Sometimes I really wish the Lord would let us know why he takes us through certain trials or experiences. So much of what we as Believers go through often seems a mystery. And my flesh wants to know why I have to go through this.
I was so blessed this morning to open my devotional and read the words of Oswald Chambers. He explained why God doesn’t let us know.
Chambers writes…
If you are going to be used by God, he will take you through a multitude of experiences that are not meant for you at all, they are meant to make you useful in his hands, and to enable you to understand what transpires in other souls so that you will never be surprised at what you come across.
I know the trials and adversity I experience aren’t just for me, I have often told others that this trial is preparing me for the next season or the next trial. And that is true, but it goes deeper than that.
If God is really going to be able to use me in the lives of others (including my family) he must prepare me by allowing me to experience things that won’t make any sense to me at all.
For instance, why can’t my husband just get a job and make a living for us so we can live in our own house instead of living with his parents. So many times I have cried out & asked the Lord “how much longer?”. And each time the Spirit whispers to my soul, “Trust me”. Some days are harder than others. Sometimes it is hard because others watching our lives play out don’t understand what is going on because just like God doesn’t let us know the why…he doesn’t let others know why either. And their words can hurt when they think they are trying to help or maybe not trying to help, but maybe they are judging us. I have to get past that & get over what others may say about us.
If I really want God to use me for his glory I must become satisfied with the “suffering” he has in store for me because I know that it is how he will use me later on. I must go through it, not around it. I have to stop trying to solve what I think to be a problem and rest in the understanding that He is God and loves me more than I can understand and is not trying to harm me, but is trying to prepare me.
This is how we can rejoice in our sufferings. We must learn to look past the suffering and realize what is really going on…His glory will be revealed through our sufferings! That excites me! That makes the hair on my neck stand up. That makes all of this worth it.
So my new prayer is to ask the Lord to help me not be so short sighted and to understand my tiny little trials are just a part of his bigger plan. If I am really going to honestly pray this I have to be ok with going through the trial. I have to stop trying to figure out how to get us out of it. I have to be content in the circumstances God has us in. OUCH!
Oswald Chambers closed the devotional with these words,
We never realize at the time what God is putting us through; we go through it more or less misunderstandingly; then we come to a luminous place, and say-“Why, God has girded me, through I did not know it!”
