What is the first word you think about when you think about the Lord? For me?
F A I T H F U L
I love this quote by Bob Goff,
“the way we deal with uncertainty says a lot about whether Jesus is ahead of us leading, or just behind us carrying our stuff.”
Have you ever took a step back and looked at your life and thought
“Well, this is a mess.”
Or
“I didn’t plan to end up here.”
Or
“This is not a season in my life that I thought I would be in.”
Take heart, friend!
GOD IS THERE. He knows. He is making a way. And He is preparing you.
If I have learned anything in life so far, it is that God is sovereign, and He redeems.
He is mighty and has authority over any situation we face in life. Our Heavenly Father is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end, so He has a handle on whatever you are walking through right now. He can take whatever situation, no matter how messy or mangled or broken it is, and make something beautiful out of it.
I’m not just saying this because it sounds nice and warm. I am saying it because it is the cold hard truth. There are times where we are in a hard season and He allows us to walk through it because He knows it will benefit us. Why would a “good father” allow a child to suffer? He lets us suffer sometimes because He is a good father and He knows that through the pressing something beautiful will come out of it. Like a dirty piece of coal under pressure becomes a stunning diamond. He cares for us and doesn’t want us to sit in complacency. The problem: MY MINDSET.
I’ve gone through different seasons in my life. Hurt, confusion, loss, sickness, stress, complacency. And every time I come out of one of those hard seasons, I know that God has used it for 1) my growth as a follower of Christ and 2) He has used it for His Glory.
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.” Habakkuk 3: 17-19
I love this! Habakkuk has a situation where he’s complaining and questioning God (a pretty typical human flaw). After time with God Habakkuk has a change of heart in the midst of his situation. These are the things I took from this passage of scripture…
ONE: God is not at all diminished when man faces difficulty. God is God and nothing about Him changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. So, when seasons of our lives bring a change in the crops, we can rejoice in the fact that God has not changed.
TWO: Habakkuk didn’t ignore the fact that the crops were dingy, and the cattle were missing. He didn’t just try and tell himself that everything was going to be ok. Habakkuk called out his problems for what they were. BUT he knew that God was sovereign over it all.
THREE: God is taking our seasons we are in, and because of His redeeming nature, He is transforming behind the scenes. Deer, in all their agility and swift stature, are created to be surefooted so they can climb the precipices and steep mountainsides. God is making our feet like deer. He is taking those hard seasons we find ourselves in and molding, shaping and creating our feet like the deer’s, surefooted to join Him in the high places. Because it is in the high places where we find Him.
So what is my outlook going to be in my current season? Am I going to sulk and feel sorry for myself, or am I going to seek opportunity in the season I'm in right now and believe that God is next to me working? Be encouraged, in whatever season you are in God is faithful!!!
He knows where you are at. He knows how you feel. BUT you have to surrender it to Him and allow Him to do what only He can do.
Open hands, friends, open your hands and be ready to receive God’s grace.
