Greetings to all our Heritage Family and friends,
During the Corona Virus Plandemic, I felt prompted to keep our connection fresh with a weekly letter. Connection with you is very important, and each week it has been my privilege to send you a pastoral love letter so that you would know I am thinking and praying for you.
What is on my heart this week is a simple time-tested proof of “All things work together for good to them who love God and are called according to His purpose”. Have you ever thought of how God leads His people? I have thought about this a lot lately. I have not had an angel show up and talk to me, and I am happy about that. You may ask why, and I can tell you that angels only showed up in the Bible when things were really out of control. You probably should check that out for yourselves. However, I will be quick to tell you that God does use circumstances to lead His people even when things seem to have gone from bad to worse. ALWAYS REMEMBER WHEN WE HAVE A PROBLEM, GOD HAS A PLAN.
Can I take just a moment of your time to remind you that God has different ways of leading His people? It is not necessary for Him to lead any of us the same way.
We can learn a lesson from the minor prophet, Hosea, in Chapter 11:3. God led the people “by taking them by the arms”. This is the elementary way in which God leads us like a Father, teaching a child to walk.
Isaiah 30:21 teaches us that God leads His people visually. I love this, “Your eyes shall see your teachers”. We remember 20 times more what we see than what we hear. Jesus was the visual for all men to imitate.
The Psalmist speaks of God leading us intimately as in a Father/son relationship. “His eye is ever on the Lord, He shall pluck my foot out of the net.”
A personal story of my father and I may help you to understand this powerful image of a father/son relationship much better. I was working with my father inside a Titan II Missile site in Tucson, Arizona. We were welding reinforcing rods that were eighteen pounds per foot. I was outside the safety of the perimeter of the launching tube, which was about fifty or so yards in diameter. My Father was inside and I was working on the outside of the structure to move the rods more easily. My dad was nicknamed Speedy, and the reason was he that had one speed; but at the end of the day, he would always have more work done than those who worked alongside him. I was reaching out to break a tire wire that held one of these 20-foot rods to the inside of the wall when my Dad said, “Stop!”. By the tone of his voice, I knew I had to stop. He then took a pair of pliers and twisted one tie loose. When he did, the 360-pound reinforcing rod fell 180 feet to the bottom of the blast furnace. My Dad, so to speak, plucked my foot out of a net. I would have fallen backward 180 feet to the floor of the structure to my death. My dad died 60 years ago, and I can still remember the lessons in life that he taught me. When I became a Christian, at 19 my father told my mother, “I am going to have to give my heart to God because if I don’t, I am not sure that Cleddie will be able to live for God”. This, friends is the intimacy that I am writing about.
There are two other ways in which God leads us. One is what I call instinctive obedience, you can find this in Isaiah 11:3, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. He shall give a quick understanding (if you have a Bible with margin references, you will find scent or smell). Always remember, it is not smart to refuse to listen to your senses.
I want to show you one more way in which God leads the Chosen. It is through circumstance. The world is facing a global circumstance, and in the Word of God, we can see that there were many times when God led His people of faith by circumstance. From the
Exodus to the birth of the early church, the pressing problems demanded a new kind of allegiance to God. They were pushed into a corner of trusting His Sovereignty. It was when, in these times, they learned that God can make a way where there seems to be no way. That is why I can say with full assurance of faith WHEN WE HAVE A PROBLEM GOD ALWAYS HAS A PLAN.
GayNell and I are on vacation but we wanted you to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. We love you and thank you for your prayers and support for Heritage and the call that we share together.
I believe in you,
Cleddie Keith