My Purpose Will Stand

The Lord God makes things happen, which we do not wish to happen, but because of His greatness a lot of things occur in His way. Isaiah 46:10-11: “I say, My purpose will stand and I will do all that I please. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.”

A lot of people often start to wonder, ‘why did this happen to me? Why me?’ The Bible clearly shows that God always does what He pleases. When the time comes for God to answer our prayers, He surely does. (Isaiah 49:8) “In the time of my favour I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you.” God declares that what He has planned will surely happen and His purpose surely will stand. “Surely, as I have planned so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand” (Isa.14:24). In Isaiah 55:11 the Lord tells us that His purpose will always be fulfilled. “So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

God made his purpose stand, when He allowed satan to tempt Job. Now in God’s purpose, there are many things that happen in our lives that we do not wish for, but because God has a purpose for them, these things surely take place. Job 1:8-12: “Then the Lord said to satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no-one on earth like him, he is blameless and upright – a man who fears God and shuns evil.’ ‘Does Job fear God for nothing?’ Satan replied. ‘Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has and he will surely curse you to your face.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well then, everything he has is in your hands but on the man himself do not lay a finger.’”

We see that God wanted Job to show his commitment to him, and by so doing He allowed Satan to lay his hands on the things that Job had. By this God wanted to show that although bad things can happen to us, these are in God’s purpose to test our faith in Him. Job 2:9-10: “His wife said to him, ‘Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die.’ He replied, ‘You are talking like a foolish woman; shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” So although Job went through a hard time, he never looked back to curse God, but we read about him asking God: (Job 10:1-3) “I loathe my very life, therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me, but tell me what charges you have against me. Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?’”

Job really went through a hard time, but because he knew that what God was doing for him was for a purpose, he held on to his integrity. Job 27:2-6: “As surely as God lives who has denied me justice, the Almighty who has made me taste bitterness of soul, as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will not speak wickedness and my tongue will utter no deceit. I will never admit you (his ‘friends’) are in the right till I die, I will not deny my integrity. I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it, my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.”

Surely God’s purpose stands whatever the situation might be: Job 42:2 –“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.”

Bro. Richard Phiri (Johannesburg, South Africa)