Unmerited Favor (23 page)

As long as a person is occupied with self, that is still pride. Humility then, is being Christ-occupied.

When you look at David’s speech, you will see that he didn’t boast in himself. His boast was not in his prowess and skill with weapons. No, he went to battle “in the name of the Lord of hosts.” David was completely occupied with the Lord, whom he was confident would deliver the nation of Israel. He made no mention of his own abilities. He went on to make this even more explicit when he said to Goliath, “Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for
the battle is the Lord’s
, and He will give you into our hands.”
¹³

I love the spirit of this young man. David knew that the battle was not his but the Lord’s, and that was what gave him such boldness in standing up against Goliath, while the rest of the Israelite army cowered in fear. It is beautiful to see how this young shepherd boy had the wisdom not to touch the Lord’s glory. Even before the battle took place, David declared that victory belonged to Israel and that all credit went to the Lord. It is clear then, that even though David spoke boldly and courageously, he was not arrogant. He didn’t suffer from pride or lack of humility. In fact, his boldness and courage came directly from his humble dependence on the Lord. What a glorious difference between a person who boasts in his own arm of flesh and a person like David, whose boast is in the Lord’s mighty arm to deliver him!

True humility is to be occupied with Christ, and then you will be filled with His boldness and courage to overcome your giant!

My friend, whatever battle you may be in right now, you can trust, as David did, that the battle belongs to the Lord. Whatever your giant may be, be it a marital situation, financial debt, problems at your workplace or a sickness that you are battling with, know this: You may be weak, but
He
is strong. You may be unable, but
He
is more than able! Whatever fight you are facing, the battle belongs to Him. True humility is to be occupied with Christ, and then you will be filled with His boldness and courage to overcome your giant!

Right Place Right Time

Never forget that “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong...but
time and chance happen
to them all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). God wants you to have the right timing— His timing, and nothing is left to chance because you are God’s child. Psalm 37:23 says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” You are that “good man” because you are the righteousness of God in Christ.

Now, look at the word “happen.” In the original Hebrew text, it is the word
qarah
, which means “to encounter, to meet (without pre-arrangement), to chance to be present.”
¹⁴
In a nutshell, it means “right happening.” My friend, you can depend on God to cause you to be at the right place at the right time, to have right happenings happen in your life! I am sure that you would agree that being at the right place at the right time is a tremendous blessing. You certainly don’t want to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. That can lead to disastrous results.

A delay can turn out to be God’s protection from an accident ahead.

But even if you think that you are at the wrong place at the wrong time, such as when you are caught in a traffic jam or when you miss your train, don’t be too agitated. A delay can turn out to be God’s protection from an accident ahead. Sometimes, a delay of just a few seconds can mean the difference between life and death!

In 2001, a brother in my church wrote in to share that his son’s office was in the twin towers in New York. On one particular morning, his son’s alarm clock did not go off and he ended up missing his regular train to work, and was late arriving at work. Had he been on time that morning, he would have been in his office when the planes plowed into the building during the devastating terrorist attacks on September 11.

In 2003, another brother from my church was in Jakarta, Indonesia, for a business trip. He was staying at the Marriott Hotel and he was in the lobby when a bomb went off just outside the hotel. The bomb tore through the lobby and he saw a body flying past him as the deafening blast reverberated all around him.

After the dust had settled, he found blood spattered on him and debris strewn all around, but amazingly, he was completely unhurt. At the very moment when the bomb exploded, he
happened
to walk behind a pillar and it protected him from the impact of the blast. Just think what would have happened to him if he had reached that pillar just a few seconds before or after the bomb went off!

No matter how intelligent you are, how fat your savings account is or how prestigious your family name may be, there is no way you can know beforehand when to position yourself behind a pillar just as a bomb that you are unaware of explodes near you. Only God can put you at the right place at the right time. It was the Lord who placed this brother behind the pillar at the precise moment. His steps were literally ordered by the Lord. All glory to Him! Jesus is our true pillar of protection!

God’s faithfulness in protecting His beloved by putting them at the right place at the right time was demonstrated even more recently. Two massive explosions rocked Jakarta, Indonesia, again on the morning of July 17, 2009, and this time both the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels were targets of terrorist attacks.

A lady from our church was in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton when one of the bombs was detonated in the nearby restaurant where guests were having breakfast. The force of the explosion sent glass shards flying past her, ripping into the flesh of other guests who were standing in front of her. Amazingly, she was completely unharmed!

She shared that she had initially planned to have breakfast at that very restaurant at the time the bomb exploded. That would certainly have put her at the wrong place at the wrong time. If she had done so, she could have been killed by the blast in the restaurant. However, she shared that the reason she missed her usual breakfast time that morning was that she was caught up in reading a few devotional entries from my
Destined To Reign Devotional
and spending time with the Lord in her hotel room. The “delay” she experienced in reading my book kept her away from the restaurant and saved her life! Praise Jesus!

Put your trust in the Lord and believe that He causes all things to work together for good. Being at the right place at the right time is not always about protection from some evil occurrence. Perhaps the Lord wants to connect you with somebody that you have not met in years, and there is just an opportunity of blessing waiting for you.

I don’t know how many times the people in my church just
happened
to bump into old acquaintances or meet new people who later turned out to be a blessing to them. We have had testimonies of supernatural connections that resulted in amazing business opportunities, as well as testimonies from people who had been given job opportunities after bumping into friends whom they had not seen in years.

My friend, nothing happens by chance—the Lord knows how to place you at the right place and the right time! You can depend on Jesus for right happenings. They all come by His unmerited favor and are beyond your ability to get them through careful planning and strategizing. The world says, “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” But you can’t plan for
qarah
. This is evident in the testimonies you have just read about.

Nothing happens by chance—the Lord knows how to place you at the right place and the right time!

Hey, I am not against planning. All I am saying is that you should not be stressed out and uptight when things don’t go as you have planned. Don’t stick so rigidly to your plans that you forget to make room for Jesus’ unmerited favor to flow, protect and position you. In the new covenant of grace, the Bible says that the Lord Himself writes His laws on your heart.
¹⁵
He can speak to you and guide you in everything that you do. Allow Him to lead you supernaturally!

I received another testimony from a couple in my church who experienced just that. It was 2004 and they had decided to spend their Christmas holidays in Penang, Malaysia. They had originally intended to spend the whole day lounging around on the beach, but one of them unexpectedly felt a strong craving to eat something that was only available on the other side of the island. They decided to flow with that desire and headed in search for that dish. Later, they realized that just a short while after they had left, the Asian tsunami hit the beachfront where they had been relaxing and destroyed everything in its path.

You see, my friend, there are no fixed formulas here. The Lord will do whatever it takes to get His children to safety. Involve Jesus in your plans and allow Him to lead you!

First Mention Of Qarah In The Bible

There is a principle in interpreting God’s Word known as “the principle of first mention.” Every time a word is mentioned for the first time in the Bible, there is usually a special significance and lesson that we can learn. Let’s take a look at the first occurrence of the word
qarah.
It is found in Genesis 24, when Abraham sent his unnamed servant
¹⁶
to look for a bride for Isaac, his son.

The unnamed servant arrived at a well outside the city of Nahor in the evening and decided to stop there. There were so many young women gathered to draw water there that he did not know who would be the right woman for Isaac. So the unnamed servant prayed this prayer: “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me
success
this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.”
¹⁷

The word “success” here is the Hebrew word
qarah
, and this is the first time it appears in the Bible
.
The servant essentially prayed, “Give me
qarah
this day.” It goes without saying that with the Lord’s
qarah
or positioning for right happenings, the servant found a beautiful virtuous woman named Rebekah, who became Isaac’s bride.

We need the Lord to give us
qarah
every day. I encourage you to pray the prayer of that unnamed servant. Tell the Lord, “Give me success—
qarah
—this day,” and depend on His unmerited favor to lead you to be in the right place at the right time!

The Story Of Ruth

There is a beautiful story of a Moabite woman named Ruth in the Bible. In the natural, Ruth had everything against her. She was a very poor widow, and she was a Moabite, a Gentile in the Jewish nation. But even after her husband died, Ruth remained with her mother-in-law Naomi. She left her family to follow Naomi back to Bethlehem, and made Naomi’s God—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—her God.

Now, because of their poverty, Naomi and Ruth could not afford to buy grain, and Ruth had to go out to the field to perform the menial task of gleaning whatever the reapers had left behind. I want you to notice that Ruth was depending on the Lord’s favor for she said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find
favor
.”
¹⁸
Ruth was confident that God would give her favor even though she was a foreigner and had no connections with anyone in the field. She didn’t even know whose part of the field she would be able to glean in.

Look at the Bible’s account of what happened next: “And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her
hap
was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.”
¹⁹
Of all the spots in the field that Ruth could have wandered into, her “
hap
” was to come to the part of the field that belonged to Boaz, who was a man of great wealth, and who also
happened
to be Naomi’s relative. “Hap” is an old English word and it means “to happen” to be at the right place. However, in the original Hebrew text, the root of this word is the word
qarah
!
²⁰

When Ruth trusted in God’s unmerited favor, she
qarah-ed
or happened to come to the part of the field that belonged to Boaz. To cut a long story short, Boaz saw Ruth, fell in love with her and married her. Ruth was possibly at the lowest point of her life before she met Boaz. All the natural factors were against her. But because she put her trust in the Lord, who put her at the right place at the right time, her situation was turned around completely. In fact, she became one of the few woman to be mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:5, which states that “Boaz begot Obed by Ruth.” What an honor to be included in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Talk about being at the right place at the right time!

Have faith in God’s grace in your life. Your blessings are  just around the corner!

My friend, no matter what natural circumstances may be against you today, have confidence in the unmerited favor of Jesus and the Lord will give you what I call “
qarah
success.” He will cause you to be positioned at the right place at the right time to experience success in all areas, such as physical protection, relationships, career and finances.