I have notice how we may believe something to be true but not favour the
reality of that truth unfolding in our lives. I say that “God knows best” and
that He is in control of all things, which is obviously an undeniable fact. But
as soon as my life does not pans out the way I have hoped I feel my hope
dwindling, even if concealment to others is on view. I know my heart on the
matter. The question of “why” begins to dominant my thoughts all over again. I
then begin to play my efforts out against my rewards. O wretched man that I am
who will deliver me from this body of death? I need to be freed from myself and
the wars within. The consolation I find whilst reasoning it all out, is that I
am not alone on this difficulty, as I look around I see others fighting similar
battles; the hostilities within repeatedly rages. But five years down the line
with this particular thought and by the grace of God, my mind has taken on a
slightly different understanding, it’s not as frantic, it may still be hard
pressed but praise God I can see growth. But know this, the more we look to
learn about the purposes of God the harder the struggle and the hardship will
become.
Struggling and suffering of all kinds is part of God’s design to help us
understand the hope, which we have in Him, that one day we will be like our
great Saviour. We will not only be with God, in his presence, but we will be
LIKE HIM. No more struggles with the flesh, no more pity parties and so on. In
my experience the clearer we begin to see this reality as our actuality the
tighter the screw on the trials of life will stiffen. The whole of creation was
created to bring Glory to God and reveal His character. Sin has interfered with
that process, or so it would seem, when in fact, even sin will be used to the
glory of God as it drives people to their knees calling upon the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ to be saved, in and through repentance of their own
sin.
Even creation has been effected by sin. Look at a rose, filled with
aphids, or a dessert without vegetation, it’s all because of the effect of one
man’s sin and His rebellion against God. However even in the chaos of it all,
God is in perfect control and this is what I find at times hard to
comprehend. When life is running smoothly and all of its challenges are
systematically slotting into place without too much resistance, life is
manageable. It’s like sailboat been driven by the wind without any tacking needed.
But when hardship becomes the norm, our faith is severely tested and this
reveals who we are in Christ. I sit here even now and question, where has my
zeal gone? And the first thought that comes to mind is forgive me Father, but
please re-kindle the zeal that once was mine. I realised that it was filled
without knowledge way back when, but that was an exciting time…
The sole purpose of God’s creation is to bring glory to Him. We were
created as being to worship Him. Now back to the hardship we face as believers.
It is by design, the fall of mankind requires hardship in our lives to bring us
to our senses, and it refines our understanding, which must eventually land on
the good, perfect and expectable will of God. The difficulty I face is the
constant war that always looks for a reason why something hasn’t panned out the
way I had hoped? My alignment looking to rearranged the Word of God in my life.
This is my struggle, back and forth with these thoughts, over and over again.
Always looking for some formula to apply that may stick and have a positive
outcome to my current predicament. Where do we draw the line? How much of me
and then how much of God, the war is fierce!
The answer is obvious, even if my mind looks to find something deeper,
which is nothing more than humanism rearing its head. The answer is God first
and His righteousness and then the rest will follow according to His good
pleasure. With unpredictable tests along the way, which will test our faith.
There will be times where we will nose-dive but the times that we find the
grace to thrust through it all, they will be sweet and will strengthen us
beyond understanding. We need to regularly trim our sails when it comes to the
trials of life and the reasons for them, if not we will soon find ourselves
groping in the dark and asking the question “WHY?” over and over again.
When I say God is in control, hoping that I may find a favourable
outcome concerning a deal that I am hoping for and it doesn’t pan out as
expected, this is when my battle begins. Exonerate me Father as I try to force
your hand. At the very core of my heart I am hoping that you will intervene and
act favourably and when it doesn’t happen I am disappointed, forgive me! But I
would also be lying if I didn’t say that release is often a comforting emotion
as it releases tension.
Help me to rest in you is my prayer and I also pray for all those who
face similar struggles, all honour and glory belongs to our God and to our
King, praise the name of Jesus Christ my Lord, now and forever more, Amen!
There is a day coming when the whole of creation longingly awaits its
change, where sin will no longer be consequential, and what I find amazing is
that day will only ever arrive when the saints are changed into the likeness of
Christ. The universe in its entirety, the seen and the unseen worlds of this
universe waits for our (the Christians) transformation before it will receive
it conversion, Wow! We serve an awesome God who is filled with unmeasurable
mercies and we await an inheritance that will blow our minds. We think we know
what that will be like, and yet we have only scratched the surface.
Our current sufferings are a light affliction in comparisons to what
will one day be ours in Christ. Beloved focus on the hope that is set before us
and we will get through another day and each and every other day that follows.
But we must remember to continually “trim our sails” with the WORD of
GOD.
Signing off
Tyrone
No comments:
Post a Comment