Romans: 3-5
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
A couple weeks back my amazing mother sent me part of the devotional she read that morning. It says, “In grace, He lead you where you didn’t plan to go in order to produce in you what you couldn’t achieve on your own. In these moments, He works to alter the values of your heart so that you let go of your little kingdom of one and give yourself to His kingdom of glory and grace. He isn’t so much working to transform our circumstances as He is working through hard circumstances to transform you and me.”
This really got me thinking. Suffering and hard circumstances are something that for awhile, I looked at very negatively. To me, it was something that I thought I deserved. I would think to myself, “This is what you chose when you decided to act the way you did.” I also thought God was punishing me for my actions. In my mind, God wasn’t that loving, forgiving, merciful father I’ve always been told He was. Everything I was told growing up was lies. So, I disregarded God. I shut Him out of my life. Why would I want to worship a god that allows suffering and turmoil in my life?
You see, I was confused and ignorant of who God really is and when my mom sent me this passage from her devotional, it really opened my eyes to who He really is. Turns out, I was wrong, again. (If you’re close to me you know 97.7% of the time I’m wrong lol) He is indeed the loving, forgiving, merciful, etc… father I grew up hearing about. God wants nothing but the best for you and will go to any length to make sure that happens. If that means letting you go through it for a chapter of your life, then He will allow that to happen.
He uses everything hard in our lives to grow you and me into the people He wants and knows we can be. Just because He allows these things to happen doesn’t mean He doesn’t love us unconditionally. In fact, it means He loves us even more and sees the potential in each and every one of us. Also quick side note. Something that I’ve learned over the last 5 months is that God is in charge of this world but He is not in control of it. Because sin is in this world, the enemy (satan) has control and that is why suffering exists. The reason God doesn’t stop the evil one is because of what I said before, He uses those hardships to grow us and to teach us. We as believers need to not be so quick to blame God. Instead, we need to go to Him with our struggles and lean on Him for help.
God works in CRAZY ways people! So don’t be surprised when things work out really well and don’t be surprised or lose faith when things seem like they never work out. His ways are too much for our little minds to comprehend and the sooner we can accept that, the sooner we can fully give ourselves to Him. He’s too good to us man and He deserves our praise. I encourage you to take time out of your days to come to just thank Him for what He’s given you and to also not to be afraid to ask why to the things you’re struggling with. He wants to have a relationship with you and wants you to feel comfortable enough to ask hard questions.
God continues to show me Himself on a daily basis. Whether that’s from conversations with loved ones, people I meet, or just time spent with Him. He wants to be able to show you Himself also. So let Him! Let Him speak to you and let Him into your life. If you spend time with Him, pay attention to the little things, and cherish every moment spent with people I promise you will gain a way better understanding of who our good good father is.
Much love, Sam
