Questions, and The Answer I Found…
When I was younger, I often wondered how some people become famous and others remain in the shadows of obscurity. Feeling as if certain groups or ethnicities seemed to have an advantage, the Lord dropped in my spirit the name of a slave girl who became famous. The name of that slave girl was Phillis Wheatley, born in. the 1700’s, whose name became renown in her day. Stolen from her homeland of Gambia, she was sold as a slave to a man named John Wheatley who bought this frail girl to be a slave for his wife. Finding Phillis to be bright, the Wheatleys’ taught her to read and write, and excelling in these areas they also taught her Greek, Latin, theology, literature and mythology. Her studies led her to write poetry and she wrote a book on poetry which was published and became known throughout the western world. She was the first African American slave to accomplish such a feat, and only the third American woman to publish to that date.
After reading about Phillis Wheatley I reckoned in my mind that the scripture was true:
This I know:
the favor that brings promotion and power
doesn’t come from anywhere on earth,
for no one exalts a person but God, the true judge of all.
He alone determines where favor rests.
He anoints one for greatness
and brings another down to his knees. Psalm 75:6-7 (TPT)
Understanding this, helped my questioning mind to know that God really does know where we are and really does have a plan for each of us. Of course, my mind also traveled over the many sorrowful things that happen to some, and the inevitable question, why did God allow such suffering surfaced as well. To that I can. say I never got an answer. Something I also. learned that we will not always get an answer to every condition that occurs to man. What I learned to do was trust God for the answers for my own life, and where those interfaced with others, because I knew I was called to be a servant; that He would help me to lift up others to be all that God made them to be!
We can bemoan the sufferings of mankind, or we can determine to give to mankind that answer that will meet their every need. For me, the choice became clear:
8 Beware that no one distracts you or intimidates you. in their attempt to lead you away from Christ’s fullness by pretending to be full of wisdom when they’re filled with endless arguments of human logic. For they operate with humanistic and clouded judgments based on the mindset of this world system, and not the anointed truths of the Anointed One.
9 For he is the complete fullness of deity living in human form. 10 And our own completeness is now found in him. We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows within us. He is the Head of every kingdom and authority in the universe! Colossians. 2L8-10 (TPT)
Maria