I can say the scriptures from memory. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” “God works all things together for good for those that love Him and are called according to His purposes.” I can recite the scriptures word for word…but do I really believe them?
Perhaps God allows difficult circumstances or people in my life to cause me to depend upon Him and to reveal areas in my life…where I’m not walking in faith.
What does it mean in my everyday life that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me? How will that change what I think about my circumstances? If I really trust in the Lord with all my heart how will that change how I will choose to respond to people or situations that are difficult?
When I’m treated wrongly by people that are just plain stinky…every part of me wants to do a smack down…verbally or even physically. But there is that still small voice within me that says, “Susan, be quite and don’t respond. Trust Me. I see what’s going on and I will direct you…draw close and follow Me.”
It’s there in the middle that the Holy Spirit is prompting me to have an eternal vision. To know and to trust that God is at work in my circumstances…even though it’s not evident at the moment. That’s where I have to walk by faith, not by sight.
Perhaps He is doing a work in me…sifting me to remove something that is sinful, displeasing or dishonorable. Perhaps…He is causing to me look to Him and depend on Him even more. Perhaps He will use me, when I respond in obedience, to work in the lives of those that don’t yet know Him.
Am I willing to endure difficult circumstance without knowing exactly what God is doing or when He will bring relief? Isn’t that part of “trusting in the Lord with all my heart”? I can trust God…even in the storms because I know that God is good…all the time. Even when I’m hurting or troubled…He is good.
In myself I have such limited vision…but when I look through the eyes of faith…I can trust God.
When I start believing that “God works all things together for good for those that love Him”, then I can trust Him in all circumstances…including when wrong is done to me.
One of the most freeing things that I can do in the middle of difficult circumstances…when I have been truly wronged is to pray. Not only pray for God to deliver me…but to pray for the persons who are sinning against me. Not that God will bonk them upside the head…but to pray for what they are facing in their lives. Pray for their salvation. Pray for them to have a conscience that is tender and sensitive towards God and yielded unto Him…that God will plow the tough and rocky soil of their hard heart and plant the seed of the Gospel message. That it will come to fruition according to God’s perfect timing.
Time and time again…God has been faithful to work in various relationships when I have trusted Him and forgiven my enemy. It seems there is no better way to get rid of an enemy than to make them a friend…and God has done that in my life.
So today…when I’m facing difficult people or troubling circumstances…and part of me wants to scream for God to deliver me…if I can just remember the past…remember what God has done…how He’s faithfully brought me through…then I am freed up to pray for those who despitefully use me.
How about you….do you really believe?
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