Monday, November 12, 2007
God uses every experience and struggle to sanctify you
There’re times in our lives when we desperately need a fresh touch from the Lord. We face unexpected circumstances; one example will be painful relationships. We desperately need a fresh touch from God and we know it.
However, too often the first thing we do when we feel desperate is to look for a quick fix. We say things like “If God won’t do anything, I’ll do it myself.” “If God won’t heal this relationship, I’ll end it.”
But all the efforts to fix our problems or resolve the crisis won’t yield much. The Lord wants so much to hear us say, “Forgive me, Lord. I thought I was right, but now I see I was just looking for an out.”
Whether we know it or not, that’s a good place to be. God’s always ready to reveal to a humble heart the futility of effort apart from Him. Jesus in John 21 is asking you “Are you ready to give me this thing that troubles you?
He’s using every experience, struggle, to sanctify us. Next time you wonder what God could be up to, just say to yourself, “He’s changing me,” and you’ll be right. When disappointments or heartaches come, try to imagine God Himself holding the chisel sculpting your likeness into His.
All these happen because God wants to demonstrate His power and splendor through my life. He wants to get me to the place where no matter what happens to me or what I’m going through, I’ll trust Him and walk to please Him, and are committed wholly to what He’s doing in me. I’ll invite Him to do His work in me, and watch Him display His awesomeness through me, and that I’m living right in the center of His will.
I believe that someday the whole tapestry will unfold for me, but for now I have to believe in spite of what is happening. God meant it for my good and for His glory in every situation. I must trust that what appears unloving may in fact be his great kindness.
“God is at work in your time of crisis.” Whatever is challenging and stretching me right now – be it in my family, studies, personal walk with God, or even my struggles, I believe that He’s at work. He’s building my faith in every circumstance. He knows all about the thing that is breaking my heart.
As soon as a problem drops on the table in my life, I wanted to find a way to squeeze out from under the pressure. But I believe that He himself has a purpose in mind when He allows trails to invade our lives. Like turning turning coal into diamonds, some things only happen under a lot of pressure. Staying under the pressure is how God tests my faith in order to make me a better person. But first, I’ll have to make it through the process.
The issue here is not about facing trials, it’s how I’ll respond to them. I can bail on God and take matters into my own hands by becoming bitter and angry with His doing or anyone else’s. Or, I can submit Him and let God do His work with the confidence that He will not waste my sorrows and that, in the end, “all things work together for good.”
Sometimes I may wonder how a God of love allow that painful, wicked or difficult thing that happened in my past to hit me that hard. But nevertheless, I would say wait on the Lord. There will be a day when I’ll look back and see God’s sovereign hand at work in those trials. The truth is, He is in control of the situation that troubles my heart right now. Lean on the Lord and believe that He is working and one day I might just succeed.
>>and it will be 8 months after the 12a.m. mark.
it got me home
10:30 PM
