Have you ever been in a situation or perhaps things happen and you find yourself wondering why am I going through this? What is the reason this is happening to me? I think we all have been there at sometime or another. It’s just being human. Life can be hard. Life can be unfair and sometimes, we have this false mentality that just because we are Christians that we should never have to face bad things or endure hardships. Satan will even try to convince us that if we are struggling that we must have done something wrong or are out of God's Will. (Remember the story of Job and even his accusing friends? We read in the book of Job that he was not in the trial of his life because of some wrongdoing, in fact, God actually bragged on him to the Devil!! "Hast thou considered my servant, Job? There is none like him in all the earth..." God allowed Job's trials to happen so they could become a testimony for His Glory!)
So often, the enemy tries to whisper in our minds and tell us “Look, you’re trying to live for God and do your best. Look how hard you are struggling... God is being unfair. He doesn’t care about you and what you are going through. You are only struggling so bad because you are trying to live right. If you would just give up, your problems would go away😏, etc”
But let me tell you dear sister, those are lies from Hell. Since the very beginning, way back in the garden of Eden, Satan has been a master at manipulating our emotions. He has a way of messing with our thinking. He is good at making us feel like God doesn’t understand our situation or He doesn’t even care about what we are dealing with. But the Word is full of promises and examples that refute that theory over and over again. Despite what things might appear like in our lives at the moment, God IS and has always been very attentive to His children. He does intervene in the affairs of men.
So, our thoughts shouldn’t be along the lines of what to do when God doesn’t care what I’m going through, but rather, it should be “What should I do when I don’t understand?…” or “what should I do when I don’t know
what TO DO?
First of all,
We must recognize that we may not have all the facts of even our own current situation.
(Examples: Look at Joseph— his betrothed virgin bride, Mary, was found to be with child before the wedding. That sure hadn’t ever happened before—at least not with a true virgin. It seemed pretty black and white as to what must have happened to render his “intended” as pregnant. Joseph could have easily ruined the whole gospel story by “reacting” instead of “acting” to the news. (Which is precisely why he was chosen by God as Jesus’ earthly father in the first place—God already knew he wouldn’t do that —He knew He could trust Joseph not to react instantly to such incredulous news. Joseph was called a just man in the Scriptures for a reason! He possessed such excellent character and wasn’t prone to anger and rash behavior! ) I’m sure Joseph had hurt, betrayal, incredulity, suspicion, anger, and probably many other conflicting emotions running through his mind. Although he didn’t initially understand Mary’s circumstance and the life changing events that had transpired that day, he still knew his bride. She wasn’t a loose, sinful woman. She was a pure, holy woman. She loved God! It was completely out of her character to do anything sinful or unholy. He knew if it were true, he would have to act— He couldn’t marry her if she had been defiled and unfaithful to him, yet I believe something in Joseph knew there just had to be more to the story. We know from Scripture that Mary had told him about the angel’s visitation to her and the message she had received but that story must have seemed almost unbelievable to him. An angel? For real?
The Bible said that while he thought on these things, and angel appeared unto him in a dream as well. The angel confirmed to him exactly what had already been told unto Mary. I can imagine Joseph’s relief as he awoke when he realized that his bride was still the same lovely, Godly lady that he knew her to be. Even more so now—she was so highly favored that God himself had chosen her to bear His Son!! God doesn’t put stuff in His Word for no reason. Everything in the Word of God was put there to teach us or to instruct us about something. God made sure to include all of Joseph’s story so we could have a wonderful example of what to do when we don’t understand —
Don't just REACT! Wait on God! Wait for more information to be revealed/discovered! Act only after you have had enough time to gather more facts and to think about your response. Never be hasty to judge or react. Just be still for a while….Give God time to show you things that you may not know or realize yet.
Don't Quit! This probably one of the most important ones. Don't “let go of the plow”...
Hang on! Just keep doing what you know to do... God will show up and move in your situation!! I heard a story about what a preacher said one time when he was asked what he was going to do next when facing some difficulties, he said this and I thought it was profound—“I don’t know yet what I AM going to do, but I know what I’m NOT going to do—I AM NOT GOING TO QUIT!
I am just going to keep trusting God to see me through!”
Wow!! What a mentality!!
Look to the Lord for Heavenly direction. God is right there to help us if we will just run to him...Too often, we run away from Him when we don't understand instead of running toward Him. He is the Wise Counsellor. We need to always remember to run straight to Him first!!
Listen to your pastor or your preachers. God often uses His men to send you direction and guidance right exactly when you need it. Listen intently to the messages being brought forth... Is God directly speaking to you through His messengers? Don't discount preaching as "just preaching"...Instead, challenge yourself each time you hear a sermon preached to listen for the voice of God to be speaking directly to you…(if you find yourself struggling, go back a few sermons, and review the messages…God usually sends us “the ammunition/instruction” to fight our battles with in advance. We must not be just hearers of the Word only, but we must be doers also!! )
Believe His Word... Study that Bible. Break it apart. Learn more about what it is saying. If you are having trouble in an certain area, see if the Bible says anything specific about it. If so, dig it out...meditate on it. Equip yourself with Divine knowledge.
Lean on His Power and Strength... Recognize we can't rely on our own power and strength. We need supernatural power from Above...We must realize that is okay to be weak and weary at times...Nobody has it all together ALL of the time... The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 that Paul himself prayed for deliverance from a "thorn in his flesh" and this was God's response and Paul's response back to God... (GOD) And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. (Paul) Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Praise Him in the mist of your confusion/trials/storm... I'm reminded of two songs here...I'm sure you all have heard the "Praise you in this storm" song but also, another one comes to mind..."Praise Him in advance" --one line of that song says "praise will confuse your enemy." That is so true... when the enemy bombards your mind and sends conflicting emotions and confusing thoughts, and you continue to praise God IN SPITE OF ALL THAT, He gets confused. And praise gets God's attention. Praise your way to victory! Our worship must be based on who God is, not what He has done for us...
Let God fight your battles--Realize some things are just too heavy for us to try to figure out or to fix. We will never understand it in this life. God has all Power and He alone can fix some things or bind up some wounds..Trust Him and give Him room to work in and through you.
Realize God is too good to be unkind or unjust. He has a plan. He doesn't make mistakes. If you are enduring struggles, it is because He had confidence that you could make it through them.
Recognize sometimes our circumstances/situations may indeed break us (and that is okay.) Sometimes the Lord, in His sovereign purpose, allow our struggles and our trials to be used as a tool or a means to make us better... He breaks us so that he can remake us. Think of how Jeremiah cried out in Lamentations because God has left his nation, city, and people utterly desolate and destroyed. Think of all the psalms in which the psalmists cry out to God for deliverance. Think of Jesus himself in whom “it pleased the LORD to bruise him ” (Isaiah 53:10).
We have all hear the misquoted verse (in 1 Corinthians 10:13) that God won’t place more on us than we can bear. But that is kind of taken out of context a little... (That verse mainly implies a way of escape from sin or temptation)-- While God does deliver His people on a regular basis, He has and he does put us through trying situations at times to help us grow and mature spiritually. But, he doesn't leave us to bear these heavy burdens alone. He has provided One to bear our burdens FOR us: ... His son, Jesus.
If it were not for Jesus bearing our iniquities in himself, we too, would be utterly destroyed under sin’s unbearable weight. That’s where His amazing, awesome grace comes in. If it weren’t for the grace in which we stand (Romans 5:2), we would surely fall. This life, and guilt of our sin is more than anyone of us can handle. However, God chose to lay our sins on Jesus so that we didn't have to bear them (Isaiah 53:6). He took our punishment and bought our redemption by His BLOOD!!
So, it would be more accurate to say that God will never place more on us than Jesus can handle. How are we going to make it through this battle?? Through and by the strength of Christ! Philippians 4:13-- I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
How are we going to overcome this trial? By the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony --Revelations 12:11--And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Remember, this current trial or valley isn't going to last forever! In His time, God WILL bring me OUT!Your worse trial is just that--a trial...There is coming a victory! Psalms 30:5... weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Look at Job-- His entire world fell apart but there came a point where God told Satan "That's enough!" God restored Job all that he lost and doubled it. But Job himself was a changed man. He saw God in a whole new way. He gained such humility, deeper wisdom, and greater knowledge that he previously never possessed... His struggles brought forth a change in his heart. He knew God in a greater way!! As Job found out, you can trust God even when you don't understand... He is still in control and HE has a MASTER PLAN!!
Let me encourage you if you find yourself in a situation where you are confused or just weary by the battle, wait on God! Keep doing what you know to do... HE CAN BE TRUSTED!!
HE WILL COME THROUGH FOR YOU!!
From my heart to yours,
-Tiphanie ❤️
……………🎶….He’ll do it again….🎶…………
You may feel down and feel like God Has somehow forgotten That you are faced with circumstances That you can't get through But right now it seems that there's no way out And you're going under God's proven time and time again He'll take care of you
He'll do it again (Oh He'll do it again) He'll do it again (Yes He will do it again) If you'll just take a look At where you are now And where you've been Hasn't He always come through for you He's the same now as then (Don't you know God has not changed) You may not know how You may not know when But He'll do it again
God knows the things that you're going through And how you're hurting He understands just how your heart Has been broken in two He's the God of the sun, the stars, the sea He is your Father He'll calm the storm He'll find a way and He'll fix it for you
He'll do it again (Oh He'll do it again) He'll do it again (Yes He will do it again) Yes He will Just take a look At where you are now And where you've been Hasn't He always come through for you He's the same now as then (Don't you know God has not changed) You may not know how You may not know when But He'll do it again
He's still God and He will not fail you He's still God, He has not changed I know He's still God and He's fighting for you Just like Daniel, just like Moses Just like Shadrach and Meshach, Abednego
He'll do it again, yes He will (Oh He'll do it again) He'll do it again (Yes He will do it again) Just take a look At where you are now And where you've been Hasn't He always come through for you He's the same now as then (Don't you know God has not changed) You may not know how You may not know when But He'll do it again I know that He will
You don't have to know how You don't have to know when You don't have to know how God will absolve you You don't know, you don't know how He's gonna do it I want you to put your whole world into God's hands He'll wipe the tears from your eyes Just hang in there He's gonna lift you to Heaven, yeah Hang in there, He's gonna open the doors closed in your face You don't have to know how, no no You don't have to know when You may not know when But He'll do it again Oh oh yeah Yes, He will