@ LibertyGal

I was reading this passage last night: > …from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there would be only twenty. I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; **yet you did not come back to Me**,’ declares the Lord. ‘Do consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the Lord was founded, consider: Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. **Yet from this day on I will bless you**.’ ” (Haggai 2:16-19) {emphasis mine} Why were bad things happening to the Israelites? Because they were not following God. Why did God allow these difficult situations to occur? Because God was calling them back to Himself. This made me think of several times lately, when I had written about Christians going through hard times, that fellow believers had tried to kindly correct me implying that God would not allow these painful things to happen to believers. They were trying to defend God’s honor, but instead they were degrading God. If God is not in control of everything, then either God is unable to protect His own from harm because of sin or bad things happened accidentally and God ignored the injustice. Saying God was not in control of allowing every hardship is either saying God isn’t strong enough, isn’t smart enough, or isn’t loving enough. The God I serve is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and love incarnate. He also didn’t promise us easy, pleasant lives, but did promise that good would come out of every situation. > And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) When Jesus walked on earth and some people said they wanted to follow Him, His response was not what we would expect: > And He was saying to them all, “**If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me**. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. (Luke 9:23-26) {emphasis mine} When one particular man said that he would follow Jesus anywhere, Jesus responded this way. > As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “**The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head**.” (Luke 9:57-58) {emphasis mine} Jesus was brutally honest that following Him would not be easy or comfortable. Following Jesus is more likely to lead to hardship and persecution that prosperity and comfort. > “Then **they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name**. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But **the one who endures to the end, he will be saved**. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:9-14) {emphasis mine} Of course God isn’t putting us through hardship to torture us. He is putting us in situations to grow our faith and dependence on Him, i.e. Abraham. He is putting us in situations where we can minister to others, i.e. Joseph. He is using us as examples of faith to others, i.e. Job. Any hardship has an eternal purpose. Sometimes we can see it (at least eventually) if we are looking for God’s will and plan. Sometime we won’t see what He was accomplishing until we get to heaven. Still we need to trust God through it all, knowing His plan is perfect. > “**For my thoughts are not your thoughts,\ > neither are your ways my ways**,”\ > declares the Lord. > > “As the heavens are higher than the earth,\ > so are **my ways higher than your ways**\ > and my thoughts than your thoughts. > > As the rain and the snow\ > come down from heaven,\ > and do not return to it\ > without watering the earth\ > and making it bud and flourish,\ > so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,\ > so is **my word that goes out from my mouth:\ > It will not return to me empty,\ > but will accomplish what I desire\ > and achieve the purpose for which I sent it**. (Isaiah 55:8-11) {emphasis mine} God understands how hard it is to understand what He is accomplishing. We live in the here and now while He is outside time and space and therefore has a heavenly and eternal perspective that we will never truly have this side of heaven. He has told us how the story ends, so that we can have peace and trust Him through whatever circumstances He has blessed us. > Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. **These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world**.” (John 16:31-33) {emphasis mine} In fact, Jesus made this so clear that His disciples rejoiced in persecution they received due to obeying Him and sharing His word. > They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and *then* released them. So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, **rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for *His* name**. (Acts 5:40-41) {emphasis mine} Peter specifically warns believers to expect trials and hardship. > Dear friends, **do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you**. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. **If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed**, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, **if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God** that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, > > “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,\ > what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” > > So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. (1 Peter 4:12-19) {emphasis mine} Paul writes about begging God to take away a health issue. Eventually he accepted it as part of God’s plan for his life and boasted gladly in his hardship. > …Therefore, in order **to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn** in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times **I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you**, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore **I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me**. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7b-10) {emphasis mine} No matter what hardships we experience in life, whether poverty or persecution or poor health or loss of a loved one or any other hardship, God is with us working everything for our good. > Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, > > “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;\ > We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” > ****But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us**. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39) {emphasis mine} I like to look at the story of Joseph as an example of God’s extraordinary plan in the life of a faithful believer. Joseph trusted and honored God. God had a plan for Joseph to be used to save the lives of his family and the people of the Middle East from famine, but God didn’t just instantly put Joseph in a position of power to help. He prepared Joseph and slowly moved him to where he needed to be. First Josephs brothers wanted to kill him out of jealousy, but God used greed to get them to sell Joseph as a slave instead. He orchestrated the right slave traders to walk by at the right time so that Joseph would wind up in the house of Potiphar, the Pharaoh’s guard. Then when Joseph acted honorably towards God, his master, and his master’s wife, Joseph was sent to jail for years. I’m sure Joseph was wondering why God would send him to prison for doing what was right, but it put him into the presence of the cupbearer of Pharaoh. A long time after correctly interpreting the cup bearer’s dream, Joseph was called up to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, put in charge of the famine preparation and became second in command after Pharaoh. Joseph, after years of slavery and jail time, was now the second most powerful man in the Middle East, if not the world. God had a plan, but it was hard to see until its completion. In the same way, Job lost his wealth, his children, his health, and his reputation, but remember that Satan had to get God’s permission before anything could be done to hurt Job. So many people today are blessed by seeing Job’s response to hardship and loss, by seeing Job’s faith, his struggle, and his submission to God’s plan. In this case God even gives Job more after this time of testing than he had before. When we experience hardship we need to know that God has a plan for our life. It may be something amazing here on Earth. It may be souls won for Christ. It may be to prepare us for heaven. Whatever the case, it is for our good. We don’t need to be ashamed that God would allow hardship. We grow most when we experience hardship. Our light shines brightest in darkness. > Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!\ > How unsearchable his judgments,\ > and his paths beyond tracing out!\ > “Who has known the mind of the Lord?\ > Or who has been his counselor?”\ > “Who has ever given to God,\ > that God should repay them?”\ > For from him and through him and for him are all things.\ > To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:33-36) Trust Jesus