“Tell Me, if you have understanding.”
So, like I am prone to do when I’m mulling something around, I’ve found another point that struck me tonight in posting the previous entry. I think, especially when it comes to living a Godly life, we sometimes wonder why ‘X’ thing had to happen. I mean, we were following the book, doing our best, and yes, we knew challenges would ensue, but still we ask “Why this? Why now?” and sometimes, as in my own case “Where are you? Don’t you care?”
Last night was one of my pity parties. I felt like everything was just being heaped on me: running a house, trying to deal with my little sis, caring for my car and my sis’ car, trying to finish school, dealing with slow business, having to make new friends since mine are out of country now or something, problems at a church I thought was home…the list went on, believe me, and included worries not particularly my own, like “What about him? Don’t you care about him? What about her? What’s she ever done to deserve this?”
Thinking to find a passage about comfort, love, etc, when I opened my Bible I found Job 38, where Job is whining and God is like “Where were you when I did all of this?! Do the heavens and powers of the universe answer to you?! What about your very mind? Did you create that?! Tell Me, if you have understanding!”
God basically told me to sit down. As I paged through the rest of Job, among other books, it dawned on me, as it has so many times before, God knows what He’s doing even if we don’t. He has known about every, single, small, great trial we will ever face and has equipped us to face them if we choose to use those gifts. And, for every, single trial, we come out with lessons learned, a stronger will, a stronger faith. Years later, we may see a prayer answered how we wanted, but the timing wasn’t right. We may see, more often than not, what we thought we needed or wanted, but only a challenge would help us see it wasn’t, and God had other plans. In the end, whatever the reason for the challenge, God always uses it for our benefit, and reveals plans greater than we see sometimes.
I read some of my old journals after this, ones from the darkest points of my life, when I truly thought my future was only a dream. But as I look back, I realize my trials have made me empathetic, compassionate, understanding, strong, brave, and unafraid of a challenge, and closer to Him, whether sent by God or otherwise.
God didn’t promise our lives would easy for following him, and promised the opposite. And yes, sometimes we feel unsure, unready, unable, just plain scared, to do whatever it is, but He also promised He’d be with us, always, no matter what. So, to life, to the worries of this world, the lessons I still need to learn as a person, as a Christian, to the uncertainty of the future, to all my future struggles, bring it on.
I pray I still have this hopeful fighting spirit tomorrow!
Not of This World, But Still In It
In the first lesson in a bible study series (concerning the study of different religions so we’re aware of what’s out there, and why that makes Christianity all the more special) a few points of interest were brought up.
The lesson was a basic introduction, one that presented obvious information that there are a ton of Christian-like cults, individual churches within a synod/group which miss the mark, those who have good intentions but build on a foundation of sand instead of rock, and those who have grown weary of competing with the world today. Among our discussion, the question came up, who was more responsible for this decline in membership, the willingness to fight for God, this complacency, etc. Someone mentioned that they had a friend who wrote to JC Penny, asking why they didn’t close on Sundays, more importantly, Sunday mornings. JC Penny actually wrote back with a very, very pointed remark: When Christians refuse to shop on Sundays or Sunday mornings, we will close.
When it comes down to it, if there is something we don’t agree with in the ‘world’, or how the ‘world’ views religion and Christianity, we could blame the church, but we are in the church. We could blame the world, but we are in the world. Our group also acknowledged that it’s harder today. True, it might be, but, as we discussed, God did not promise it would be easy. He said it would be the exact the opposite, but we are to take comfort in knowing we do not stand up alone. In our discussion we also mentioned Acts 5:27-40, and how that even though we will have trials of all sorts, challenges we would not imagine in living a Godly life, if we are truly doing anything for the glory of God, it will not be stopped. Feel free to send comments, questions, etc back to moi 
