God ordains good for our lives
When Jesus hung on the cross, it seemed like it was over. His apostles were bewildered and discouraged. They may have felt that all was lost.
However, God ordained Jesus' sacrifice since before all time. God knew how it was going to go down in the Garden with Adam and Eve. But He is always working out, ordaining, good plans for us, for the world.
I have been in a very difficult situation, some would say near impossible, for around 11 years now. If I believed everything I read about leaving "toxic" relationships, I would have disobeyed God and taken matters into my own hands with a seeming "fix."
Our culture has become so self-obsessed that enduring even the least bit of suffering, even for Christians, is to be banned, to be unacceptable. We've bought the bill of goods that this life is to be about nothing more than our pleasure and comfort.
But when God allows all kinds of suffering into the Christian's life, what exactly is He up to?
This has been the question of the ages, starting with Job. Thankfully, we know what God was up to in Job's life. And I don't think it has changed much since. Job grew in intimacy with God.
God will allow or cause circumstances in our lives that seem unfair, that seem to cause us more harm than good. At least for a little while.
Remember, God has the long view in mind. He sees the full, big picture. We cannot.
What God deems a "little while" may take years in our own lives to pan out. How can we be okay with this? After all, we are not wired to enjoy suffering.
And yet God's Word tells us to count it all, the trials, tribulations, and testings, as joy! (see James 1:2-4) Joy?! How? Why?
1. God also tells us that our troubles are momentary, even light.
2. He provides, through His Presence, His own joy - makes it available to us in spite of and during our suffering.
3. Joy has nothing to do with getting or having our own way. It is about God having His way in our hearts and lives. And that usually looks very different from the way we think it should be or look.
4. Since God alone knows the future, He knows exactly what He is preparing us for, what lies ahead.
There is a saying these days, "Trust the process." I say trust in the One who is authoring the process. His processes take time, a commodity that we have no real clue about these days with our handy phone apps to speed up things that supposedly make our lives "easier."
So even in the muck and the mire, just like Paul sat in a heap of dung while imprisoned and still found joy in Jesus, we can rejoice! Because our joy, our ability to rejoice, should have little or nothing to do with our outer circumstances. Talk about a head game!
This is a supernatural feat accomplished only through the power of Christ in us via the Holy Spirit. Oh we can pretend that we are fine with the messes and even tragedies of our lives. But that will only take us so far, and not really.
But if we can ever learn to let go and surrender all of the messes and heartaches to God, ask Him to transform them and us into what He has in mind, then we just might stand a chance of rejoicing always.
Was the crucifixion good? Ever wonder why Good Friday is called good? How could Jesus and the unbearable agony that He endured for us be good?
Fast forward. That's how. The death of Christ was not the end of His story or ours, thankfully.
I have often wished I could "fast forward" through this very painful and much too long, in my opinion, season of my life. Lately, I have been whispering "momentary light" to myself when I am tempted to lose it, quoting Paul's' words from 2 Corinthians 4:17.
I also choose to believe the promise of Romans 8:28 - that God is ordaining all of this seemingly wasteful nonsense for my good. Because I love Him. Because I have been called according to His purposes, not aiming at purposes of my own.
That's what it's all about, isn't it? As Christians, we give up our rights, including our own purposes for our lives, in order to follow and obey Jesus as Lord of our lives. And He will lead us down some very dark paths in certain seasons.
The world won't understand. And that's fine. They don't need to.
We won't even understand the why's this side of heaven. And that's fine, too.
What we are to understand is that God's ways are always good. That is a very hard pill to swallow in the midst of terrible suffering. And yet!
So whatever you are enduring these days, whatever you may have been enduring for years (decades?), please know that God is still for you! He still has good plans for you. These awful experiences that He ordains will ultimately be resurrected into something wonderful and good. I know this because I know God. And He is good. Always.
The outcome of surviving our trials is this: our faith becomes larger than our mountains.
Oh Lord. Thank You for giving me these words to share with those in pain. Thank You for having a Master Plan that is for our good, even though we are hurting momentarily. And it is all momentary! We are truly just passing through this life, waiting for Your glorious return. Waiting for the time when You will make all things new and restore it all to as it was always meant to be. Thank You that we have this unshakable hope! That we have this amazing future to look forward to! Amen and amen.
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