How many times have you questioned God about why something
is happening to you? Why you were going
through this terrible trial? Why was He
not getting you out of it or changing the circumstances in your favor? So often we wonder if He’s even paying attention
at all or if He just doesn’t care about us and we feel so alone and often
confused. The thoughts occur to us that
our faith isn’t good enough or else He would answer our prayers.
Personally, I’ve wrestled with my faith a few times. One time I was so distraught and angry that I
told God I was done with Him. I shook my
fist at Him and told myself none of it was real. He wasn’t real and everything I’ve believed
about Him, well that too was all a fabrication.
Things at that time in my life were not making any sense, especially
because I had been so faithful to God and I was asking, seeking and knocking as
He told us to and yet there was silence….no reply to my petitions.
As I sat down after clenching my fists at the air and
spewing words of disappointment to an empty audience, I collapsed in my chair,
dropped my head forward, sighed and became silent. It was very early in the morning and the only
sounds around me were the house creeks.
Then….a still, small voice spoke to my mind. It sounded like my own inner voice, but it
didn’t belong to me. “Are you finished?”
it asked. Not condemning, but kind of
like a parents voice of love and authority.
I took in another sigh and spoke audibly and defeated, “yes.” Then came the Words….the many I had read for
years in my private devotions to the Lord.
They flooded my mind, soul and spirit as though they were living and
breathing and pouring new life into my very being. There was something not natural taking place
in that moment of my absolute defeat and despair. Something supernatural was occurring – God was
revealing Himself to me through His Truth.
Like a bubbling brook or a deep spring it just poured upwards into all of
me like refreshing waters to a parched ground.
“Lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways
acknowledge Me.“ “My ways are not your
ways, nor are my thoughts your thoughts, but as the Heavens are higher than the
earth so are my ways and my thoughts higher than yours.” And many more that
spoke to my life at that time. He WAS
with me, just as He said “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Yet, I did not understand why He stood so
silent when I had believed and needed Him so much. Not then anyway, but later I did. Later everything made sense. Later I received my answers. They were just around the corner but I was
ready to give up and throw it all away because of my own disbelief and
impatience. I thought He should have
done things my way and misunderstood that it is always best to wait upon the
Lord to do things His way. But so often
we think our way IS His way, but more often than not that is just not the case.
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Jesus is the Rock and as we stand on Him
He will hold us up through the storms of life.
Those are His hands coming out of the rock.
(This is part of a sculpture I made a few years back) |
This occurred a few years ago and although I have not
wrestled nearly as bad as that time, I have still wrestled and every time I do
I am reminded again and again that I am His creation, not Him and although I am
adopted into God’s family and am now His child, He IS still the Father, God of
ALL creation who is not bound by time or sin and death. When I slip into a lack of faith I make
myself remember Who God is and who I am to Him and boldly and confidently come
before His throne and ask Him for strength to endure; to trust, and to wait
patiently while His plan works itself out in my life and in the lives of those
around me. Even now I am waiting still
as my family has been in a dark, dark storm for several years. What keeps me going? His Truth.
I confess it out of my mouth daily.
I may not “feel” it, but I speak it regardless because His Truth is not
limited to my emotions. No His Truth is
the rock I stand on to keep me from being tossed into the storms of life. I’m not saying I don’t get knocked around,
wind -blown, wet, cold, lonely, discouraged or even doubt, but because my feet
are firmly planted on the Rock of Christ, He won’t let me fall into the
torrential sea. It’s the promise of Who God
is that I hold on to and not my own understanding of the situation. Is this easy? NO! But Jesus never said it would be easy.
Too often we blame God for the atrocities in our world. There is so much darkness and despair, pain
and suffering and we wonder how He could just let it happen. But He doesn’t let it happen. He gave us free will and lets us choose for
ourselves. Our world is fallen. That means creation is fallen…all of
creation, from the plants, the animals and to all of mankind. We are born in sin because the world is
fallen. I think we forget that
part. We hear of the miracles of Christ occurring
throughout the world in other’s lives and we want that in ours as well. I too question God and ask Him why there are
not more healings in the Church Body to show His power and glory on the earth. He does not answer me. But, what I am learning is that I must
remember what He HAS done in my life and in the lives of those around me. We must remember the times He took care of
us, healed us, provided for us and even embraced us with His comfort and
protection. Otherwise we become like the
Hebrews who were delivered from Egypt and forgot all that God delivered them
from. What they failed to understand was
that it was through their wilderness experience God was trying to make them
better people. He was trying to get the
Egypt out of their hearts and get their hearts to be more like His own.
When we forget all that He has done we begin to wrestle with
our faith. We must remember and stand on
His Truth, even when nothing makes sense around us. What we don’t understand in our lives now,
one day we will. Whether in this life time or the next, but until then, to keep
hope alive remember the times God revealed His love to you, even if all you
have is the salvation you received at the Cross of Calvary. Shouldn’t that alone be enough? God loves us….God loves you. He…loves…you….
It’s ok to make mistakes and to learn from them. Isn’t it better to look into the mirror of
truth and improve oneself than to feed off the lies and become embittered in
self-pity? Yet, it seems we live in an
age of “self”-awareness in the negative context. Meaning, it’s all about “me, me, me” and what
can “I get” and what can you “do for me”?
Altruism is considered a prehistoric ideology and criticized by the
mainstream. Yet, the revelation is that
goodness is worth standing for. We meet
people along the way who encourage us to be better than the “norm” of
today. There are people who inspire us
to dream and to go after those dreams. Those
who lend out a hand to pull us up when we’ve been knocked down, and walk with
us a little longer to make sure we are strong enough to continue on. People who believe in us when we don’t
believe in ourselves and encourage us to step into all we can be and we're meant
to be. 
Thank You for those who are so gritty that you use them like
sandpaper to smooth my own rough edges.
For those who inspire and encourage and motivate me to move forward
towards the destiny you have for my life.
I pray for the strength and courage to stand against the “norm” of today’s
society and to keep compromise far away from my heart so that I can encourage
and strengthen others who desire to do the same. Let my life be an inspiration and a light to others
as those who have been a light and inspiration were for me. Link each one of us
together to become like a great chain connected to one another until we wrap
the world completely in Your love and goodness!
