I heard a line today that captured my attention. At some point in your life you will face tough times. We all do, some more often than others but nonetheless they will come. I often wonder why? Why me? Are tough times God's way of dealing with my wandering from Him? Are my personal trials a way that God gets even with me? Is it a loving Father disciplining me for only He knows what? In my mind, these would all be logical and even worthy thoughts. Maybe it is a by-product of the way I was raised and how I have grown to see God. I battle from time to time with the all loving, on my side version of God and the "I'll show you", He's out to get me type of God.
My experience and His word show me one thing but my mind and my own personal guilt lead me in other directions. I get torn. But the line that got me today was in reference to this point... Tough times happen to everyone. Matthew 5:45 says "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." We all face tough times. But get ready, here it comes... "Problems are not a measure of my spirituality." Wow, how liberating are those 8 words?
That again tells me that He is not out to get me. It is part of a fallen world. Tough times happen. They happen to us all. It's like that passage of scripture when the disciples asked Jesus about the blind man. They said something like "who sinned, him or his parents, that caused him to be blind?" Jesus response was simple... it aint like that.
So, in the midst of tough times, be reminded that it may just be a way of strengthening us. It may be part of a plan that we didn't get let in on just yet. In tough times, ask this question... "Lord, what is it that You want me to learn in all of this?"
2 comments:
In the words of someone we know: "we walk on cursed ground, breathing cursed air".
Thanks for the blog, I enjoyed it
I think most people say that they believe God is Sovereign without actually believing it...
People tend to trust God's Providence when things are going well for them, and then we normally discredit God's infinite wisdom, goodness, and purpose in all things...
And yes, that is His purpose, not what we have in mind...
I think the more God-centered our theology is instead of human-centered ideas that are probably nowhere in Scripture, we will have a much easier time weathering the storms of life and trusting that while our God is in heaven doing whatever pleases Him (Ps 115:3), it pleases Him to work all things together for the good of those that love Him and were called according to His purpose [not ours] (Rom 8:28).
That is why Joseph could say to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good..."
So, I am convinced if we take the focus of our ideas of who God should be and actually look at what the Scriptures attest of Him, we will be in a MUCH better place...
Much love, brother.
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