I’m coming to learn that so much of what makes sense in God’s economy is directly opposite to what I would consider the logical way. I pray for God to show me His love and am surprised, indignant, and hurt when instead of an ooey gooey love fest, I’m handed a trial, instead. I cry, scream, and yell, and wonder why I just can’t catch a break! How unfair is it that when I’m already down about something, I just seem to get kicked even more, leaving me feeling like I’ve been forgotten, abandoned, and forsaken.
Today, somebody needs to hear this: You are not forgotten. You are not forsaken. You have not been left alone.
I need you to stop and think about something that God has been challenging me with lately. Sometimes the trials are the way that God stops to love on us and remind us of His goodness. Before you tell me I’m crazy, hear me out. When things are bad and we’re seeking Him for something, we can feel His love more so than at other times. On good days, we just go about our business and feel our lives are good. We throw up a few “Thanks, God!” prayers, but beyond that, we don’t see His hand nearly as close, because we think we’re okay without Him (hahahaha!). When things are bad and we seek God in earnest for an answer to our prayers, He draws us close, speaks to us, and allows us to see His hand through delivering us through the fire of our trials. The hard times remind us of the past hard times, and how God walked us through those over and over again.
This is not the way I would do things if God just let me take full control. And yet, His ways are always better. How do I know this? Because God can see what I can’t see. He knows that without the hard days, I wouldn’t know Him like that, and in knowing Him, be able to fulfill my destiny. I need the hard days in order to feel His love. Sounds a little backwards, right?
Take a step back and work on your perspective today. Just because something seems backwards to us, doesn’t mean it’s not working or even better than what we would consider “forward” thinking. God loves you. Sometimes it takes a storm to show you that.
“Because God can see what I can’t see. He knows that without the hard days, I wouldn’t know Him like that, and in knowing Him, be able to fulfill my destiny. I need the hard days in order to feel His love.”
That is truth that carries me!
In light of recent events for us as a family, we’ve been broken, betrayed and now need to offer forgiveness…and my husband’s response is, “this is the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings…make your way to the cross.”
Sigh..
YES! Isn’t that one of those we’d honestly rather omit from Scripture? And yet, he’s right! Oddly, I feel like the painful things are often those that most show God to me. Show His love, His grace, etc. It’s such a backwards thinking from how I would imagine things, and yet, it’s quite far above my own way of thinking, which is prone to many flaws.
Thanks for reading! Praying for you, Vanessa!
Hey Lis, I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog! I had a similar revelation earlier this week! I had been sick with the flu for the past 2 weeks. I was starting to get really frustrated as I was having a hard time keeping up with the house and the kids. I just felt so horrible and wasn’t seeing an end in sight. Then one morning I woke up with complete energy and felt great! I realized that this is how I normally feel every day when I’m healthy, but you don’t realize what a gift health is until you experience sickness! Now I too would prefer God teach me these lessons without the trial, but you are you right that it is the trial that makes us realize just how good the good really is! Thanks for sharing your journey on here, your walk with the Lord is inspiring!
Hi, Jessica!
Ooh, sickness is an area that I can certainly relate to! I have been ill before and just prayed for God to instantly heal me, and felt so frustrated when nothing happened. And yet, watching God work THROUGH my pain is oddly a lot more affirmative of His reality than an outright answer, I’ve found.
Praying for your total recovery!