Ecclesiastes 7:10
Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.

Sorry I haven't updated the website recently. I haven't been feeling particularly spiritual lately. On Thursday I had started looking back on my life, questioning in my mind why some things hadn't worked out like I had expected them to, and wondering why former days seemed a lot better than the way things are now. I was thinking of the time when there were a lot more people in our assembly, and how things weren't so much of a struggle then as they are now. I remembered some of the children that have come through the Sunday School in past years, and the great times we had with them. I started to look at what others were doing, how they were having great success in witnessing to others about the Lord, and how they had lots of friends to hang about with. And I started wondering why I haven't been much of a success at doing anything for God. My meditation was slowly turning into despair. I felt empty inside, without motivation. I still feel a little bit like that, and I have felt like that for the past few weeks on and off. But I realized something this morning. You just can't look at things like that. God has a unique plan for each one of us, and if we are trusting in Him to guide us in our lives, then we have to believe that He has us exactly where He wants us to be. If we don't believe that, then we are doubting God's Word.

Paul said in Philippeans 3:13-14, "this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus". Sometimes we need to forget about our past, and forget about the "raw deal" that life has given us. If anybody had raw deals to complain about, it was Paul. Look at the number of things He suffered for Jesus Christ. 2nd Corinthians 11:23-27, "in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness". We may not be asked to suffer in the manner Paul did, but our attitude ought to be the same. Our lives mightn't be what we had hoped they would be. So what? God doesn't ask for ability, all He asks for is availability. And He doesn't demand success, all He requires is faithfulness. As Solomon said, don't ask yourself why former days were better than these. So I hope that I will stop fretting about what might have been, and not worry about future success or failure, but just press on for the Lord in whatever He would have me to do, until He come. Amen.