Proverbs
8:35 (NLT)
For
whoever finds me [Wisdom] finds life and receives favor from the LORD.
Develop
your faith in the area of God’s favor; live expecting it all the
time. Pray for favor. Trust God to open the right doors and to
close the wrong ones. Ask the Lord for “divine connections” and
friendships that are right for you. Confess that you have favor with
God and He gives you favor with humankind. (Power Thoughts
Devotional by Joyce Meyer, page 360).
When
we review the comments of Joyce Meyer above our first reaction might
be to wince at an egregiously crass posture of materialistic,
prosperity religion. God will grant me the “right connections”
and I will become rich, powerful, and famous. Well the quick
antidote to this trend of thought is that the very Son of God was
tormented by critics and detractors and was eventually
crucified—these were the plush doors God opened for his Son some
2000 years ago.
Yet,
I find Joyce Meyer’s thought very appealing and essentially
correct. I think it is highly probable that significant achievers
even when nonbelievers have an attitude and approach that in
substance amount to Joyce’s synopsis—“Trust God to open the
right doors and to close the wrong ones. Ask the Lord for ‘divine
connections’ and friendship that are right for you.” I think
successful people tend to behave in this way attributing it to faith
(believers) or a transformative momentum (nonbelievers).
Now
let’s look at the final statement in the quote of Joyce Meyer:
“Confess that you have favor with God and He gives you favor with
humankind.” This asserts that the favor of God will give you favor
with humankind—it does not say with this swath of humanity but not
the other—it says flat-out humankind. We must understand that
Jesus did not nor does not meet this standard. He is still widely
rejected by men; which is another way of saying that human perception
sometimes has proven impervious to his proffered salvation. Yet we
have the hope of his return when perceptions will be amenable to
God’s light and love. Then, indeed, we will say with Isaiah
(60:2-3 NLT):
Darkness
as black as night covers all the nations of the earth,
but
the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you.
All
nations will come to your light;
mighty
kings will come to see your radiance.
Print Page
