The Great Author in the Midst of Our Suffering
Have you ever been disappointed by God?
Consider Who God is: He created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1) He holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways. (Daniel 5:23) Wisdom and power, counsel and understanding are His. (Job 12:13) He says: “Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt?” (Job 38:8-11)
So why would you be tempted to remove the Magnificent, Divine pen from His Hand, to rewrite your story like a toddler with a broken crayon?
We live in a fallen world. Every story may begin with, “Once upon a time…” but may not necessarily end with, “and they lived happily ever after.” As Christians, we know that the painful outcomes we experience on earth will someday be healed, resolved and restored when we arrive in heaven and are in the arms of the Author and Perfecter of our Faith – Jesus Christ.
We may know this in our heads, but do we believe this in our hearts?
(If you are not a Christian and haven’t placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are still holding a broken crayon and writing your own story as you see fit. If you want Jesus to change the direction of your life, click here.)
We may storm the gates of heaven with our prayers, but the petitions go unanswered. A prodigal child spirals out of control and never returns home; a marriage is never made right; a complete healing never occurs; a great career and the guarantee of financial success never materializes; a relationship is never wholly mended. Doesn’t God want us to have these good things? When He doesn’t answer our requests, should we get angry? Should we fold our arms against our chests and pout until He responds?
Should we be disappointed with God? Let’s face it; from God’s point of view, you and I are a disappointment to Him. Every. Single. Day.
The Puritan Pastor, Jeremiah Burroughs said: “Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and Fatherly disposal.”
The Lord doesn’t withhold good things from us because He doesn’t care, but because He knows what’s best. Can we surrender our idea of what is “good” in exchange for God’s idea of what is GREAT? Suffering produces spiritual fruit in us. Bruised oysters produce pearls. Affliction can bring us closer to the Lord and create blessings that cannot be generated any other way.
God is known for creating plot twists, new storylines, and unexpected scenarios that we may not like. A Pastor once said: “God is more concerned about your holiness than your happiness.”
What are our questions when going through trials?
HOW WILL THIS END?
Forgo your storyline. Give up on the result that you want. Let God have His way with this chapter in your life. Don’t put your hope in a job, a relationship, a healing or your dreams. Place your hope in God, because He is a God of hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)
In the book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego have been told that they will be thrown into a fiery furnace unless they worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue. Their response is key to knowing how to be faithful to God in difficult times: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel 3: 8-25)
Daniel’s friends didn’t know what God had planned. But they knew their God. They didn’t compromise; they weren’t distraught. They had faith that their obedience to God’s plan would result in His glory even if they were going to suffer and die. God was faithful to them, just as He is faithful to us! Although they were bound and tossed into the flames, the three friends strolled around loose, with a fourth man resembling “the Son of God” who walked with them! (This is a Theophany, a manifestation of God that is tangible to the human senses). When the three men came out of the flames, they weren’t burned, their hair wasn’t singed and their clothes didn’t have the smell of smoke!
The obedience of these three Jewish friends led to King Nebuchadnezzar, a Babylonian, giving praise to the Most High God.
Will we still love and worship God with our whole heart even if He doesn’t fulfill our request in the manner that we think best?
God is working this out for your good.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
WHEN WILL THIS END?
God’s calendar and your calendar won’t sync. Throw yours away. Release your agenda into His extremely capable hands and let Him move according to His schedule. You see only one paragraph in your story; God sees the entire book and knows the final chapter. He knew you would be in this place, at this moment. He knows where you are going. Don’t lose hope because your prayer hasn’t been answered based on your timetable.
Before man was created, God knew exactly what He was going to do to redeem mankind from Adam and Eve’s sin. It took a span of 4,000 years from the time Adam and Eve were created to the time Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, was born. If God is able to save all humanity, He is able to rescue you at the right time, according to His plan.
“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4)
Give your “when” to God.
My times are in Your hand. Psalm 31:15
IS GOD WITH ME? DOES GOD LOVE ME?
Even the disciples had doubts. Mark 4:36-40 says: Now when they (the disciples) had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”
Jesus is with you during the storms in your life. Believe Him. Call out to Him. Allow Him to quiet the wind and calm the raging sea. If you are His child, He has never stopped caring for you. He asked the disciples and He asks you: Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?
The Apostle Paul was afflicted with a “thorn in his flesh.” The affliction is not described, but it may have had something to do with his vision. He asked God three times to remove it. God didn’t remove it, but He told Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my Strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)
God gave Paul a spiritual blessing – grace. If you are a recipient of a spiritual blessing like grace, peace, or joy, etc., be thankful for it and cling to it.
God is with you – He is Immanuel (God with us.)
For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)
God loves you. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)
WHAT SHOULD I DO?
Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
Rejoice always. (1 Thessalonians 5:16)
In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(1 Thessalonians 5:18)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. (Proverbs 3:5)
Be anxious for nothing. (Philippians 4:6)
When we walk through the valley, we should be thankful, obedient, and have faith. God is worthy of worship even in the pit of suffering.
You can admit what you are feeling to God:
“This hurts Lord, but I will praise You.”
“The healing hasn’t come, Lord, but I will praise You.”
“The relationship isn’t better, Lord, but I will praise You.”
“That person hasn’t apologized, reconciled or forgiven me, but I will praise You.”
Submission to God’s will is the best way to glorify Him. Jesus is our example.
While Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said to His disciples, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26: 38-39)
Be thankful in all circumstances. Stay close to the Lord. Don’t give up!
FOCUS ON JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR SOURCE
Now is not the time to turn away from the Lord. Only God can be the source of your strength.
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12: 1-2)
Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26
Pour into the scriptures. Pull out encouragement from God’s Word. Keep seeking Him through prayer. As long as there’s life, there’s hope! God is a God of miracles!
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks, finds and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7
The Lord will work out His plans for my life. (Psalm 138:8 – NLT)
In our pain, God has our undivided attention. We need to keep pressing in to hear from Him. Psalm 119:71 says, “My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.”
It will not be easy. Difficulties and setbacks may arise, but the Great Author has a story to tell and He’s using your life as the blank page He’s writing on.
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