Eze. 38:23

23 Thus will I magnify [gadal] myself, and sanctify [qadash] myself; and I will be known [yada`] in the eyes [`ayin] of many [rab] nations [gowy], and they shall know [yada`] that I am the LORD [Yahovah]. KJV-Interlinear

23 And I shall magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD. ' NASB

There is but one perfection in this entire universe and that is God. People can easily look around and see that humanity, and life in this world, is far from perfect. Certainly none of us can look into the mirror, objectively, and see perfection.

With birth and death, crime and differences of opinion surrounding us everyday, with television sending us an endless daily barrage of marketing and media information, expressing competitive opinions and products, it should be obvious that nothing in this life is perfect. Nor does anything last forever.

There will always be an opposing opinion. There will always be a better product. Things will always break. Problems of one type or another will always arise. There will always be a beginning and an end to things and activities in our life, including life itself.

Death is the ultimate reality for us all.

So, how do people deal with it all? Well, most of what we see in life happens to someone else. It happens on the other side of the city, the other side of the country, the other side of the world. And, unless something happens directly to us, then that observed reality, of others, somehow just doesn t seem that real.

So, we live our life in a bit of a fog, shielded from the realities of life. Our fog is formed within our own soul and is formed by our rejection, or at least our refusal or reluctance, to take life seriously. And by seriously, I mean the spiritual aspects of life, not the temporal aspects.

Certainly, we all have to deal with employment, bills, and medical problems. We all have to deal with other people, and the bureaucracies of life. We all have to deal with the weather, and other things. This list can continue on forever.

But, the one thing that most people ignore in life, is the spiritual side of their life. It just does not seen that real. Probably because it is not of this world, but of the spiritual realm. And the spiritual realm cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard, or smelled. There is no way that we can perceive, measure, or detect the spiritual realm.

And, when we encounter those holy rollers who are trying to get the ghost, and they are acting out in some fashion so as to impress others, and when we try to get that same emotional high, and it just doesn t work, then we become skeptical about all of this Bible stuff.

Furthermore, when we encounter people, and see all of the hypocrisy, and all of the misconceptions that we generally get, then we become even more skeptical.

We tend to float off into our own realm of beliefs and place all of this Bible stuff on the back burner. We reason that what we do is acceptable so long as it does not cause harm to anyone. And that, is the beginning of our doom. We turn to our self for reason, rather than to the Bible.

So, God has a way of dealing with us all. He brings problems into our lives. We face storms. We experience difficulties. We see others engulfed in disasters. We have to deal with people and bureaucracies.

And, through all of this, God points out to us, clearly, that we are small in this existence and that we need something more in our life in order to survive life.

Now here is the point that we are driving toward. Some people need very little incentive in order to get their spiritual life in order, and some people need a great deal of incentive.

Everyone will face difficulties in life. Everyone will face unreasonable even undeserved difficulties in life. The real test is, just how are you going to react to those difficulties? Will you fall back in your mind and do what Christ would have done? Just ignore your losses and move on, because there is a greater purpose in life?

Or, will you get angry and get even? This is what most people do.

Every difficulty that you will face in life is for a reason, and that reason is to train you to look at life through Gods eyes, rather than through your own. In fact, you could say that about every experience you will ever have in life.

For those who refuse to follow this advice, then God permits greater and greater difficulties to enter into their life. Realize that most of us will live to an average age of seventy or eighty years. We will not have problems everyday of our life. We will have a mixture of blessings intermixed with problems.

Sometimes the blessings are of a small nature, and sometimes they are great. So to with the problems in life. Sometimes they will be small problems and sometimes they will be great.

God gives us all every bit or reasonable slack in the rope of life, so that we can learn, connect the dots, and get with our spiritual growth program. That program which we call our daily Bible study.

Your objective? To recognize God in your life.

God magnifies Himself, sanctifies Himself, makes Himself known in all things in life. Will you ever learn this principle?

Gen. 19:24-25

24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven,

25 and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. NASB

Ex. 7:2

2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. NASB

Josh. 10:11

11 And it came about as they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, that the LORD threw large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword. NASB

These are but a few verses in which God impresses in the minds of people and nations, that it is He, who controls history. It is He, who is great, and powerful, and gracious. It is He, who will swing the hammer of justice when there are those who ignore it.

God gives all people many opportunities to make their choices in life, and to establish their life style pattern. When people choose the wrong patterns of life, then God introduces difficulties that should make it very clear that they need to make a change. Continued stubbornness will bring more difficulties, and more difficulties. You and I cannot see the difficulties, or lack of them, that people experience within their own thinking, so we cannot judge them by their outer life style.

Eventually, God will bring the hammer of justice down on those who remain defiant.

We all have a purpose in life. We may be bad people and God may keep us alive until we have our children and raise them up, because they might become interested in doctrine, or they might just be another link in the progeny chain to yet future unborn children who will have a positive attitude toward God.

Or, perhaps God keeps you alive because you own a business and provide jobs for others who need them. Or, perhaps God keeps you alive so that others can see the example of your life and they can learn from your example. Whatever the reason for your life font, only God knows what it is. You and I may never know why we are kept here on this earth for such a short, or long period of time.

But, no matter. Our objective should be to learn Gods word and to grow up in our spiritual life. What happens in the world, will happen. Over that, we will have no control.

People will come and people will go. Nations will come and nations will go. Sooner or later, God will bring all of history to an end, and then He will introduce us all to eternity. That is when our real life begins. We should all want to make that start, the best possible start for ourselves, because it will last a very long time.

Before you were born into this life, you had no say as to the details and circumstances of your life. But, as for the next life, you have tremendous opportunities to define the circumstances of that life. And, it all begins with a daily commitment to your Bible study. You can do it the easy way, or you can take the hard path through life. You always have that choice.

Now is the time to post a prayer.