Recently I was talking to someone, and during our conversation I stated that God has our lives in His control, so I can rest in Him through all my struggles and challenges. She informed me that she doesn’t believe what I believe. As we continued to talk, I stated that it is obvious there is someone greater than we are. Her response: “Then He has made mistakes”.
It is very common for people to blame God when life doesn’t go the way they think it should play out. People think that God is not sovereignly in control when troubles abound – health issues, finances, infertility, etc.
But God has clearly warned us that we would have trials and challenges in this life.
God doesn’t make mistakes.
God doesn’t owe us a trouble-free life.
God deserves our love and devotion, no matter what we experience.
God deserves our obedience.
In Genesis 3:16-19 God provides us with what we should expect because He was disobeyed:
“To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” [Ladies, this reveals that we should expect challenges in our most intimate relationships. This is just the opposite of the lies our culture wants us to believe.] To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” [For the guys, this life won’t be all fun and pleasure.]
But God promises to give those who have a relationship with Him the encouragement, strength, and endurance to persevere through the struggles of this life:
Psalm 9:9-10: “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.”
John 16:33: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Revelation 2:10: “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
James 1:12: “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”
Today, as I was preparing to write this, someone sent me a little cartoon. The picture is a man on the phone, and the text reads:
“Me calling God to make sure I’m registered for the Fun and Successful package and not the trial and tribulations package for 2023.”
I could almost hear myself saying that! I certainly don’t like to suffer, but if that is the path God has laid out for me, then I know it is the best path for me. It makes me hold fast to Him more. The experience of His closeness is worth all the suffering. I want to embrace whatever challenges He sends me, in His strength, and with His equipping.
We have the ability to choose how we respond to suffering. We can lean on God, we can revile Him, we can create our own reality of who God should be and how He should behave, or we can have a pity party.
Leaning on God is always the most beneficial response to our struggles.
When we rebel against God, and attempt to build our lives without Him, He continues to work to lead us to Himself. That can often be a painful path because of our disobedience.
Genesis 11:1-9 provides one example of the futility in resisting God’s plan in an attempt to create our own: “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” The people failed to seek God, and attempted to create their own identity. They feared being scattered. They didn’t take that fear to God. They tried to be their own god, and that always leads to more problems.
“But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” God wasn’t threatened by their efforts, He knew the eternal danger because they were rejecting Him. His plan was to protect them.
“So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” Their fear became their reality, because they weren’t convinced God is God, and His plan is best.
When we are convinced God is who He tells us He is, then we will obey Him. We can accept suffering, and lean on God when we are under the pressure of life’s struggles. We won’t blame Him, or accuse Him of making mistakes, but we will praise and honor Him.
This is hard. This is challenging. But God makes it possible when we have a personal relationship with Him through Jesus.
He did this for Joseph.
He did this for Moses.
He did this for Peter and Paul, and all His other followers whose accounts of suffering are recorded in Scripture.
He will do this for you and for me, in fact, He is already doing this for you and me.
I have found that when I falter in my trust of God in my trials, He is there, holding me, loving me, and encouraging me. I remember that He is merciful and gracious.
His mercies are new every morning. Lamentations 3:22-23: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
His grace is sufficient each day. 2 Corinthians 12:9: “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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
When we are tempted to think that God should have acted differently in a situation, we must remember that He never makes a mistake. God is sinless and error-free.
Leaning on God doesn’t negate suffering. It makes the suffering tolerable because of the experience of God walking with us in the suffering. We will also be blessed by God, as Joseph, Moses, Peter, Paul and others were blessed.
Isaiah 43 has some beautiful promises for those who are suffering. Promises that God will be with us in the difficult times, that we are precious, that He loves us, and that our sins will be blotted out and He will never use them against us.
When we have a true relationship with Jesus, we can face struggles differently because of His Holy Spirit indwelling us. Religion cannot do this for us. Only Jesus offers a true relationship with God. If you want more information on knowing Jesus, please contact me.
Are you suffering? Do you want someone to talk with? Please contact me at: ButGodCares@gmail.com.
Living for Jesus, Donna
P.S. If this has helped you, please feel free to share it with others!
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Copyright 2023 Donna Shappy All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other – without the prior permission of the author.