WEEK 8

P r ay e r

“Never Out of Tune” Lord, I confess that I often place more value in my desires than in Your purpose. Help me to
see Your hand in my distress as well as my deliverance, and to trust that You know what You’re
by Ron Mathieu doing, in Christ’s name I pray, Amen.

Memory Verse: Romans 8:28

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according
to his purpose.”

For many years my understanding of this verse was that even in the midst of crisis or struggle, T u e s d ay
God works everything out.

But over the years I’ve come to a deeper insight: that this assurance is conditional; we must
love God and be called according to His purpose for all things to work together for His good.
It requires movement on our part. When we love God, we automatically are in tune with the
purpose for which we were created (to love Him), and accordingly resonate with His eternal
plan that stretches back to creation and forward into eternity.

The tuning/resonance metaphor helps me comprehend this mystery. My guitar’s natural state W e d n e s d ay
is to go out of tune. I can play a sharp or flat note that can be harsh to the ear. But in the hands
of a master musician, the strings can be stretched to harmonious tension, and discordant
notes can be arranged in beautiful, melodic unity that is not apparent in isolation.

Similarly, because of our sinful nature we seem to easily slide out of harmony with what God
wants for us, and isolated crises make it hard to perceive God’s hand in our circumstances. The
cross became God’s eternal tuning peg, and the way He realigned our discordant sinful lives
into beautiful harmony. The only requirement to become part of this symphony is to love the
Master Musician. He will take care of the rest. T h u r s d ay

This is blessed assurance, and it’s also an incredible inter-connector of all personal, global, and
cosmic history. When we make a decision to love God, and in that light connect the dots of
Old and New Testament with our current times and lives, they form the unmistakable shape of
God’s hand!

In acknowledging that God is the Creator of the symphony, I have come to the conclusion
that it’s better that things work out according to His purpose than to my desires. I realize that
things that don’t please me can benefit me, and even have an eternal effect on someone long F r i d ay
removed from my time or consciousness. It mysteriously connects my failure to become a
college professor with someone who comes to know Jesus Christ through First Prez long after
I have passed from this life!

Take the time to examine the threads of your life, and I think you’ll find they often contribute
to a tapestry of a much grander design.
 

Under Armor For All Believers