Tuesday 15 July 2014

Why, Oh Why?


So I'm not going to lie things haven't exactly been that easy recently. And I'm not playing the 'Stop feel sorry for me card,' actually that's the very last thing I want to do, I'm just being honest and hopefully can get through to you, yes you reading this what God's been teaching me recently.

Bear with me here....

So last week was probably the most stressful and emotionally draining week I've had. Everything kinda just seemed to hit and though many things came along that where horrible and distressing there was also a few great highs; so really I can't complain. But I can also tell you last week was one of those moments where you stop and really question why God is putting you through this all at once? and causing you pain? Isn't he meant to be a God that cares? and simply we ask why?


Why?





Oh.

Why?

I know I did. And now thinking about it, I do this quite often... I question or rather try and figure out God's reason for things. And time after time, I come out the other end - or more God carries
me out, walks me out holding my hand, whispering... "See I had everything aced and planned Beth, I would never put you through anything that you couldn't come out the other end saying, God had it all sorted."

And it's funny because the amount of times I've come out the other end of a wild storm in my life and I reflect, smile and thank God; because that storm has developed me, brought me closer to him and made me stronger. Yet when I come to another storm later on, I forget this.  When I'm in the middle of the storm, out on the waters, where the waves are high and the wind strong I seem to lose sight of the previous outcomes of storms and get lost in the chaos. I lose sight of God. I feel myself sinking. So I guess last week when I went to sit down on the toilet... and picked up the devotional book lying there... did I stop and put my focus on God. I stopped and forgot about the storm. And what I read... refreshed me, cleansed me and gave me clear vision goggles to see clearer.


July the 9th- Streams in the Desert ( 366 daily devotional readings)

I have chosen thee in thee furnace of affliction (Isiah 48:10 JKV)

Doesn't God's work come to us like a soft rain shower, dispelling the fury of the flames? Isn't it like fireproof armour, against which the heat is powerless? Then let afflictions come, for God has chosen you. Poverty, you may walk through my door, but God is already in my house, and He has chosen me. Sickness, you may intrude into my life, but I have a cure standing ready-God has chosen me. Whatever occurs in the valley of tears, I know He has chosen me.
Dear Christian, do not be afraid, for Jesus is with you. Through all your fiery trials, His presence is both your comfort and safety. He will never forsake those He has chosen for His own. 'Do not be afraid, for I am with with you' (Gen.16:24) is His unfailing word of promise to His chosen ones who are experiencing "The furnace of affliction" -Charles H Spurgeon

(and at the end was a quote)

The burden of suffering seems to be a tombstone hung around our necks. Yet in reality it is simply the weight necessary to hold the diver down while he is searching for pearls.-Julius Richter

And the word 'simply' caught my attention.

It made everything going on become less, well, huge? That God was simply just putting me, us through some stuff. It's natural. It's life. After all our walk with God was never promised to be easy. And I held on to the fact that maybe I was looking at the storm through the wrong glasses... I was focusing on the negatives and everything that was going wrong... making a list. Whilst I should pick up the glasses that help me view the situation not as a heavy weight sinking me to the bottom of the ocean but rather as something helping me to find the pearls. The pearls that God would produce at the end of the tunnel.

It's often like when we have a power cut, how much more do we appreciate the light after being in the dark?

And once I changed my glasses, I realized how God is a great provider, comforter and his timing is perfect and though the waves may be rough, he will always be my strong ship that I can cling onto, whether I am riding smoothly on the deck of the vessel or being thrown into the ocean to anchor deep into the waves to find the treasure that God has given us. And the great thing is He'll always pull us back up (:

- Though the waves are strong, my God is stronger. Though the water deep, my God is deeper, waiting for me. Though my burdens heavy... the pearls are plenty.



God is good. All of the time God is good. Please, never forget it, even when you find yourself in the storm.

Check out this great song below (:






No comments:

Post a Comment