The God of Hope & Provision

Dear K,

Thank you for coming by to see me. I think I can help, or rather know that God can, and maybe God will use me to help you.

You know God and know the Scripture, but somehow your knowledge does not get applied in such a way that you are delivered from your obsessive/compulsive life.

Your earthly desire has not been met. It may be the cause or the result of your obsessive/compulsive life. In any case, it has not been a help to you.

You have a lot of "why" questions. They turn out to be accusatory "whys" more than requests for information, explanations, or reasons. If God gave you His information, explanation, or reason, you would not think that it was satisfactory.

As you say, you have good "insight" about your problem. That insight has not been enough, however accurate to give you the will or the power to act on that insight.

• God is the God of hope, not of despair. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 15:13).

• God is the God who overflows in His provision.

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! (Rom. 5:15)

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Cor. 9:8)

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. (2 Pet. 1:3-9)

These statements are objectively true. Your experience is not a means of determining the veracity of the statements.

King David had all kinds of wrong desires and sins. Yet he knew how to repent because he had a great view of God, his own sin, and God’s mercy. He did not minimize any of them.

Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
(Psalm 51:4, 12-13)

One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.
Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
(Psalm 27:4, 10-11, 13)

First, I suggest you meditate on the above scriptures and thank God for them until you believe them in your heart, not just in your head.

If that does not, work then begin by confessing:
• Your desires
• Your “Whys”
• Your despair
• Your conclusions
• Your obsessive/compulsiveness

All of these are sins. By what standard? They are all selfish, and they are not of faith.

"But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). You are certainly sorrowing about these things, but it is the sorrow of the world. There is no virtue in this kind of sorrow. Ask God for Godly sorrow.

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death (2 Cor. 7:10). Remorse is worldly sorrow.

God is greater than our hearts, and He does not condemn. "This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence, whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him" (1 John 3:19-22). This is how you can set your heart at rest in His presence whenever your heart condemns you.

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus... Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us" (Rom. 8:1, 34).

God's solutions are never complicated. They are always simple.

If we were visiting together the above truths, would not be said so abruptly. Please receive them with the love and kindness in which they are given.

With much love in Christ,

Jim Wilson