The Exceeding, Great Reward

We are like grass that withers, and all we have is God. All we have to keep is the eternal King, the greatest gift imaginable. Actually, we cannot even image or understand what we truly hold in our bodies, the risen life of Christ, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has made our feeble tents, His Holy of Holies.  Oh that we could more deeply grasp the greatest treasure we already have. If we could only grasp that we already have the greatest thing possible; and that nothing we desire could ever compare to what we already have.

This knowledge is too high for us, overwhelmingly good. All of Heaven’s love and resources are gifted to us by inheritance through Christ. Every spiritual comfort and strength is offered to us if we should desire it. The life of Christ in us is vivid and powerful. Lord, grant us Your wisdom to wield this beauty and eternal power that you have granted us, your soldiers. What an ally; surely the Christian is undefeatable. God has won our every battle already. If we should only stick with Christ, we walk in constant victories and in His security. “…I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”- Genesis 15:1

Today, during devotions at Bible College Germany, we were speaking about the greatest things God has revealed to us. We also talked about the ways satan distorts the image of God to us, so that we may believe wrong things about Him and get discouraged. Truly satan is the master at deception and totally a liar. One person shared about how satan always likes to attack the idea that God is good. He wants us to believe that God is not always good and to doubt the incredible truth that God is always great and good to us. God does want to bless us, and He can only do what is the best for us. We can always trust in God’s perfect goodness, exceeding kindness, and love for our lives.

Once, after a crushing blow that I experienced, Satan asked me this infamous doubt, “Is God still good?”  By God’s amazing grace, I said yes.  I just believed that God was still was good though I didn’t understand in that moment.  I have doubted God’s goodness other times however, but God set out to reveal to me the steady truth again and again, ever more lovingly and gloriously than before.

The greatest revelation that God has given me is that He is good.  It seems totally paradoxical and even I am surprised that it turned out this way, because from no earthly stand point would anyone say that God is good, having seen my life the last three years.  Perhaps they would say that God was good before three years ago happened, when I was still somebody, when I was smart,  had a great “future,” and great in the eyes of others. And then God made me nothing, yet now I am free to know that He is good more than I could ever have understood before.

We often think of God as being good when good things happen to us: like “blessings.” We people get married and have babies, when there is lots of work and sunny skies. Then people say, God is very good to us. But how many people would say that God is very good when all has gone the opposite. What about when you are like Job. Not that I know anyone personally who has suffered like Job, but I have heard similar stories of past characters, and I have suffered enough myself to get a glimpse and scarring taste of what it is like.

Job lost earthly things. He lost basically everything, except his wife. We just read about his losses all grouped together and almost casually pass over them. But, if you really thought about how he had a relationship with each precious child lost, and a life with them filled with years of memories that won’t ever go away… the losses he experienced could have literally killed any other person of grief. And satan of course comes around to question God’s goodness in Job’s life.

But what if God is actually the best to you when you lose everything… What if He actually shows you favor in allowing suffering….

Bear with me in this and see for yourself if it makes sense to you. We are made really for eternity and not for this life alone. We will not keep any earthly thing forever whether we lose it now or when we die. And the highest, best thing for our lives is Jesus. So what if God is being the best “good” to you when you suffer the loss of earthly things?  And here is what I believe has been God’s greatest revelation to me.

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ”- Philippians 3:8.

 I used to stand on many things to give me purpose, value, and confidence. Some of those things were idols, including myself. One, by one, the Lord stripped these false foundations from under me. It was painful and sometimes embarrassing (I just embarrassed myself though, not God). It would be easy to think that God is not good during the loss earthly things, because sometimes you will lose very good earthly things that are not necessarily evil at all, but that may be keeping you from the best thing. God is the all-consuming fire. He was faithful and exceeding good to keep this promise to me, and to consume with fire anything in the way of Him completely being master of my life. 

This was the theme verse of my last semester of Bible College: “…Do not be afraid Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”- Genesis 15:1.

When everything else is a reward to you (such as your intelligence, fame, accomplishments, glory in good works, being seen and appreciated…), it is hard for Jesus, just Himself, to be your exceeding, great reward. But when earthly idols and foundations are removed, you are free to experience the greatest gift that you had all along. I always had Jesus since being saved, I just didn’t know Him or experience Him fully as truly being my exceeding, great reward. Jesus was always added to things.  He supplemented my life; or I was in it, honestly, for mostly His good gifts to me and His plan for my life. But would I be in it just for Jesus?

Would you still be in it, just for Jesus? If all was removed and there was no promise of future earthly goods and comforts in this life, would you still be in this race just because you loved God? 

God is the best gift you could ever have. He is the greatest treasure and friend in the universe. He is the ultimate good thing. So whenever the devil tempts you to question if God is still good after you have suffered a loss or a disappointment, you can say, yes. God is even more  good to me now, because I will always have Jesus. He is the best good, and now I will experience even more of Him and all His precious life in me.It is the best good to experience how sufficient and eternally satisfying God himself is. God is enough for us. And though we wither away like grass and our life passes like a vapor, we get to keep and to know Jesus forever.