I think our human nature is to hope that God will hold us exempt from trials and tribulations or, maybe, remove us from certain situations, but that's not the way that I read it. I don't find any place where God's word says He'll just take us out of the situations life hands us.
There are many places, however, that remind us that He will bring us through. There is the old saying we've all heard in church that proclaims God will never "bring us to something that He won't bring us through" and that admonition of my elders was brought back to my mind the other day as I read in Lamentations, chapter 3, verses 22 and 23....
"Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."
Amen and Amen! I don't know about you, my friends, but I need His compassion and mercy on a daily basis. All we have to do is ask. As Jesus has shown us in the model of how we should pray, "Give us, this day, our daily bread......Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one...Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...", it is a daily battle.
He tells us in His word that all we have to do is ask in His name and it will be granted. In other words, whatever we ask in prayer, if it is according to God's will, will be granted us. The Apostle Paul reinforced the idea by reminding us to "pray without ceasing" If we do not have joy and peace in our lives, our relationship with our Creator, Savior and Sustainer is not as it was designed.
It seems obvious, then, that God's will is that, through everything in our lives, we depend on Him; that we look to Him for guidance and strength. His word goes on to say that we have to ask and petition our God in faith and without doubt. It follows, then, that how we react to life after we have involved our God through prayers, supplications and thanksgiving will reflect the truth and strength of our faith to those who are watching our journey.
So, let us praise God for His compassions, for His daily provisions of strength and thank Him that He feels us worthy of trials. Let us thank God that He is preparing us, through the "fire" for a new revelation of Himself, for a new level of spiritual growth!
1 comment:
Amen, Brother!
Also, we are told that God listens to our prayers in light of the "singleness" of mind that we bring to them. Unless we are convinced of what we ask, God will wait. I've lived that one! God will not make the decisions for us, but he will patiently wait for us to come to the decision and then ask for what we need.
The joy and love that is reflective of a life lived in the presence of God is the reward, indeed, that we have from God for desiring Him, for freely giving over to the ways of God. It is that joy and love which brings us through many of life's difficulties, to a new orientation for our lives, different and richer in perspective and faith than before.
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