Bad circumstances, bad people and bad news make me want it. The more I survey the landscape of the sinfulness and brokenness we are all a part of, I look forward to our eternal heavenly home that Jesus is preparing for us so we can be with Him forever. A place where there will be no more sorrow, suffering or sin. A place where bad things will be eliminated, good things will be perfected and the best things will be unveiled. Our citizenship is in heaven, and God has put a longing in us for our homeland. When it’s hard here, let’s take heart and remember: He is preparing a place for us, and preparing us for a place.
God Is At Work
God is at work… Through every trial and trouble. Through every problem and perplexity. Through every heartache and hardship. What is God doing during these times? He’s teaching you to look to Jesus, and transforming you to look like Him. When you face adversity, don’t give up hope, because God hasn’t given up on you. You may feel like everything is falling apart, but He’s actually putting you back together again so you can feel, think, speak and act like the person you were born to be. When you look back, you’ll find this to be true: your circumstances may not have changed, but you certainly have.
What God Has Been Seeing All Along
Like a thousand-piece puzzle, your life often looks like a jumble of disjointed and disconnected fragments that don’t seem to fit together very well. But God is putting everything into place exactly where He wants it so you can be who you were made to be and do what you were made to do. He has a good reason for and a good result from everything He allows to come into your life. Someday all will make sense, all will be made right, and all will be made new when He completes the good work He has started in you. Take heart! When the last puzzle piece is put into place, you will see what God has been seeing all along.
Count It As Joy
Christians should count the various trials in our lives as joy. Not as defeat. Not as pleasant. Not as punishment. Not as meaningless. Not as insignificant. Not as a reason to complain. Not as a lack of God’s care. Trials can be many things, but they cannot be joy-stealers unless we let them. While it may feel like trials are breaking you today, you can be sure that God is building you up through them in ways that are going to be amazingly good in the days to come. Your faith muscle becoming stronger. Your deliverance becoming sooner. Your witness becoming louder. Your homecoming becoming sweeter.
Shine His Light In Your Heart
Darkness isn’t just the time between dusk and dawn; it’s also any time you are facing the unknown. This is especially true of those seasons of suffering when the light at the end of your tunnel is nowhere to be seen. It is during those times that you must not give up hope. For even on those dark days when you can’t see what is up next, what step to take next or how anything good will come next, hope remains. Jesus is still there and Jesus still cares! Ask Him to give you the faith and inner strength that is needed to endure. And though the outer darkness may yet linger, the Son will rise and shine His light in your heart.
Life Can Be Messy
Let’s be honest about something: oftentimes our lives are a mess. Busted. Bruised. Broken. Things don’t work out like we hoped they would no matter how hard we work at things. In times like these, let us not lose heart! This is our hope in Jesus: the best is yet to come. Let us believe it, expect it, anticipate it and await it to come true because Jesus said it’s true. Let us watch for the daily doses of His grace to appear when we need them. And let us regard the eternal pleasure of heaven with Him as something wonderful on the calendar that is certain to come at the appointed time. Because it is. Because it will.
Point Them To Hope For Hardships
Others need us to point them to where they can go for help in hardships. Others need to believe us because they see us going there ourselves. The people in our lives need to see us suffer well, handling hardships with hope because we have Jesus in our lives. They need to see and hear our joy-filled, hope-filled, peace-filled confidence in this: He will get us through every test, trial and tribulation until He gets us home. As we walk through seasons of suffering, let us testify to the faithfulness of Jesus in walking with us so others can know, that because grace is available, they never have to walk alone either.
What Failure Is For
Do you know what your failure is for? It has a purpose, and that purpose is to help you succeed. Not just so you’ll try harder next time. Not just so you’ll be wiser next time. Not just so you’ll do better next time. But rather so you will rely more fully on Jesus next time. His strength. His guidance. His way. His plan. His timing. His help. The right response to failure is faith, for every person who turns to and trusts in Jesus will win in the end. Remember this when you find yourself coming up short: Futility and frustration are intended to move you away from self-reliance to Savior-reliance. And that move is always for the better.
Jesus Is An Un-Doer Of Bad Done To You
Jesus is not only a doer of good to you, He is also an un-doer of bad done to you by people. They hurt your heart; He heals it. They distance themselves; He draws near. They sting you with their words; He soothes you with His. They overlook you; He pays attention. They cheat you; He blesses you. They intend you harm; He works it out for good. They judge your sins; He dies for them. We all do each other wrong, but Jesus begins to make things right in us when we turn to Him, and He will someday make things right in all of creation. Until then, let us seek His grace when others wrong us and when we wrong others.
With Faith All Things Are Possible
There is often a tension between belief and doubt when things become difficult. It would be plausible to lose hope and lose heart when facing things that are too much for us to handle if we were forced to handle them alone. But Jesus has promised to never leave us alone, always supplying the grace we need for the needs we face. The more we trust in Him, the more we will rely on Him during the unexpected, uncertain and unpleasant difficulties of this broken world. He will work it out for good as we work out His purposes for us. With faith all things are not made easy. With faith all things are made possible.
Things Would Look Much Better
Remember this as you follow Jesus in faith: it’s not what happens to us that is of greatest importance, but rather the end result of what happens. Things often won’t go as we plan, things often won’t work out like we hope, and things often won’t be as simple or easy or comfy as we would like. But in the hands and plans of God, our struggles are not setbacks. They are stepping stones to the good result He has in mind. So… Don’t stop believing. Don’t stop proceeding. Something good is coming even if you don’t yet see it. Take heart! Things would look much better if we could see them not as they are, but as they will be.
It’s Never Right To Be Angry With God
It’s never right to be angry with God. It’s a sin. When we are angry at Him, it’s an assault on His character. It’s, in essence, saying to God regarding the circumstances that have caused such strong resentment in us: You are not right. You are not good. You are not wise. You are not loving. And none of those things are true, no matter how hard life gets. What is true is that God is unbelievably good and loving to us, and is actively working out a wise and right plan, no matter how hard life gets. He will make it all right when He makes it all new. So, be mad at sin, brokenness and Satan. But never be mad at our good, good Father.
God Is Working While We Wait
We don’t know what it means. We don’t know what is coming. We don’t know what to do. In times when the diagnosis is unknown, the situation is unresolved, the path is unfamiliar or the outcome is uncertain, what should we do? Sometimes the thing we are to do is to do nothing. We wait. We wait on the Lord. We wait in hope on the Lord. We wait in hope on the Lord to guide us, help us and deliver us. While it’s not easy to wait, it’s comforting to know that grace is on its way and that God will make a way. As our lives are on hold, let us remember with joy this beautiful truth: God is working while we wait.
Strengthening And Shaping Us
One of the ways that God changes us to become like Jesus is through hardships. We struggle to find answers on our own, we worry and doubt and fear often, we fall short over and over again, and we feel like many tasks in front of us are impossible. But, in time we learn to turn to and trust in the wisdom, strength, and grace of God as He transforms us into people of faith through our struggles. Hardships can be like hard workouts, strengthening us and shaping us for the better. As we face struggles, let us not forget this: sometimes God will change the situation; sometimes God will use the situation to change us.
Battling Unbelief
There are days when our biggest battle is against unbelief. We start to doubt that God cares about what is happening to us and that He is going to do anything about it. To battle unbelief, we must remember God’s faithfulness in the past and remember God’s promises for the future. He has always taken care of us, He is taking care of us, and He will continue to take care of us. Defeat your doubts by remembering today that He has a good reason for what He has allowed into your life and that He is actively working it out for your good. God cares about what is happening to you, and God will show His care for you.
If We Knew All That He Knows
What is going on? Why is this happening? When will it be over? Where is God in all of this? Life may not be working out the way we hoped it would or wanted it to, but God is doing a thousand things for us today even if we don’t have our spiritual eyes locked in on any of them. Our experience may seem pointless and be painful, but we can be confident that He is walking with us and working for us. We don’t have to make sense out of everything that is going on or that we are going through; but we do need to trust that God is tirelessly at work in ways that would make sense if we knew all that He knows.
He Will Help Us Every Moment
Devastating tragedy. Unexpected loss. Agonizing heartache. There is no way to be adequately prepared for sudden suffering when it blindsides us. We don’t see the hardship coming, but we can be sure of this: we will see the grace of God coming. He will not leave us alone to face the trials of this world. We don’t have the answers, but He will give us guidance. We don’t have the will, but He will give us strength. We don’t have optimism, but He will give us hope. We don’t have a lot of things on our own, but we do have Jesus. And He is everything. Take heart in this: He will help us every moment we cannot help ourselves.
And So Is The End Of Sin
There are many things we long for about heaven, such as being with Jesus, reuniting with loved ones, eliminating sorrow and experiencing fullness of joy. One big thing that we should daily and decidedly look forward to is the complete defeat of all sin. What a day it will be when we sin no more! No more unkindness, hardheartedness, covetousness and selfishness. No more idolatry, bigotry, adultery and mockery. No more rebellion, manipulation, inaction or division. Every sin completely gone forever because our Savior has secured the victory! Take heart, friends. Jesus is coming, and so is the end of sin.
Our Lives Are Under The Careful Rule
First glances can be deceiving. Initial observations can be short-sighted. The opening paragraph doesn’t tell the whole story. While it is easy to see the obvious things happening in, around and through our lives, without a careful look through a gospel lens, there is a lot that we can miss. God is doing a thousand things for us today, and we may not have our spiritual eyes locked in on any of them. Rejoice! Our lives are under the careful rule of a wise, powerful and loving God Who is moving us along toward the glorious return of Jesus when all will make sense, and all will be made right, and all will be made new.
In The Boat With Jesus
Some storms build slowly. Some storms develop quickly. Some storms end quickly. Some storms disappear slowly. But… No matter how great or lasting the storm that arises in your life, Jesus rules in absolute control over when it rages and when it ceases. It doesn’t get in the way of His plan working out; it’s a way of working out His plan. Even storms serve His purposes for good! Listen… If you trust Jesus for eternal life, then trust Him during everyday life. And if the storm doesn’t scare Him, it shouldn’t scare you either. Because you are in the boat together, and He’s already promised to get you to the other side.
