It Is What It Is

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55: 8 - 9 NKJV

I heard a radio pastor this week lamenting the fact that we often wonder within ourselves just where God is in our times where we need Him the most.  Haven't you ever been there?  When life seems to be chaotic and you can't take much more?  You know that the Lord has promised to be with you always, yet you are struggling with your circumstances.  I've been in those shoes as well.  However, I think that we need to clarify a few things before we dive into just how we should see God in our trials.  First, the ages old idea that there is a separation between ourselves and God is just that, an idea.  It was, in fact, a idea born out of the lie of Satan himself {Genesis 3:4-5}.  It was Satan who also thought himself separate from God {Isaiah 14:13}.  However, it is the apostle Paul who reveals to us the truth of just who we are in Christ Jesus.  It is Paul who tells us that it is Christ who lives through us today {Galatians 2:20}.  This is what we speak to when we claim Christ in us.  This illustrates our own intimate connection with Jesus.  It is Jesus who now shares our thoughts, experiences and life.  We are...as Him.  Knowing this, how is it that we can fall victim to the lie of the deceiver when he claims that God is nowhere in sight?  That God is in heaven managing things while we are here on earth suffering.  I will never believe that this is the future which the Lord has for me.  I will never believe that God intended for us to live a life apart from Him.  So, where is God when the troubles of life come knocking at our door?  The same place He has always been...in you.  That's right, not only does Jesus share in our joys, but also in our sorrows as well.  For who else would know more about pain and suffering than Jesus?  Believe me, Jesus can teach us a thing or two about going through trials.  The sufferings of Jesus are well documented in scripture. 

"I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
John 17: 23 NKJV

I saw in the news this week that the democrats threw a fit over how the president described our battle with the media hype virus.  When asked how we should be handling the virus, President Trump answered, "It is what it is."  He was right on the money.  How come I don't see God in my struggles?  It is what it is.  Why is it that I always feel like God is so far away from me?  It is what it is.  The truth is, we've chosen to fall in line with a narrative for thousands of years.  The institutional church teaching that tells us that God is in heaven and that we are here on earth.  The theology that continues to tell us that the closest we can be to God is to be "like" Him.  Well, Jesus Himself torched that theology at the cross.  Jesus didn't die simply for the forgiveness of our sins, but that our life of sin would be put to death {Romans 6:6-11}.  After that, Jesus took the place since once held in our lives.  He now lives in us, sharing in everything we do.  We're no longer identified by our old sin nature, but by Christ who is in us.  So, again I will ask the question which I posed earlier.  How should we see God in our difficulties?  Should we continue to see Him as being separate?  Or, do we follow the truth of Christ and realize that Jesus endures these trials as we do.  I prefer knowing that Jesus is beside me at every turn.  However, there will continue to be those who will continue to follow a failed theology.  It is what it is. 

~Scott~