"With God's Grace Our Worst Past
Becomes Our Best Future"
Becomes Our Best Future"
Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash">Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God. I will praise him again—my Savior and my God! (Psalm 42:5-5 NLT)
We tend to moan and complain about our troubles. We don’t like pain. We don’t like situations that make us feel sad. These are natural emotions common to being human. We tend to analyze the world and our circumstances from self-interest and how common events impact us.
The loss of employment, government uncertainty, an unexpected bill for which we have no emergency fund to cover, a loss, or even the stress of normal life experiences, such as a change in the household. These things can cause us to spiral, making us doubt God’s goodness.
My mother would often raise her hands upward when she heard distressing news. “Are you asleep up there, Lord?”
Like many, she equated negative circumstances with God’s judgment or that “good people” didn’t deserve pain and suffering, as did Job’s not helpful friends.
Theologian Oswald Chambers preached:
“If through a broken heart God can bring His purpose to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart.”*
This only makes sense to us through the power of the Holy Spirit, consecration, and faith that passes all understanding.
While sometimes our troubles are of our own making, other times God uses those painful situations either to bring us closer to Him or to allow us to see His proverbial face as He hides us in a cleft while He passes by. Or He may use a broken leg to land us in the hospital to witness to a doctor or nurse or perhaps even another patient. God can change the worst thing we can think of happening to us into beauty we could never imagine.
Faith may require us to trust Him in ALL circumstances. This is David’s prayer. He wanted to give His sadness to God, who is the source of all comfort.
We don’t know the why, but we can trust the Who.
*Oswald Champers, My Utmost for His Highest, Barbour, 1963, 207
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