GOD’S PLANS (part-4)

TROUBLES – PART OF GOD’S PLAN FOR YOU?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed
within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise
Him, my Savior and my God.”
(Psalm 42:5)

MEDITATION:
Here’s a positive thought we can have during the storms of life:
    “I am growing through God’s plan for me.”

What is God’s plan for you? Before you were created, God had
a plan for you, and He still has that plan regardless of what we
might think. We need to find and then embrace God’s plan for us.
    For I know the plans I have for you,” declares
    the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm
    you, plans to give you hope and a future.
    (Jeremiah 29:11)

When we follow His plan for us, we will discover a purpose for
living that will create a new excitement for us. More importantly,
we will grow in our relationship and fellowship with our Creator
and His Son, Jesus (our Savior).
    Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies
    that we have conducted ourselves in the world,
    and especially in our relations with you, with
    integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so,
    relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.
    (2 Corinthians 1:12)

God wants to enlarge you, not indulge you. God is more interested
in making you holy than He is in making you happy and healthy.
His plan for you will sometimes cause you to walk through valleys
filled with challenges that you never could have expected.
    But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await
    a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the
    power that enables him to bring everything under his
    control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they
    will be like his glorious body.
    (Philippians 3:20-21)

Sometimes God will allow troubles to make you more like Christ.
Think about the times when you have grown the most. Isn’t it when
you had to deal with some troubles in your life? When we face any
insurmountable problems that we can’t handle, we often call on the
Lord and we have a desire to grow closer to Him.
    Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as
    His children. For what children are not disciplined by
    their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone
    undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not
    true sons and daughters at all.
    (Hebrews 12:7-8)

But what happens after we have been through challenging times?
What do we do when we are on the other side of the problems that
threatened to break us and destroy our faith? What faith?
Our faith….
    – that God is with us
    – that God cares about us
    – that God wants what is good for us

When we have endured the challenges we faced (the ones we didn’t
ask for, or want), we should ask ourselves,
    “Have I grown closer to the Lord, and renewed my
      commitment to following and serving Him, or do
      I find myself falling back into the unholy attitudes
      and habits that I had prior to the storms I just
      experienced?”

When we were thrust into a challenging valley we didn’t plan for
or expect, it can either devastate us, or it can be a time for us to
pause and reflect on….
    – the glory of God
    – the comforting knowledge of God’s availability
    – the special time for us to focus on growing closer to Him
    – the comforting assurance that He disciplines those He loves
       and who are a part of His family

We may not have control of the situations in our lives, but we do have
the opportunity to make choices, and in fact, we must make a choice
when we have unpleasant experiences. Some resent what they have
gone through and drift farther from the Lord, but others grow more
in their spiritual walk during the times of deepest despair.

ACTION:
Think about the unpleasant experiences that you’ve had in your life.
How did you feel when you were blindsided by something that made
you feel like your world was devastated, and seemed so big that you
would not be able to recover from it?

Now, think about what happened when the traumatic event was over.
It may have been short in duration, or it may have been so long that
you thought it would never end, and it was slowly destroying the joy
of life for you and threatening to weaken your faith.

Did you ever consider that even though you felt overwhelmed by
what upset your life, it could have been part of God’s plan to grow
your faith and your trust in Him? When God is gracious and gives
us His salvation, we enter His sanctification process – which is a
lifelong process that will end when our earthly life is over and we
go to be with the Lord.

We never know what will be involved when He transforms us from
who we are, to who He wants us to be. However, we do know that He
loves us so much that using His divine wisdom and power, He will do
whatever is needed to purge us of all unrighteousness, and fill us with
more righteousness.

Sometimes His efforts to draw us closer to Him will be filled with an
unimaginable joy, but for some of us, it may require taking us through
a valley of difficulty and discipline. But, even during those traumatic
and devastating times, He has promised to be with us.
    The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures,
    He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes
    my soul. He guides me along the right paths
    for His name’s sake. Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,
    for You are with me; Your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.
    (Psalm 23:1-4)

    Keep your lives free from the love of money and
    be content with what you have, because God has
    said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake
    you”.
    (Hebrews 13:9)

We might question why we must go through a valley of devastation
that makes us wonder if it will ever end. When we read the scriptures
which tell us that what we are going through is for our good, we may
ask,
    “How can this be good when it hurts so much?”

We may be thinking,
    “God, I believe in You and in all I have read in Your Word.
       I have been trying to faithfully do the things I believe You
       have called me to do. Why is this terrible experience thing
       causing me to feel defeated and on the brink of depression?”

When we are down and emotionally suffering, we need to pray
and we need to pause and think about how much God loves us.
As difficult as it might be, we need to remember that whatever
He allows to happen is ultimately for our good.
    And we know that in all things God works
    for the good of those who love him, who have
    been called according to his purpose.
    (Romans 8:28)

See if this makes sense to you.
    Our pride and ego can cause us to develop an independent
    attitude. Confidence is a good thing, but not when we begin
    to think that we don’t need God as much as we did in the
    past.

    That’s not the way God wants us to be. He wants our dependence
    and not our independence. When our world feels like it’s crumbling
    and we can’t see the light at the end if the tunnel, the only hope we
    have is that the Lord will be with us, and that He will give us relief.

    That is the type of dependence He wants us to have. Why? Because
    when we are dependent on Him, we won’t be tempted to become
    egotistical and arrogant. Additionally, when we receive praise for
    anything we do for the Lord, we will redirect all praise to the One
    we depend on – God. He has taught us that we can’t do anything
    without Him.

    He may provide it directly, or indirectly, but everything is ultimately
    attributed to our sovereign Lord who is in control. As an example,
    I am confident that He gave me a gift for sharing His Word. With
    that in mind, does He give me what He wants me to share, or has
    He given me the ability to read the scriptures and compose what I
    need to share? It doesn’t really make any difference which one is
    true, does it? In either case, it is God who provided, and it is God
    who deserves all the glory and praise.

    Is there a danger in becoming dependent and basking in the praise
    we might receive from others? Yes, there is a danger, and we can
    read about it in God’s Words to mankind – the Bible.
        On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes,
        sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the
        people. They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not
        of a man.” Immediately, because Herod did not give
        praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down,
        and he was eaten by worms and died.
        (Acts 12:21-23)

    If we fail to give God the praise and He no longer uses us
    to serve Him, does that mean His messages will lose one of
    its venue which will reduce the number of people who hear
    from Him? No, it doesn’t, and we can see what happens if
    we read the next verse in Acts.
        But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.
        (Acts 12:24)

Is it possible to view the troubles in our lives as beneficial and not
as adversities? Yes, we can, if we pray and look at things from God’s
perspective. When we read His Word, pray. and avoid dwelling on
the unpleasantness of what we are experiencing, we will discover
how God can make us more holy through hardships. We can also
be thankful that He is actively sanctifying our lives.

Some may wonder if a person is actively serving the Lord, will they be
exempt from experiencing troublesome times? When we read about
the life of Job, we can see that no person is exempt from experiencing
the Lord’s work/plan in their lives. What does the bible tell us about
Job, the one who suffered some of the most devastating things anyone
could imagine.
    In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job.
    This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and
    shunned evil.
    (Job 1:1)

On the surface, we can only know a limited amount about another
person and their relationship with the Lord. God and the person
are the only ones who know the ‘real’ person. We, and God know
the struggles we have with unrighteousness and only He knows
how to help us claim victory over Satan’s attempts to bind us with
his chains of sinfulness.

From a personal standpoint, I have been serving the Lord for many
decades and yet I have watched my wife being treated for cancer, go
into remission and have to be treated again about 20 years later when
cancer returned with a vengeance.

While she was being treated, I had a mutant virus that caused me to
spend 10 days wondering if I would recover. On the morning of the
10th day, the Lord assured me that I would recover, but not quickly
(it took more than 60 days to fully recover).

Recently my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s which was another
‘gut punch’ for both of us. I seldom talk to others about my emotional
pain of witnessing the effects of this horrible disease, but it can suck the
‘joy of living’ out of you to watch someone you love going through this
disease and not being able to help. All you can do is assure her that she
is loved and be the best caretaker you can be for her.

Do I deserve these painful experiences? Did Job deserve his tragedies?
I know my weak areas, and I have seen how the Lord has used these
things as part of His sanctification process of purging unrighteousness
and increasing righteousness in my life.

I still have many questions, feel pain each day and pray for a miracle
from God. I also know that many are praying for us and have seen
how the prayers, support and encouragement of loving friends have
helped us endure the suffering of this awful journey we are on.

If any of us are honest with ourselves, we know that we are not perfect
and we need the Lord to correct the things that we can’t. We know how
we’ve tried to overcome them on our own and how we have failed so many
times in our attempts to correct what only God has the capability of doing
successfully. We know that He can ultimately transform us into the person
He wants us to be so we can fulfill His plans for us.

I know the things that God needed to change in my life and have seen
the results of His efforts. I have been able to enjoy some of them, but
some have been very painful and a threat to my faith and happiness.
However, my miseries pale in comparison to the things suffered by Job.

When I look at how Job didn’t rebel or lose his faith, but continued to
trust God, even though he had questions, it reminds me that I should
follow his example. When I read about how God restored Job with
much more than what he lost, it reminds me of the omnipotence of
God and keeps hope alive that He could instantly and unexpectedly
ordain a miracle healing for my wife.

Even though I often think about the amazing testimony we would
have with her healing, I have to remind myself that His will is always
meant for our good, even if it is very hard to understand.

Questions:
    – Are you going through a difficult time right now?
    – Are you in a valley that has been caused by:
          – A wayward child?
          – A financial difficulty?
          – A job loss or other difficulty?
          – A devastating illness in you, or a family member?
          – Lingering sin in your life?
          – Something else?
    – How are you handling your circumstance?
          – Are you trying to work things out in your own strength?
          – Are you struggling with discouragement and/or depression?
          – Are you developing an angry and/or rebellious attitude?
          – Do you feel like you are losing your faith and trust in God?
          – Are you trying to look at it from God’s perspective
             and trying to understand how He could possibly be…
                 “working all things for your good,
                    because you love Him”

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I believe and trust You in all things.
Forgive me for any area where my faith is weak. Help
me in my times of need. Remind me of Your desire to
transform me through Your sanctification process.
Teach me to look for the benefits of the challenges I
am facing now, or could face later. Remind me of how
You want me to be dependent on You, and not become
independent in my own abilities and talents You have
given me. May I always give You the glory for all the
good things in my life, even during the times that are
painful. Thank You for loving me enough to purge me
of all unrighteousness and mold me into a more holy
person in whatever way You know will be most effective.
Help me to embrace the way You are changing me, and
teach me not to resist and rebel against Your efforts.”

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