One thing we can be sure - God loves us and He is for us
(Romans 8). And we don't always know or
understand the lessons He is teaching us, or how He is developing His own
character in us, or how He will bring us through a particular trial. When we try to determine His purpose for a
particular trial, we find we cannot, or if we think we have, we find we were
wrong. Just as a parent disciplines a
child and trains that child toward the maturity and character he will need in
life, God disciplines us. That child
most likely will not understand until he is much older, why his Father
disciplined him, and may even doubt his father's love or intentions.
Many times I find God has chosen a particular discipline
for me that He has not chosen for others.
Why is it they are able to go about enjoying certain things in life that
I cannot? Why have I had this particular
thing to deal with all my life, yet others never have to? Yet when I look back I see how God has used
it to teach me self-discipline, contentment, trust in Him, reliance on His
power, and I see there is a purpose that is beyond just my comfort or
happiness. He has done something inside of me that only He could do. He has produced a character inside me that
would not have come if I had always had everything the way I wanted it to
be. He has turned my heart from pleasing
myself to wanting to please Him in all.
I've had to look to His Word to find His mind and heart, and I've had to
submit myself to His will in the matter and realize I don't belong to me, I
belong to Him - bought with His blood.
I've had to replace my delight in some thing to delighting in Him and His will, trusting His love and
purpose in all.
(Romans 5:10) For if while we were enemies we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are
reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
It's His life that now lives in me, saving me from the
corruptions of the flesh and of this world. His very life is in me and is
continually making known to me His own mind and heart through the obstacles I
face here. I am always tempted to take
the way of the flesh rather than the way of the Spirit when my happiness, my
comfort, my desires are threatened. But
His life is always at work in me to produce that life in me, conforming me to
it, as He is fitting us for Heaven. He
is fitting us for His very own presence, to dwell there with Him forever. We have already, through faith in Him, been "put
into Christ" when we trusted His salvation alone for ourselves. Now He is working that salvation out day by
day in our lives to conform us to the new creation He has made us in Christ.
Do we ever think our Abba, Who loved us so much that He
sent His only begotten Son to be a sacrifice for us, ever for a moment neglects
our highest good? Do we ever think He
has somehow forgotten us now and has left us to somehow figure our way out of
the seemingly impossible trial we face?
Do we for a moment think that it is not important to Him? Do we trust His love no matter what seems to
be happening to us?
I remember at one point in my life, when I came to one of
the darkest moments of my life, I felt I was at a sort of cross-road. Will I
believe in God or not? Will I trust His
love or not? Is God good or is He
not? I chose to believe, solely because
of what His Word said, that He is God, that He is faithful, that He is good,
and no matter what things looked like, I would praise Him through it. That was a long trial that had years go by
before things got better or before I saw God's answers to prayer and
fulfillment of promises I felt He had given me.
But I grew more than ever during that time, in my trust in God and in
His Word and He often manifested His love and goodness to me though
circumstances were very bleak. I learned
more than at any other time in my life that He was faithful and that though I
was weaker than ever, He was strong enough to hold onto me when I could not
even hold onto Him. I learned that it
was He all along that had always held onto me and kept me, and I learned to
rest in His care and in the outcome of all.
This was not a one time lesson that I learned and then
suddenly everything went my way, and now I have this wonderful fulfilled life
of all my dreams. I've had to relearn it
or should I say, reapply it again and again in more trials and situations in my
life. In fact I've learned that as long
as I'm in this body of flesh in this world I will continually have to apply
that faith in new ways, as I walk through this journey facing the world, the
flesh, and the devil. I can never let
down my guard, become weary in well doing, or give up and faint. I've wanted to many times! I've wanted to say, "Lord haven't I had
enough grief? Enough sorrow? Enough hardship? Isn't there ever a time to just enjoy life
and be done with the trials?" It's
not that the Lord has not given me so many blessings and enjoyments in
life. In fact, because of the trials and
what God has worked in my heart through them, I am able to enjoy those little
things in life all the more and give Him glory for them, delighting in Him all
the more and the blessings He has given.
Simple pleasures mean more to me now than ever. He has given me much joy
and even taught me to rejoice in my trials, not waiting for them to be
gone. He has taught me more about
enjoying life than I was able to do before the trials. In fact sometimes when I see a godly trait in
my heart, I am amazed and wonder, "Wow... that is not me... that's You
Lord! How did You do that in my
heart?"
Romans 5:2-5
(2) Through him we have also obtained access by
faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of
God.
(3) Not only that, but we rejoice in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
(4) and endurance produces character, and
character produces hope,
(5) and hope does not put us to shame, because
God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been
given to us.
James 1:2-5
(2) Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet
trials of various kinds,
(3) for you know that the testing of your faith
produces steadfastness.
(4) And let steadfastness have its full effect,
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
(5) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God,
who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
It's when we endure the trial walking by faith, simply
trusting His hand through it all... those nail scarred hands... that we find it
produces endurance, character, hope, steadfastness and even joy in our
lives. All of us have seen undisciplined
children who are not at all happy. They
cry and throw tantrums when they don't get their way, and the more they are
given in to, the more unhappy they become, and the more tantrums they
throw. Yet a disciplined child has
learned to be secure in their parent's love and care and is content. It is the same with God's children. Those who accept His discipline and do not
throw tantrums, trying to get their own way, but trust His way, even if they
don't understand it, find a contentment in life and security in His love and
care and even in His discipline. Each time they are tempted to balk under His
hand of discipline, they are reminded it is from His love and they must instead
exercise faith in Him and walk the path He has chosen for them.
2 Peter 1:3-4
(3) His divine power has granted to us all things
that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to
his own glory and excellence,
(4) by which he has granted to us his precious
and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the
divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because
of sinful desire.
It is through trusting His great and precious promises and
applying them to our lives, that we escape the corruption that is in the
world. Many Christians do not escape
that corruption because they live the Christian life their way instead of God's
way. They make their own decisions based
on what they want in life instead of seeking God's will for their lives. When they mess up their lives and the
corruption of the world, they find, has taken over their lives or families,
then they cry out to God and wonder why.
He is always teaching us to trust Him and to walk according to His
Spirit. This is His purpose. He's conforming us to the image of His Son,
for His own glory, and our ultimate glorification in Him (Romans 8:28-31). When we do walk in faith, trusting His
promises His divine nature is formed in us more and more.
2 Peter 1:5-8
(5) For this very reason, make every effort to
supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,
(6) and knowledge with self-control, and
self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
(7) and godliness with brotherly affection, and
brotherly affection with love.
(8) For if these qualities are yours and are
increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The more we learn to know Him, the more we tend to walk
like Him. He alone knows the path He has
chosen for each one of us. We need to
trust Him all along that path, and apply His Word, appropriate by faith His
promises for us, and walk in faith, believing He has provided "every
spiritual blessing in Heavenly places" for us and "all that we need
that pertains to life and godliness."
When we're faced with what feels like the impossible, we can know that
if God brought us to it, He also has a plan through it as we trust in Him. When our hearts sink for fear of what may be
coming in an evil world that is more and more hostile toward believers, we can
look to Him and know He has already seen what's ahead and is there waiting for
us. He already has made the way for
us. We can only get through it in a way
that will bring Him glory and benefit our own lives if we trust Him through it,
knowing He does have, indeed, a wonderful purpose.
One thing that has happened in my own life that is only a
result of God's discipline, through my trials, is a true love for God's will in
my life. I used to "accept"
God's will because I knew in my head it was right and best. But I didn't "love" God's
will. I've learned now to love His will
because I've seen and understood His will is not only best, it is the only will
that is good and that is life. I've
learned to delight in His will because I delight in Him - in all He is. I don't
always like the pain it brings me through, but I trust and love His will, will
get me through the pain, and life will be at the other end. I don't want God to be anything other than He
is. I don't want to make Him into my
image. I don't want to bring Him down to my level or to force Him (as though I
could), to bend to my will. I want to
know Him truly, to know His will, to have His will alone be carried out in my
life. I want His purpose to be fulfilled
in me. I'm so thankful for His purposes
and that He is faithful each day to all His children, to never give up working
out those purposes in our lives. He is
longsuffering, patient, and kind to us.
He is for us, so who in the world can be against us?
