Shalam, brothers and sisters. May God bless you and His glorious light shine upon you on this His Holy Sabbath.
I started to discuss the reasons we face difficult challenges in our lives, as I stated there are two main reasons. They can come as a test of our faith or correction from God to set us back on the right path, which leads to the road to His kingdom. I also mentioned the cycle of confession and repentance that helps us to deal with correction. However, at this time, I want to examine the deeper question of why we face these difficult challenges. This will help us to go to a higher level of understanding in our faith in God. Therefore, let us buildup our wisdom and understanding together by the word of God, so that we may all grow and move forward in Christ Jesus.
Why is God putting me through so much hardship and pain if He is a God of love and mercy and all things are by His design? This may seem like an unwise question, but it is a valid question. It demonstrates several things about the level of our understanding. First, it shows that we recognize that there is a God. Second, God is in control of the times and seasons in the events of men’s lives, moving toward His ultimate design. Third, it shows that one understands that God’s innate characteristics are of love and mercy. This is a sign of wisdom and knowledge on our behalf when we recognize these things; yet we still lack one thing and that is the deeper understanding.
Hear the admonition of wise Solomon as he counsels us once again in the book of Proverbs 4:7, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” Certainly having the above three levels of wisdom and knowledge is good, yet we must strive for the greatest level, which is the understanding. It is at this point or level that we come to know the “Why?”; why God is letting us go through certain experiences in our lives.
Let us examine Lamentations 3:31-40 to gain this understanding:
V.31- First, before we can dig deep into the answer of why God does certain things we must know this: “the Lord will not cast off forever.” He will not let us stay in a state of distress more than we can bear. He is not a cruel God. He will always make a way out for us from our distress so we can endure because He cares for us (Read 1 Cor. ).
V.32- Yes, our trials and grief are from God. To understand this we must call to mind the life of Job, and how in his distress he was able to speak wisely. He confronted his wife who counseled him to forsake God and die that he may escape his present pain and suffering. However, Job spoke and said, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”(Job 2:9-10) Job abided with God in the mist of his distress. He knew that God is in control of all things. As we read the end of the book of Job, we come to see the awesome mercy of God toward Job’s faithfulness.
This concept of the operations of God in the grief of man can be summarized succinctly in this verse of Lamentations: God may bring trials but in the end, His love for us will always come through because of His great mercies. However, let us continue to dig deeper to understand the why.
V. 33-36- Understand that God does not crush, turn aside our right or the justice due to neither us, nor does he seeks to overthrow our goals and desires willingly-No, the Lord approves not of this.
Remember Job’s story. Satan stated to God that Job only had faith in God because of all the blessing and protection he received from God. He stated that if God would remove His blessings, Job’s faith would also fall away and he would curse God in his misfortunes. Then was God moved to demonstrate the power and strength of his saints, who truly believe in Him. He did not allow Jobs' suffering willingly. Yet, God made good come out of the trials of Job. It is because of the records of Job and other faithful followers of God that the believers of today as in time past were strengthened. They were encouraged in their troubles to abide in God. Even Jesus was strengthened by these recorded scriptures during the time He fasted 40 days and 40 nights and was starved. The holy scriptures state that the tempter, Satan, came to Him and showed Him many easy and attractive ways to escape His pain if He would just forsake His faith in God. However, we read that Jesus suffered the pain and overcame His trials and temptations because He abided in God, and angels ministered unto him (Matt. 4:1-11). Like Job, Jesus kept His faith and praised God in the mist of his troubles and God’s love and mercy came to Him in the end. Sometimes hardships are for testing and strengthening our faith in God.
V. 37- The Lord controls the seasons and times, what He allows or wishes to happen will happen. There is no human-being, angel in heaven, or the spirit of evil, Satan himself, that has the authority to say what they want to happen and it comes to pass as he wishes. Only God Almighty has that power (Read Romans -21).
V. 38- This is a key point to understand. God is not a righteous and unrighteous god at the same time, nor does both evil and good come out of His mouth. Romans states, “what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” God is in nowise unrighteous. God is not bringing distress and hard times on us just because He feels like it out of malice. But as you read on in Romans 9:15-22 you come to realize that He works all things together for the greater good so that all humanity may come to know that He is God and we are His creation; here we come to understand that His ultimate desire is to demonstrate His love and mercy towards us (Read Romans 8:28).
V.39- Finally, we have no reason to complain when trials may come as a test of our faith or as a discipline for our sin. Both the test and the discipline work for our good. The first strengthens our faith if we endure the hardship by abiding with God, while the other corrects us so that we do not continue in the wrong path. Read Hebrews 12: 5-11. Here we see the love of God as He deals with us as a caring father who desires the best for His children. He will not suffer us to do evil, nor turn a blind eye when we do the wrong thing. God corrects us so that we may walk in holiness and righteousness to His glory and our blessing. Therefore, whatever trial or correction we are going through, we must not give up, but overcome, so that the blessings God desires to give us may shine on us in the end.
V.40 Therefore, we must first examine ourselves and repent if necessary. Read 1 John 1:9. It states that God is just and faithful to forgive a sincere heart that acknowledges and repents from his or her sins. This is the process of recognizing and turning away from our sins, while seeking God’s forgiveness.
In confessing our sins, God’s love protects us from even greater evils. Read Psalm 32:5-6. By confession, we draw closer to God in our times of need and invoke His help. The Psalm says, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid…..surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.” God will shield us from the many evils and trials to come if we seek Him. The Apostles, as they traveled with Jesus in the boat, faced a mighty tempest on the sea, yet when they turned to Jesus and cried out to Him, He arose and calmed the sea, stopping the storm. In like manner, if we hold on to our faith and cry out to God in our times of need, turning to Him for forgiveness and help, He will always be faithful to calm the winds of distress and bring us safely to our destination (Matt 8:23-27).
Conclusion:
So then, we come to recognize the sovereign might of God in all things, who out of a loving and merciful heart, guides the course of history and the lives of individual men to a just destination. The journey to this destination, which is the kingdom of God kingdom of God
Remember the words of Jesus, how He soberly counseled us saying, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”(John 16:33)
Don’t give up brothers and sisters! Remember that all things are working together for our good; who are the sons and daughters of God. 1 John 5:4 reaffirms victory by the power of God over the troubles of this world as it states, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith”…Abide in Him and keep the faith.
Shalam,
May God Bless you and keep you until we meet again
Your brother and servant in Christ Jesus
Zarach
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