NEVERTHELESS MOMENTS

It all started in The Garden.   God had commanded Adam who instructed Eve that the tree in the middle of the garden was off limits.  Eve approached the tree, looked longingly at the forbidden fruit and wondered “what if?”  Satan, who never misses an opportunity, begin to persuade Eve that God hadn’t really meant what He had said.  And surely a God who loved them so much to create such a beautiful garden would never be so cruel to sentence them to death for doing something that would make them so happy.  This was Eve’s “Nevertheless moment.”  What a different world we would enjoy if only Eve and replied, “It does look wonderful and I would love to be wise as God, but NEVERTHELESS we have been commanded to leave it alone.” 

Every one of us will experience a “Nevertheless Moment,”

Your answer at that moment will determine the rest of your life.

Abraham’s actions during his “nevertheless moment” earned him a place in Heaven’s Hall of Fame.  God had promised Abraham that he would make him a father; that his seed would be as the stars in the heavens and the sand of the sea, yet Abraham was approaching 100 and still didn’t have a son.  What joy he and Sarah experienced as they held Isaac, the son of promise, in their arms.  A few short years later, God would ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac; Abraham’s “Nevertheless Moment!”  The bible doesn’t go into all the detail of Abraham’s conversation with God but we know he got to the “nevertheless” because Hebrews 11:17 says

“By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”

  I can imagine that Abraham saying “God I love this boy more than I ever imagined, please don’t ask me to sacrifice him, it is almost more than I can bear but NEVERTHELESS, you gave him to me the first time and I know that you are able give him to me the second time.”  Because of Abraham’s faithfulness to God in a “Nevertheless Moment” a blessing was passed down through the generations and even we can be partakers of Abraham’s Blessing.

Most of us have been encouraged by Job’s trials and restoration during times of loss and desperation in our own lives.  We hold to the promise that we will be restored twice as much as we have lost but have we answered God as Job did during his “Nevertheless Moment?” 

The Bible tells us that Job was blameless and upright, feared God and shunned evil.  He was living his life and doing what was right when God decided to brag on him.  Satan challenged God with, “I hear what you are saying God, but let me present him with a “Nevertheless Moment,” that will tone down the confidence you’ve placed in Job.”  God allowed Satan to take Job’s cattle, children, wealth and ultimately his health.  Job experienced a “Nevertheless Moment” that would have broken the strongest of us.  Job cursed the day he was born and questioned why God would allow such things to happen in his life, but NEVERTHELESS,

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,” Job 13:15.

The ultimate “Nevertheless Moment” again occurs in a garden.  The hour had come when Jesus would face betrayal and death.  Although He was God and this was the plan from the beginning, His flesh cried out against His destiny.  The will of His fleshly body rebelled against the pain, disgrace and death that lay ahead.  Jesus went into the garden to pray a prayer that would bring His flesh into submission.  Jesus, the Son of God, experienced his “Nevertheless Moment.”  Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the same event. 

Matthew 26:39 tells us, “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: NEVERTHELESS not as I will, but as you will.” 

Mark 14:36 records it as, “And he said, Abba, Father, all thing   are possible for you; take away this cup from me: NEVERTHELESS not what I will, but what you will.”

The final account is Luke 22:4, “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: NEVERTHELESS not my will, but thine, be done.”

 By giving over the will of His flesh, Jesus could now take on the sins of the whole world and change the destiny of all mankind.

Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; NEVERTHELESS, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

The most difficult thing you will ever let go of is YOUR WILL but God will put a “Nevertheless Moment” in your life to give you the opportunity.  Embracing rather than resisting the moment will usher you into God’s plan for you from the beginning.  If you are facing your personal “Nevertheless Moment,” turn from Satan’s lies and be an Abraham with the faith that God has a greater promise for you or a Job that says, “The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord.  As Hebrews 12 tells us,

Your NEVERTHELESS may seem painful for the moment

But it will yield a fruit of righteousness that will sustain you for eternity.