Friday, October 23, 2015

Nothing is hidden from God

Pam Padgett ... teacher

1Kings 14:1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. 3 And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child. 4 And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.

5 And the Lord said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman.

6 And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.

To the natural mind the true identity of Jeroboam's wife could not be known to Ahijah the prophet, for she had disguised herself and Ahijah could no longer see with his eyes. 

But nothing is hidden from God

Of ourselves we may not see or know the true state of a matter.  But God knows and is able to tell us what we need to know according to HIS purpose. 

Many year ago I rented a room in the house of a woman I met at a church we both attended.  She had been divorced twice and had a young daughter.  When she started looking for another husband, I warned her that she would commit adultery if she re-married, showing her scripture about this.  She said she didn't care what the Bible said, she knew what she believed. 

Matthew 6:32 But I (Jesus) say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Mark 10:11 And he (Jesus) saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

When I later learned she was engaged to marry a man who also attended that church, I warned him and shared scripture with him, as well as the woman who was to be the maid of honor at their wedding ceremony, but the wedding plans continued.

We had all attended the singles group meetings at this church in the past.  At the time of this engagement, however, I had moved farther away and no longer attended those meetings, although I had continued to sit with the singles group during the church services. 

About that time those in the singles group would not sit near me during the church service.  I had no idea why this was happening and asked God if I had done something wrong. 

A few weeks later a woman stopped me after a church service saying she had a message from God for me.  The message was that God knew how I was being treated by those in the singles group and that I needed to know it was because I had done what HE wanted me to do in warning against the marriage of the divorced woman. 

I didn't know why I had become an outcast, and those in the singles group did not say anything to me.  But God knew and chose to reveal this to me. 

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A man I worked with at FedEx lived in Maine.  About once a year he would come to the office where I worked in Colorado Springs to attend meetings in person.  During one of these visits he was showing pictures of the sheep he raises on his land in Maine.  In one picture was a man which he identified as his partner.  I assumed this man was a business partner in his sheep business.

But a few days later the Holy Spirit told me by a thought this was a homosexual partner.   Some time later I heard comments indicating that this was becoming openly known. 

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Recently a dog trainer seemed to show favor to me in telling me she was leaving Petsmart and that I could get a refund for a class I was taking and take the class from another trainer who had left Petsmart a few months ago.   She said she wanted me to know this because she liked me, as though we were friends.

But I was not allowed to be deceived, being reminded (by God) that she had started the conversation by saying she was calling each person in our class with this information.  And I was also reminded of  Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.  (Prov. 31:30)

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Its comforting to me that nothing is hidden from God.  And when we need to know something, HE is able to tell us.