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Sunday 5 January 2003 - "The way God looks at it" - message by Dr Albu van Eeden

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Psalm 105 "Oh, give thanks to the Lord...remember His marvelous works..."

Do we look at the past year the way God looks at it? Can we give thanks and praise Him for what He’s done for us?

We need to forget certain things - forget the faults of others, forget temptations, the peculiarities of a friend as well as quarrels.

V5 We need to thank God for His wonders and judgements. His judgements are needed to prune the wild shoots in our lives. Maybe there is a friendship that needs pruning.

V17 God sent Joseph ahead of his family. What people do to us doesn’t harm us but the smallest sin will be harmful to ourselves. We need to see God’s plan and leading through difficulties. It is only sin and carnality in us that spoils God’s plans for our lives. It could also be that one doesn’t see God’s plans because one is so involved in things around one.

God made Israel more fruitful and stronger than the Egyptians. God was in control. We need to keep our lives clean from sin - otherwise we will miss the purpose of our suffering and it won't bring us closer to God as it was meant to be. Sin takes the purpose out of suffering and then suffering is hell because God is not in it.

If we are right with God, we can have courage for the new year. We can make the future a stumbling block or a stepping stone. There is nothing compared to a life with God.