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God’s favour is always with us, even in the midst of suffering and trial.

These are certainly trying times for the Body of Christ, what with the ongoing restrictions due to the pandemic, and there seeming to be no end in sight, particularly for those of us in New South Wales and Victoria.

In recent times, we’ve also witnessed Western governments reversing centuries of Christian influence in relation to issues concerning the sanctity of life at both ends, and other legislative measures, which all serve to marginalise Christianity.

So doesn’t it seem logical to assume that in these, as well as other issues, God’s favour has been withdrawn? But I would contend that the opposite is true: that God’s favour is not withdrawn, and in fact from the birth of the Church till now, it has never been withdrawn, that circumstances are utterly irrelevant to God’s favour being present and active.

Further, I would contend that unless we are seeing what is happening in the world around us through the lens of God’s favour being a constant, then we will misinterpret what is actually happening, and our response will come from the flesh instead of the spirit.

Prophecies Fulfilled

We see this in Luke 4:18-21, when Jesus reads from Isaiah 61 —

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come.”

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at Him intently. Then He began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” (NLT)

This is what Frank Damazio describes as “when sovereignty and time merged”. And this is what we see time and again in Scripture, as well as in the lives of Christians ever since, who understood how favour operates.

Grace Under Oppression

Here, too, we can even draw a parallel with those Christians who live under extreme persecution, like our brethren in Afghanistan at the moment, as this was the reality for the Jews in Jesus’ day, living as they were under Roman occupation. While the Romans could not possibly be judged as being anywhere near as cruel as the Taliban, nevertheless it was still far more oppressive than anything we’ve ever experienced here.

So here is Jesus telling his own neighbours in His hometown that they are now under God’s favour. But they chose to look at Him through eyes of flesh, and so missed their “time of the Lord’s favour”.

Another who knew that God’s favour wasn’t dependent on circumstances was Paul, who urged the Corinthians not to judge circumstances through the eyes of the flesh in 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 —

And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain — for He says,

“At a favourable time I listened to you,

And on a day of salvation I helped you.”

Behold, now is “a favorable time,” behold, now is “a day of salvation” — giving no reason for taking offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in difficulties, in beatings, in imprisonments, in mob attacks, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, and in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown and yet well known, as dying and yet behold, we are alive; as punished and yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.” (NASB)

Paul, in this litany of his afflictions, contrasts the physical circumstances with his spiritual responses, based on his understanding that, whatever his circumstances, God was with him, and that though he possessed nothing of worth in the flesh, he was “yet possessing all things” where it mattered, therefore he was constantly experiencing God’s favour.

King David

David and Joseph are both wonderful examples of this.

Before David became king of Israel, although he had been anointed as God’s chosen, he was living in exile with a small band of followers in the town of Ziklag, and even there God’s favour seemed to be withdrawn, as we see in 1 Samuel 30:3-6 —

“When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned. Their wives, sons, and daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the men who were with him wept loudly until they could weep no more. David’s two wives had been taken captive — Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the Carmelite, Nabal’s widow. David was very upset, for the men were thinking of stoning him; each man grieved bitterly over his sons and daughters. But David drew strength from the Lord his God.” (NET)

I think that there are very few of us who could honestly claim to have shared in circumstances comparable to David’s. He’s been anointed successor to Saul by Samuel, yet he’s hunted by Saul and in exile, with seemingly no realistic hope of a fulfillment of that prophetic act. And if that wasn’t bad enough, now God has allowed his one place of sanctuary to be destroyed by an even worse enemy, the Amalekites, and everything dear to him is destroyed or taken away.

And David, along with his men, reacts the way any of us would, they all “wept loudly until they could weep no more”. But then contrast their subsequent actions. His men act according to what they see, and they respond in the flesh by threatening to stone David to death, while David, in contrast, seeks the Lord in his spirit, drawing his strength from the Lord.

He subsequently seeks the Lord’s counsel, then goes after the Amalekites, defeats them, taking back not only what he and his men had lost, but all the plunder the Amalekites had previously taken from the Philistines as well!

There’s the favour. This is the reason why David could write in Psalm 30:5 —

“Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.” (NASB)

David clearly understood that God’s plans are deeply laid, and we need to trust completely in the process and His goodness, whatever the circumstances.

Joseph

Possibly the best example of this from Scripture is Joseph, who for me exemplifies the reason why we need to take a long view of every situation we’re in, knowing that God’s plans are deeply laid. Here’s a potted version of the relevant events in Joseph’s life.

He has a prophetic dream from God revealing that he will be in a position of high authority over all those in his family. Yet shortly after, instead of his brothers bowing before him as in the dream, he’s looking up at them from the bottom of a muddy pit! Then they sell him into slavery, and later he’s framed for a crime he didn’t commit and imprisoned. Yet in all of these negative circumstances, Scripture tells us that Joseph found favour.

Years later, he is miraculously released from prison and miraculously elevated to the high position his dream prophesied. When his brothers eventually come down to Egypt, and come and bow before his authority, he reveals his identity to them. What he then says to them tells us all we need to know about trusting in God’s goodness, through times of difficulty and doubt, and His deeply laid plan:

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive.” (Genesis 50:20 NASB)

Trust in God

In Isaiah 46:10 God gives us a description of Himself in relation to time —

“I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say, ‘My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.’”

Therefore, in the words of the American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, we need to “believe what the years and centuries say against the hours”.

And sometimes we only need to believe the days against the hours, just like when Jesus was crucified, and all Hell thought they’d won, and God had lost. And the disciples, too, like David’s mighty men, respond from the flesh and go into hiding.

But we need to remember that it’s often at that moment when evil seems to have won, that God does His greatest work.

And I know there are some who feel that what they’re facing is too much to bear, and that God has failed to come through for them for whatever reason. I know because I’ve been there myself too many times to count. But I’m still standing, and I can testify to God’s goodness and kindness, as well as His deliverance from difficulties and fears. And I know He will keep sending similar opportunities for me to experience, and to attest to, His deeply laid plans until He calls me Home.

So, in relation to the current situation, whether you’re in complete lockdown, and faced with at least another six weeks, as I and so many others are, and whether you actively agree or disagree with the direction our leaders have gone, I believe that our call and our path is clear.

Because we can be sure that God has a deeply laid plan in all of this, and that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 NASB), we need to be focused on what God’s ultimate purpose is in all of this, what He is wanting to bring to pass, and to be like David who “drew strength from the Lord”.

Because, like David, times of trial are actually God’s ways of giving us the opportunity to gain the victory, plunder what the enemy has taken, and like Joseph, to bring us into a place of authority where we can administer God’s grace and comfort to others.

Because this then empowers us to live out our innately positive truths to the world around us, so that when they’re reacting to their circumstances through the eyes of the flesh, “that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9 NASB), the one true antidote to their fleshly vision that can lift the scales off their eyes and allow them to see Him as He truly is.