Depending on our response, adversity or trials can be God’s greatest means of building faith or it can be an avenue for discouragement and self-pity. Faith in adversity cannot be polished without friction, nor can it be perfected with trials.
The apostle Paul spent over half his life serving Jesus, and yet he experienced suffering. It doesn’t seem fair does it? Why would God let one of His servants go through so much pain? We may be asking ourselves the same question because of things we face today. Many people believe the Lord should prevent hardship, but He doesn’t necessarily do this in this life.
Maybe our reasoning is backwards. We may think we are faithful followers of God and we don’t need to suffer, but suffering aids in the development of faithful people. If we all had a life without trials or pain, would we really know God, because we would never need Him. Adversity teaches us more about God, than simply reading the Bible ever will. If what we believe is never tested by adversity, it remains head knowledge. God gives us opportunity to apply scriptural truths to the difficulties we face, and in the process, we find Him faithful. For example, how could Paul have ever known the strength of Jesus if he had never been weakened by persecution, pain, and adversity?
Adversity can either build our faith or lead to our discouragement. If we believe what scripture says, and apply its principles to our situation, our trust in God will grow. That way, our faith will be strengthened through adversity.
My life completely changed when I decided to submit my mess to God. When I chose to focus on Him, it opened up my mind that I had a purpose. My life was worthy of something. It proved to be the only thing that filled my heart with contentment.
Our lives are driven by needs -Physical, material, emotional, as social. It ranges from the simple and tangible like food and clothing, to the intangible needs of love and recognition.
Some are crucial to our survival and well-being others are just good to have. Sadly sometimes are can’t tell if they need or want. Yet, we pour our time and effort, and even our lives into pursuing them.
We don’t always know what we need and even when we do, we may not know if they are really important.
Some work hard to earn a living and lose their health in the process, while others neglect their family while striving to build careers.
With so many different needs demanding our attention, it’s sometimes difficult to make the right choices and live our lives well.
It’s like packing for a trip. We wish we could bring all the things we need, but we know we cannot. We have to decide what to bring and what to leave behind. We have a list of things to bring, but we have to pack them.
I’m sure we’ve went on a trip only to realize we left something important behind. Or the other way around, we went on a trip and packed something we didn’t use at all.
We need wisdom to know what is important and necessary. If life’s journey comes with a suitcase, what are you going to put inside?
What things will you bring along on this journey that would ensure that you have a good and happy life? Will there be some things that you can leave out because they are trivial and you can do without?
These are some tough questions. But we need to figure them out. We don’t want to end up regretting the choices we’ve made, and not paid more attention to the important things.
Jesus taught that making the right choices means prioritizing spiritual things over material ones, accepting a life of difficult, narrow paths over the easy ones, and living a life that is both righteous and selfless. Jesus contrasts a “wide gate” and “broad way” that leads to destruction with a “narrow gate” and constricted way” that leads to life, saying the latter is followed by few people.
The right choices are not always easy and true spiritual life may involve hardship and difficulty.
In Matthew 6:33 Jesus suggests, “But seek first God’s Kingdom, and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you are well.”
This means putting spiritual priorities ahead of material desires, should come first, if we focus on the physical too much we can cast a shadow of darkness over our life.
God is very wise, He knows our problems, what we are worried about, and if we put Him first all the other things will come.
Jesus linked the two to remind us that God is our ultimate provider. It is not our hard work and good plan that gets us into heaven. We need to have the right perspective. He is the only One who can truly provide what we need.
When we focus on God and His kingdom, all things will be given to us, but when we focus on going after our material needs, then we will end up with frustration and worry.
If we are busy in our lives with things that are only our wants, we are going to be merely going for existence. That’s not what God put us here for.
If we are made for a purpose of only existing we will never be content. It would be like a car with its engine running but no driver. Itburns up the fuel, but goes nowhere and over time the car goes dead.
Life without God is just like that. We use up all our energy, over time, our money, our energy, our time, our health, and over time, we drain our life away. Only to find out that we have gone nowhere and achieved nothing.
Growing up with a Marine Corp father was sometimes tough. He was a picture of discipline, strength and loyalty but he had a soft spot for his girls.
He was very structured and brought habits of military life, along with the values from a Hungarian of view of honesty, hard work ethic and respect. He led with love, discipline and integrity.
He said expected respect and responsibility for his kids. He didn’t like repeating himself, so if he told me to do something it had better be done right then and you were expected to do your best.
He wasn’t always the easiest man to read. Emotions did come naturally in words, the came in action.
He had a certain queue pride about him -in his service, in his family, and in the values he stood for. He was firm but fair -he excepted a lot, but he gave a lot.
He was a man who had seen what it meant to serve something bigger than himself and he brought the sense of purpose into his home. He raised his children to be strong, respectful, and ready to face the world.
When I was younger I was afraid of him, but as I got older he became the rock I could go to if I needed anything. I knew “daddy” would fix it.
Trust your faith over your feelings. Feelings are fickle and always changing, but your faith is constant.
When you’re feeling down, know that God’s Word is still true and that He is still with you because His Word says so.
Psalm 42:5 gives us each step we need to take to move from being ruled by our feelings to being led by faith in God.
Have you ever woke up and just felt off? You just didn’t feel like yourself in your heart and mind was bombarded with anxiety and fear even before your feet hit the floor. Then those feelings followed you throughout the day.
Too often, we think feelings are out of our control, but the Spirit of God gives us control of our hearts and minds. This means we don’t have to be led by our feelings. The Bible tells us to be led by the Spirit (Galatians 5). We cannot be led by both. We can face a barrage of emotions that are very real. How do we choose not to be led by feelings but faith instead.
First we must understand and process our feelings. Don’t ignore your feelings or act like they don’t exist. David spoke to his soul saying in Psalm 42:5, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me.”
David didn’t pretend like he felt fine when he doesn’t. He was honest about feeling down and we need to do the same. We can’t control our feelings if we act like we don’t have feelings. At the same time we can’t control our feelings if we only acknowledge how we feel and stop there. God calls us to be led by Him does not mean we ignore how we feel. That’s why in 1 Peter 5:7 He tells us why He calls us to cast our cares on Him.
Taking time to pray to God and pour out our hearts, being honest with Him about how we feel and knowing He can take it releases a lot of weight off our shoulders. The first step isn’t about being led by our feelings it is to first realize how we feel and process why we may be feeling that way. Once you’ve processed your feelings, don’t stop there, if you do they can stay with you.
The next step is redirecting your focus. The next line in Psalm 42:5 is “Hope in God.” David feels his feelings, but then he tells his soul to “hope in God.” Feelings, come and go and they do not have control of our actions. We still get to choose how we respond and what we do. We can say. “Yes I feel down today, but I choose to trust God.” Feelings may pop up unexpectedly, but we get to choose what we believe and what we focus on.
Psalm 42 teaches us to focus on God, and place our hope in Him. We can shift our focus to Him because the truth is He is bigger than any feeling we have and He is greater than any circumstance that may be causing us to feel the way we are feeling. Because He is greater we can praise God anyway.
Psalm 42:5 goes on to say, “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my salvation.”
I like the progression of this verse. First David is downcast. Then he decided to have hope anyway. And finally he tells himself that he will praise God. Don’t let your feelings stifle your praise. Not only can praising God‘s shift our feelings, praising Him will lead us to having the right feelings.
We don’t have to wait until we feel good or life is purpose to praise God. We would be waiting forever if we do that. But we can focus on God and praise Him despite our feelings. Freezing God doesn’t have to be during worship songs. It’s doing the next right thing in spite of our feelings. Faithful lives aren’t led by feelings, but by God.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” – Hebrews 13:8
My favorite kind of exercises are hiking and swimming.
Both of these are endurance exercises that improve cardiovascular health. And while I can’t hike the harder distances after a knee surgery a few years back I still enjoy the easier trails.
In a world of hostility toward truth, a world infatuated with sin, a world full of broken people who want to rule themselves. That’s the world that Jesus was born into. That’s the world Jesus received, one with hatred. We shouldn’t expect to be received any different.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you” -John 15:18
In a political climate and culture wars we are harshly reminded that all isn’t right with the world. Total justice has yet to be served. We are a nation of lost souls who need the rule of Jesus the King.
Right now rather than joy and peace flourishing, tensions are high and truth is a battle to be bought. Jesus came into this world, freely and joyfully, and He walks closely with us.
Every day, a person either gets closer to Jesus or falls away from Him, there is no neutral ground that exists when it comes to knowing the Son of God. Each passing day, the lines get easier to see. I think this is why Jesus asks, “But who do you say that I am?” -Matthew 16:15. How we answer reveals how we relate to Jesus, and how we relate to Jesus determines our eternal future. Those stakes could not be higher.
When Jesus heals the demon-possessed man the crowds fear Him and want Him to leave (Luke 8:26-29, Mark 5:1-20). The refusal of Jesus, the only Son of God. This refusal continues today, as people reject Jesus’s kingship, hate His light, and are offended by His truth.
If we are following Jesus, we might feel like we are in similar circumstances, especially as a result of our faith in Jesus. Jesus knew the outright refusal in a hostile world.
I imagine the increasing tension Jesus felt, of being preyed on by His opponents, because they wanted Him to mess up, and some actually enjoyed thinking it happened.
This was Jesus’s reality. The spiritual elite stuck close to Jesus not to follow Him, but to frame Him. Their supposed commitment to truth led to Jesus’s incriminating on the cross. Even there as He suffocated until His death, they cursed Him.
The world is clouded with hostilities of earthly accusations. It’s our greatest enemy at work. We should be comforted because Jesus knew the accusation of a hostile world, and He walks closely with us.
Jesus is a Savior who was abused, but He is also the Deliverer of abusers. Only the Son of God, with all love and justice, could appeal on behalf of His torturers.
One day Jesus came into a hostile world. The kingdom of God was broken into reality through human form, a promise proven in Jesus that His people would be governed and enlightened by Him from their darkness (Isaiah 9).
“For you will not abandon my soul in Sheol, or let your Holy One see corruption” -Psalm 16:10
One day when Jesus returns to crush the serpent’s head once and for all (Genesis 3:15), His reign and victory will be ultimately finally proven and our battle against hostility will be finished forever.
Jesus came to conquer this world. And He walks closely with ours.
What alternative career paths have you considered or are interested in?
I’ve worked many jobs in my life from serving meals at a college to working with the elderly. But in the end I’ve always wanted to do something that helped people. Maybe it is because of the way I grew up. I hate to see people hurt.
I think about my past work and most of it involved helping people. I can’t see me doing something that wasn’t helping someone whether it be someone who was hurting emotionally or physically.
I have been very blessed that I have had the opportunity to be a wife and a mother. If I had to change my life’s work It would be a counselor or a life coach.
We as human beings are very clock-driven. We plan entire days around time. We design work, family, recreation, and even worship around tightly fashioned schedules. We might even think that our time is our own. It’s not. It’s His.
In Psalm 31 David expresses His belief that all of life’s circumstances are under God’s sovereign control. In his cry of deliverance he says, “My times are in Your hand.” It’s a climax with a beautiful confession of faith, “But I trust You, O Lord.” David found hope, strength, and relief in the hand of the Time Keeper.
I find it interesting that the Hebrew Word picture for time is conceived as an opportunity. Its root meaning is duration, experiences, and filling of time. I think what David is really saying is that my times of opportunity, all experiences, and filling of my time are all in Your hand. What a powerful revelation.
We are told that Solomon was very wise. He was blessed with the wisdom of God after he had, lived a long prosperous life. He wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes 1:3 he declares that, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” God’s purpose.
Acts 17:26 tells us, “He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and boundaries of their dwellings that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” God determines our appointed seasons. There is no such thing as useless time. There is a set time and set season for everything that the Lord has in store for you in life.
Understanding your time and seasons will help prevent you from making a lot of mistakes in the future, and it will also help you from making wrong turns and unwise decisions. If we understand the season, we will know if it is the right time to make a move.
We should make the most of our time, and conduct ourselves having the fear of the Lord (Holy fear) during our time on earth. Knowing that God loves us and cares for us enables us to stay steady in our faith regardless of what time we are living in. It keeps us from sinning foolishly by taking the time into our hands in God’s timetable.
‘See then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” –Ephesians 5: 15-16
We need to rescue the time that remains in our lives. We can only redeem today and plan to redeem tomorrow, because yesterday is gone. We alone are responsible for using what God has given to each of us -time. When we do that something amazing happens.
“He makes everything beautiful in its time” -Ecclesiastics 3:11
From Pity to Praise 