And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
1 John 4: 16 NKJV
I was interested the other day to read a small post from a local pastor who claimed that a recent situation in his own life which he initially thought to be negative was actually God nudging him in another direction. This is a interesting conversation for the believer, for how many times in my own life has a negative circumstance actually been Gods leading in disguise? That God would lead me through a uncomfortable circumstance in order to bring me to His desired destination. Is this the God that many of us recognize? I was brought up in the belief that were God to lead me through something out of my comfort zone that He somehow must be angry or at least punishing me for something I'd done. This isn't always the case. There are times that God loves us way too much to leave us in our current situation, so He may gently push us along in another direction. Which begs the question, is every negative situation in my life a bad thing? What if, through my negative experience, God was leading me into something wonderful? Every day now I look at the news and I see a lot of negative stories. I admit that these stories at times lead me into negative feelings, which is to be expected if we are surrounded by negativity. Yet, what if all of this negative is simply the Lord moving us into the position for something positive? It is totally within Gods power to do such things. What we may see as a negative situation is actually a move in a positive direction. Of course, I have plenty of examples where I have experienced such situations. Before I got hired into my current job, I was having a lot of difficulty in my old one. There were those who didn't want me there and treated me as such. I prayed constantly that God would get me out of that job. Yet, day in and day out He allowed me to be exposed to that atmosphere. Of course, experiencing that environment did a lot for developing my patience as well. Finally, when I felt I was near the end, another job opened up. Could I have quit my job? Yes. Would I have learned as much if I had? Probably not.
A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.
Proverbs 16: 9 NKJV
I have a dear friend who is struggling with dealing with our governors draconian illegal vaccine mandate. His fear is that he is being given the choice of getting the vaccine or lose his job and income. Of course, I hear stories such as this each and every day and wonder, what is it that God is doing through this negative situation in my friends life? What is it that God is leading him into? I am a firm believer that one of the first things we should be asking in the midst of these situations is, "What are you doing through this, God?" There are believers who say that God will reveal His intentions in time, as if we cannot have a personal conversation with Him. Well, in order to have a personal conversation with God we would need to have a personal relationship with Him, right? The apostle Paul tells us of just such a relationship which we all share with the Father through Christ Jesus who lives in us {Galatians 2:20}. We can certainly have that deeply personal conversation with Jesus, as He is living in us. What is He telling us? One situation I thought about this week was something my mother used to tell me whenever discipline was in order. It's a ages old saying, yet she would tell me, "This is going to hurt me more than you." Looking back, I can recall how much pain it brought her to discipline her son. Is God any different? Does He enjoy leading His children through uncomfortable situations knowing the pain it causes us? I will never agree with that cock and bull reasoning. We're told that Gods main identity is love {1 John 4:16}. Does love at times bring us through painful circumstances? Absolutely. However, I believe that we spend far too much time focusing on what we're going through than what lies ahead. I get it. Uncomfortable situations hurt, and we want them gone as soon as possible. But the question remains...what are You doing through this, God?
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11: 1 NKJV
~Scott~
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