Yesterday I listened to young man sharing his journey of faith. He mentioned that it was a tough day for him but he was learning how to push through when things don’t go as he expects. I started to reflect on my season and the lessons I’m being taught currently. There are times when we are called on to come up higher – to mature. When our faith is in its infancy, we often expect God to hear and answer prayers to soothe our troubled souls. And yes – He does! A very common cliché in Christianity – ‘He’s a prayer -answering God’. Until we find out He does not function at our ‘beck and call’.
He doesn’t respond to our prayers to make us happy. He does what’s best for us. Quite often we are not happy but we eventually learn that His way is perfect. Unfortunately His way doesn’t always make sense to our natural mind. One translation of Romans 11:33 says : ‘Who can explain His decisions? Who can understand His ways?’ Somewhere along life’s journey we often grow to understand some of these question marks we have struggled with. We finally get why He allows what He allows.
So what have I been learning lately? My faith will never mature without problems. Sometimes it’s not about having my prayers answered the way I’d like – the end goal is not an answered prayer. The intent is to strengthen my faith and confidence in my heavenly Father. Time and time again God uses the tough seasons to remind me that I’m not exempt from trials. However I need to know this truth – He’s always with me. He is there to walk me through the valleys and the difficult terrains of life. I need to know that 100 percent. Why?
You might agree that it is not uncommon to feel alone or abandoned in those trying seasons. Our mind becomes a battlefield. The enemy of our souls [or our own fragile self] will want to convince us that we are alone. Especially when it appears that God is ‘silent’. For a child of faith – You are never alone. These are lessons taught and understood only in the school of trouble and hardships. Knowing we are not alone gives us the inner resolve to stand, to endure and to do so in good spirits.
So what if your today is designed to bring you to this place? This place where you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that your Father is always there. Not mere religious words that you repeat to temporarily calm your fears – you know deep in the inner recesses of your being that He’s walking you through this season. What if you’re being taught how to trust when the pain doesn’t ease, the diagnosis is frightening, the child is still off course, the relationship is still broken, you’re still misunderstood or ignored, there’s injustice and you’re called to ‘be still’.
What if the true end goal is to refine our character, to build our confidence in our Father? What if we shift our expectations? What if we now ask God to show us what we need to learn from this? What if we stop trying to pray away the very thing that is being used to fashion that better version of ourselves? What if we just decide today to raise that white flag- walk into rest and trust? Stop fighting useless battles – those that drain our energy and leave us empty. Surrender to God’s ways and trust His hand. What if you truly start to believe that He will never leave you alone to navigate the distresses of life? What if….
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.“
Isaiah 55:8 (NLT)
Restored Hearts 