We stop and scream, "Anything but this! Anything but this mire, this fire." Everything within wants to fight as we face the fierce.
We plead, "God, you couldn’t have picked a different trial?"
We accuse, "You couldn’t have chosen to ‘mess’ up someone else’s world instead?"
We beg, "Not this! Anything but this letter of divorce, this death of a loved one, this abuse in marriage, these children left abandoned…"
And yet suffering is all around us. We see it perhaps daily or even many, many times a day. Why God? Why would you allow such ugly anguish in our lives? Most days, don't we just want to live in peace and enjoy life? Isn’t our tendency to simply long for the easy and if we're really honest… live happily ever after?
But God has chosen some to suffer. He clearly states in Philippians 1:29, ¨For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.¨
What interesting wording: it is given. Suffering is given as a gift? Suffer for his sake? Can I take a 'get out of jail free card' on that one, please? Can’t God call someone else to suffer?
What if we take a step back and see that maybe, just maybe —- this fire, this hot, helpless place was handpicked for us? How can this be? Can the master Author write not only for His glory, but also for my story?
What interesting wording: it is given. Suffering is given as a gift? Suffer for his sake? Can I take a 'get out of jail free card' on that one, please? Can’t God call someone else to suffer?
What if we take a step back and see that maybe, just maybe —- this fire, this hot, helpless place was handpicked for us? How can this be? Can the master Author write not only for His glory, but also for my story?
Much easier to believe in the heat of the fire that the author simply doesn’t care about the character...We logic 'It’s His story, He can do whatever He wants to. The character must simply surrender, submit, and shut up - like it or not.' As much as we might be tempted to believe in those moments that maybe life has nothing to do with us or our happiness, truth tells us that He writes for our story as well as His glory.
2 Cor. 4:15 - For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
It says it— right there: ¨for your sakes.¨ So all things are indeed for your story and His glory. What a beautiful blend!
He is the master author and has the steady skill of scripting my story to bring about His glory. Is the painful fire for our good? Could it be that not only is God for us, cheering us on- but that fire, that hot helpless place, is also FOR me? (Romans 8:28)
Robert Hawker says, ¨Reader do not forget this - a child of God must be ultimately a gainer by every affliction, when sanctified.¨
A gainer? How could we possibly be a 'gainer' through suffering? Is that not why James says to ¨Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations… knowing this that the trying of your faith (The trials) produceth patience? And when we allow patience (waiting on God, complete submission to His plan) to have her perfect work (the process we endure while waiting upon God) we may be… perfect and entire wanting (lacking) nothing. Doesn’t this sound like sanctification? As in Phillippians 1:6 that says "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
Perhaps we really could joy in the trials if we choose to see the trials as gifts of God to form us into the people He is creating us to be.
Can we see every affliction, trial, pain, or hurt as a gift from our ever-loving Father? Every dark night, every moment in silence, every tear is not in vain. It is for us, for our good, and for His glory. Because after all, He is the God that turns ashes into beauty, gives the oil of joy for mourning and clothes us with the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness.
What if instead of running from our trials we learned to embrace them as part of God’s hand-picked love stories for our lives?
2 Cor. 4:15 - For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
It says it— right there: ¨for your sakes.¨ So all things are indeed for your story and His glory. What a beautiful blend!
He is the master author and has the steady skill of scripting my story to bring about His glory. Is the painful fire for our good? Could it be that not only is God for us, cheering us on- but that fire, that hot helpless place, is also FOR me? (Romans 8:28)
Robert Hawker says, ¨Reader do not forget this - a child of God must be ultimately a gainer by every affliction, when sanctified.¨
A gainer? How could we possibly be a 'gainer' through suffering? Is that not why James says to ¨Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations… knowing this that the trying of your faith (The trials) produceth patience? And when we allow patience (waiting on God, complete submission to His plan) to have her perfect work (the process we endure while waiting upon God) we may be… perfect and entire wanting (lacking) nothing. Doesn’t this sound like sanctification? As in Phillippians 1:6 that says "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
Perhaps we really could joy in the trials if we choose to see the trials as gifts of God to form us into the people He is creating us to be.
Can we see every affliction, trial, pain, or hurt as a gift from our ever-loving Father? Every dark night, every moment in silence, every tear is not in vain. It is for us, for our good, and for His glory. Because after all, He is the God that turns ashes into beauty, gives the oil of joy for mourning and clothes us with the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness.
What if instead of running from our trials we learned to embrace them as part of God’s hand-picked love stories for our lives?
