn against the lambs. Two-thirds of the people in the land will be cut off and die," says the LORD. "But one-third will be left in the land. I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'These are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'"" (Zechariah 13:7-9) NLT