When life doesn't make sense it's ok. Just meditate on God's truth and recognize it won't always make sense, but it will one day if we endure! Don't take your eyes off of Jesus ever for any reason and hold tight to His promises!
"Anytime I am impressed with the size of my problem, I have lost sight of the size of my God." -Bill Johnson
One of the most famous chapters of the Bible is Psalm 23. Psalm 23 was written by King David, who was a shepherd as a young boy until the Lord called him to be the King of Israel. If you know the stories of David (1 & 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 1 Chronicles), you know that it was years after David was anointed before he actually became King. In fact he was faced with death threats constantly from the sitting King, Saul. Like the story of Joseph and Moses, things seemed to get worse after God called them. However, as we learn from the stories in the Bible it's not that things were regressing, rather the Lord was maturing them, teaching them, preparing them.
Imagine if the heroes of the Bible gave up when the Lord started teaching, pruning, disciplining, maturing them? What would have happened if Noah decided it wasn't worth it? Or Paul gave up when he was first beaten and thrown into prison?
Have you ever had a situation in your life that made you question if you still wanted to go on? Have you ever felt like God abandoned you? Have you ever wondered why God would allow you to go through something so difficult or terrible?
I want to encourage you that it's normal to not always "feel" like things are going well. The Psalms are full of honest conversations with the Lord:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? Psalm 22:1 (NIV)
Why are you in despair, my soul? And why are you restless within me? Psalm 42:5a (NASB)
Being a Christian and a child of Jehova-Shammah (The Lord My Companion), doesn't mean we will not face difficult challenges. On the contrary, we are told that the Lord disciplines those He loves. From Hebrews 12:5b-11 (NIV)
5.b "My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son."
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
So what are we to do when we are walking through challenging circumstances that don't make any earthly sense? We are to remember what David taught us in Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing. As Christians if we look at our circumstances through the lens of the world they will rarely make sense. But if we understand that: "God causes all things to work together to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28 NASB), then we know that no matter what happens in our life God is in control and using our circumstances for His purposes.
Paul teaches us the principle of renewing our minds in Romans 12:1-2 (NLT):
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
What we learn in these verses, is that when we let God change the way we think, we learn His will. Stop and think about that....it requires us to change how we think. That is why meditating on simple truths like Psalm 23:1: The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing, is so important, it is how we "take every thought captive" (2 Cor 10:5). We must reprogram our minds to focus on God's truth and not the circumstances, or the messages of the world, or fear, or doubt, or the list goes on and on....
Stop and think about a challenging situation in your life. Think about something that is frustrating, or painful, or doesn't make sense. Now see it through the lens of Jehovah-Rohi (The Lord is My Shepherd). Go back and reread Romans 8:28 and think about your situation. If you view it through the lens of God's love and sovereignty, how does that change your perspective?
I'm currently reading Corrie Ten Boom's book the Hiding Place. It's about how her and her family rescued Jews during WW2 in Holland. It's a hard book to read because it describes the realities of how awful things were for everyone during the Holocaust. It's easy to read the book and ask the Lord, why? Why did you let these things happen? Now years later it's easier to understand. Corrie wrote many books, changed and influenced many lives with her stories. As for the Jews, they have been restored to Israel and are as strong as the Lord promised. One of my favorite quotes is from Joni Eareckson Tada (research her if you don't know her story): "God uses what He hates to accomplish that which He loves".
When life doesn't make sense it's ok. Just meditate on God's truth and recognize it won't always make sense, but it will one day if we endure! Don't take your eyes off of Jesus ever for any reason and hold tight to His promises!
"Anytime I am impressed with the size of my problem, I have lost sight of the size of my God." -Bill Johnson
Have a great week!
Tiana
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