Before we came into existence, God had a plan.
Before God fashioned us in the womb, our carefully crafted hearts were already spoken for.
Before The Fall navigated the terms of humanity for death and separation, God had a plan for life and reconciliation.
Before sin's ensuing plan of shame, guilt and destruction; God purposed to restore our lost relationship, communion and fellowship with Him.
This plan is The Why - that eternal life is found in nothing and no other than Jesus Christ through His shed blood, death and resurrection. In Christ, death is not the end, but our hope for eternity now and forever is secured.
The Why is that God loves the world so much that He allows His Son to die a painful death for our sins, so we can be saved.
The WHY is that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone through repentence alone!
The Why is what Christ has done and what He continues to do because of Sonship.
The Why shows us that nothing else will satisfy the longings of our hearts other than the deep unfailing love of God.
This is the WHY that never changes.
The WHY is how the heroes and remnants of old sought the face of God and found favour. In His presence, their names and identities were changed and their hearts were transformed so that their lives would lay the foundations of our inheritance. These encounters of our forebears still shape the pillars of our faith with internationality. Upon these scriptures we meditate to build and restore our lives.
The WHY teaches us that all things were created by Him, for Him and for His pleasure and that we can only function in this frame. God would be our God and we would be His people and we would dwell with Him forever!
The WHY reveals the mystery of the gospel; simplistic in its message and yet the most powerful and transformative of all to the human soul.
In the WHY, God first pulls us from our SELF to Himself. Through His Spirit we draw from the deep wells of His salvation to be refreshed daily. Our vessels are filled in preparation for what He has already planned for us to do.
In the WHY we see that God is Sovereign! He alone is Holy and worthy to receive glory, honour and power. Yet, His love for us compels Him to condescend and to call us His friends. Sobered by this divine love we are moved to worship Him in the beauty of holiness.
In the WHY we seek God because of WHO He is instead of what He does. We understand that He is the ultimate gift and our greatest reward.
In the WHY we know that this plan is to prosper us and not to harm us; to give us a hope and a future and He holds the keys to our promised inheritance.
In the WHY we walk by faith and not by sight, not always knowing how but we put hope against hope that because He has promised it will come to pass.
In the WHY we set the WORD of God always before us. We taste and we see that the Lord is good. Day by day we enjoy the sweet honeycomb of His very obvious yet unconscious presence.
In the WHY, the unknown becomes known as we are touched by God's manifest presence. As we wait in anticipation, hearing Him through His WORD, our soul's ears are captivated; the eyes of our hearts are enlightened and we long to know him better.
In the WHY we realise our poverty in spirit and we hunger and thirst for His righteousness and are filled.
In the WHY we see the futility of the pursuit of idols and gods which neither speak nor save. We toil and strive for them to no avail. Those who discern in time swiftly recalibrate and re-align with Our First Love before we reach the point of no return.
The WHY demonstrates that God’s standards are at odds with culture and the systems of this world. And staying silent about what we know to be true is not an option.
In the WHY we keep His commands and abide in His unfailing love. We grow more deeply in our capacity to love because He first loved us.
In the WHY we seek Him, finding him when we seek Him with all of our hearts. God tabernacles with us. We recall His faithfulness and our past testimonies encourage us to trust that He is still moving, even in the stillness.
In the WHY we understand the cost of eternity past, and we are emboldened to 'GO!’ at His command, desiring for every soul to come to the Lord's saving grace.
The WHY is the reason we are created. We long to see His glory; to know Him and to make Him known. We are guided by the Holy Spirit in the way He chooses to use the vessels of our lives to bring Him honour.
The WHY is to live fully aware that our salvation draws much nearer than when we first believed.
In this season of God's revelation, we are to choose the better thing - a refocus on the WHY.
Inspired by various texts throughout scripture.
Afua Richardson-Parry 26/12/23
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