Trusting God in the bad times

One of the hardest things I think we are called to do as Christians is to accept the place that God has put us in with grace and trust especially when it is the last thing we would ever want. It may be a place of great trial and difficulty and we do not feel we have done anything to ‘deserve’ it but this is where we find ourselves.

There is an incredible clip on YouTube of a young mother dying from cancer explaining how she is managing to cope in this heart breaking situation.  Four months later she died leaving two small children.

This is some of what she said: People ask me why is God taking me away when a murderer gets to live a long life? There is an implicit assumption in this that I am a good person – I deserve better.  I am not a good person.  I do not deserve better.  As it says in Romans 3: 23 we have all done wrong things.

I have railed against not being able to do what I want.  It is frustrating and I get angry but the root of this is unbelief. What I am saying is I do not believe this is right for me.  God you do not know what you are doing. If you do know then you are not good or you are not in control. I don’t want this.  God you are not being fair because you are not giving me what I want. This is what our hearts say when faced with circumstances we do not like but God is good. He is in control. He is fair.

When I try and make him into a God who serves me – I sin. Our natural bent is to sin and that is our greatest problem.

I am so challenged by this.  I am not in the circumstances of this young mother but I have been in circumstances I do not like. I may rail against God and what is happening. I too get angry and frustrated but this will not help me or those around me.

Too often our default position as Christians is that God is good and therefore only good things should happen to us as his children. When bad things happen, it must be because we have sinned or because the devil is attacking us. This may be true or we may be in this place just because that s where God has us at this time.

Trusting God in these times is the answer; believing that God is good, he does know best and he has a bigger picture and purpose that he is working out in our lives. He has not forgotten or abandoned us but is holding us securely in his hand despite all our emotions that tell us otherwise.  We can and must trust him.

Our illimitable God

There is a wonderful description of God by Adam Clarke (an 18^th century theologian) quoted in The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. It draws me back time and again.  It is so rich and inspirational and one of the things it says is that God is ‘illimitable in his immensity.’ My immediate reaction was no, you mean unlimited. I was wrong. There is a huge difference between unlimited and illimitable.  Unlimited means you have no limits which is true about God. Illimitable means you cannot be limited.

God cannot be limited by anything and anyone. God will be God. He will do what he will do. You can choose to put limits on God in your life but the person you harm most if you do this is yourself. By limiting God you limit yourself.

Too often Christians are fearful of what God will do if they open themselves up and say, ‘anything, anyway, anytime God.’ They fear if they give God that liberty God, like some hard taskmaster, will ask them to do something they hate, go somewhere they do not want to go and be someone they do not want to be. So often it is much easier to maintain the status quo than risk letting God do something that may completely change your life.

However, reading on with Adam Clarke he says, ‘(God) from his infinite wisdom can do nothing but what is eternally just and right and kind.’ God is good. He doesn't do anything  unjust, unkind or nasty. He only asks us to do things that are for our good and whilst they may be temporarily uncomfortable, in the long term they will be a source of great blessing. If he asks us to go somewhere that we do not think we will like, we can be confident that with God for us and with us, it is the best thing for us.  In fact that comforting thought can help us through difficult times.

God asked a family I know to move from South Africa to UK. The mother did not want to go but she knew God was in it so they could move with the confidence that if God was asking them to do something, it would be for the good of all. It wasn't easy by any means; in fact at times it was really hard but now, years later, God has used the whole family greatly and there has been wonderful fruit from their ministry. They could have limited God and stayed in South Africa. God would still have used them, they would still have been a great blessing but the best for them, was a move to UK, confirmed many times.

God cannot be limited and if we let him, he will be unlimited in our lives. When we limit God, we put a cap on all the possibilities that could open up. Do not let fear limit you. Anything is possible with God – now that should be a comforting and exciting thought!

Keeping our faith

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Hebrews 11: 39 – 40

Hebrews 11 is the wonderful chapter about the Old Testament men and women of faith from righteous Abel through to the prophets. Many of them triumphed in their faith yet others suffered terribly facing persecution, imprisonment and even martyrdom. Yet the chapter concludes by saying that none of these wonderful saints of old, though commended for their faith, received what was promised; the fulfillment of their faith found in Jesus Christ, the Messiah. 

I find this fact very inspiring that they never gave up but died still believing that what God had said was true. Their faith was not in vain because though they did not see it, God brought about what he had promised. Now, these men and women of faith will be joining with us who have come to faith through Jesus Christ and together we will be made perfect.

Like these saints of old, we too may not see those things we are believing for but we must not give in to disappointment, doubt and unbelief.  These will rob us of our faith.  The object of our faith may be personal; the salvation of a loved one or work colleague or for our healing or it may be that we are believing God for a mighty revival in our nation or anticipating the return of Jesus Christ.

We may see any of these events or we may not but we must maintain our faith, trusting that what God has said will be fulfilled whether we see it or not. Alan Vincent (one of my heroes of the faith) says that for years his grandmother prayed for him yet she never saw him saved. However she never lost faith and took her ‘faith cheque’ to heaven and cashed it there. Her grandson was not just saved but became ‘a faith-filled, devil destroying warrior for a grandson.’

I don’t know about you but I can become very disappointed when I do not see the things I am believing God for. However today I want to rise up in fresh faith, shake off  my disappointment and declare before God that whether or not I see my loved ones saved, revival in UK or whatever, I will not let go and slide into doubt and unbelief but I will trust that what God has said will be accomplished .

Lord Jesus, today I raise my eyes afresh to you and ask that you will forgive me for doubting you and letting disappointment and unbelief creep into my life. Please will you strengthen me afresh today so that whether I see the things I am praying and trusting you for, or whether I do not, I will still be found in faith in Christ Jesus? Amen. 

Persevering to victory

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. Matthew 19: 29

I was reading something that Joyce Meyer wrote about the difficulties she experienced in the early days of her ministry and how glad she is that she persevered and did not give up. I think we would all say ‘Amen’ to that as the Church would be a poorer place without her ministry and practical encouragement to us all.

The Scripture she quoted was the one above and I remember how relevant that was in our early Christian walk.  God called us to leave the church we were going to and join a new church where we knew hardly anyone. I remember grumbling and complaining to God about this and why was it all so hard and God reminded me of this verse.

Nearly 30 years later I can smile as it all seems so silly now. The things that were so hard then are not hard now and God has been so faithful because as we have faced harder and harder trials somehow things have got easier and easier which sounds so unlikely. However as I think about it with each and every trial that we face we have to draw closer to God and depend on him more and more. As we do that it makes the whole of our life easier because of the greater dependence and trust we have built into our lives.

However the converse is also true.  Imagine Joyce Meyer had given up when things were so hard or imagine we had not been obedient to God and stayed at the church where it was all so much easier. Today we would not have the blessing of Joyce’s ministry and we might still be living compromised lives in the church we were going to having things easy but unfulfilling at one level but not knowing the joy and satisfaction of having pushed through to greater heights in our walk with God.

I marvel that any of us have survived some of the spiritual lows and difficulties that God has taken us through but it is so true that there is nothing we go through where God is not with us every step of the way, holding our hands, encouraging and strengthening us and whispering to us all the time, ‘Don’t give up.’  Jesus showed us that the Christian life may not be easy but it is always worth it. If Jesus could ‘for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’ Hebrews 12:2 we too can endure our difficulties so we too rise triumphant to greater glories for him.

Be strengthened if you are facing trials and difficulties and remember it is worth it and if you are in an easier time, thank God and rejoice in his faithfulness and love.