Sunday, April 4, 2010

Has God left you alone?

The hardest experience I think I have ever known was when I was in a fiery trial of my faith. Waiting on God and wondering if He was even around was an excruciating and nerve straining experience for me. When I was much younger, patience wasn’t a virtue and it didn’t come easy. Like most of American’s in the rural South, I wanted to grow up in a hurry, and wanted everything I saw. We learn very early what instant gratification is and use it as a weapon of strategy. Little did I know, I was in store to be revamped or reprogrammed, thus the fiery trials lie ahead. As a new child of God, just born into the family of God, I had this preconceived notion that I knew just what God wanted me to do in this life. All I had to do was just look around at the others in my camp and surmise what God was doing in their lives. To be sure, it couldn’t be that much different for me? As time would tell, I was in for a big surprise. For many years to come, I failed at everything I did or touched. I was constantly met with disappointment and sometimes despair, all because of this preconceived notion that I just knew for sure what God wanted me to do. I even had others, even preachers and Sunday school teachers, to tell me what God wanted me to do. I jumped through everybody’s hoop just to meet disappointment. When I didn’t perform well, others were disappointed in me as well. I’ll tell you now; I have disappointed many people in my life just because of that preconceived idea what God has in store me and my life. At times, I felt that God has abandoned me also.

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you…” 1Peter 4:12

Whether we are right or wrong, God has a tendency to go into His stealth mode and observe us from a short distance. If the truth were known, God has always been so close to us, He could put His hand on my shoulder at any given time. The problem is we just don’t know it.

When we enter into a test, God will become anonymous and become the observer of our actions and what we say about the situation. In short, it is God that devises tests and grades us upon our decisions, whether they are right or wrong. We can learn a great deal from reading about the experience Job had with his friends, God, and the devil. Yes, God set the stage of events along with all the key players just for Job’s test of faith. The million dollar question is, will we pass or fail the test. That is entirely up to you and me. I have said this many times and I will say it again, bad things happen to good people. But, I want to reiterate, it is for a very good reason despite the fact we might not ever know the reason.

“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man…” James 1:12-13

The whole point of testing is to develop character, faith, patience, and most of all, love and adoration of the Father, Jehovah God. We can see this as we study every character in the Bible. In short, it is about growing up, spiritually. God, just like your parent, wants and desires us to grow, but not with without stress and strain. For the most part, we all seek the path of least resistance, the easy road. But God in His wonderful wisdom, will place road blocks in our path and deviate us into the unknown and scary. Who is it that knows the path that God will choose for you? That’s just it, nobody knows what God wants you to do, where you are to go, and where you are to spend most of your time, nobody knows. It’s all just, best guess isn’t it?

How desperate Job must have been when his very friends accused him of every conceivable sin he might have committed to bring this fiery trial upon himself, his wife, and children. But it wasn’t what Job had done or not done that mattered, it was what God had chosen for Job. Yes, it was what God desired for Job to strengthen him, to refine him, and polish him, so God could see himself better than before, in Job’s life. So, I guess what I am going through and what you might be going through is just to refine us and bring us to the point that God doesn’t see himself in us as He would like to right now.

Over the many years I have traveled with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, I have learned one thing that I would like to share with you. I feel that if I am going to be tested over and over and over, the best thing I can do is to get determined to pass every test. That’s right, get determined to pass every single test, no matter how intense, no matter how hot, no matter how cold, no matter if it takes my life. If we look at the lives of all the others recorded long before we came into the light, we will see plainly that they went through things that we will probably never be faced with. But by the Grace of God, they persevered by their faith and love for God. God will get you and me through the fire, but if He doesn’t, well, it gets better, let’s go home to be with Him. So as I see it, we can’t lose. We are a winner either way! If God brings us through the fire, it is because He isn’t through with us and we need to go on, plain and simple. On the other hand, if God deems for us to die for the cause, as His Apostles did, as I see it, our time was up anyway, no matter the circumstances. Sooner than later, we must realize we are not on this earth to pursue our fancy. God brought us here to perform that He wills for us and that is our sole purpose for being here. It isn’t for us to like it or not to like it; it is our lot in life that God chooses for us. Complaining about it will get us nowhere with God but just a shorter life on earth. God wants us to trust Him, that’s all. If we don’t ever learn at some point in our lives to trust God, what have we learned? This scenario was played out on the back side of the desert in Arabia when the children of Israel were led out of Egypt by Moses. If they didn’t learn and learn quickly to trust God, well, they died a premature death. That is how it works with God. Do we really know Him like we think we do? I doubt it seriously. The only way we will really get to know Him is to experience Him in the trials of our faith. If we would look close at the Children of Israel, we notice that God was never too far away that He could not respond to them. That’s it! He is never too far away to respond to your call for help in time of need. I’ll guess right now, He is so close to you, He could put His hand on your shoulder, but you just don’t realize it. I feel His presence, don’t you?

“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5

This is God’s promise to all His children, no matter where you are or what the circumstances. He is right there with you. Acknowledge his presence and He will confirm it with your heart and soul. Jesus lives in our hearts and gives each of us His love and peace of mind, heart, and soul. If something is missing, ask yourself, do you really know Him?

11 comments:

  1. I believe all that you have said. I have always believed in Jesus Christ and I was baptized in the name of Jesus and all seemed well, till one day I beame concerned about my relationship I was in. I loved and still do love this man and he is the one who told me about having a relationship with Jesus. Well, he said we would get married and I believed him. I know he loved me too, but things didn't happen because of other situations. But I told him I couldn't do it anymore and he agreed and said he couldn't do it anymore either.. but by him agreeing with me, it scared me. I was afraid to lose him. Then I told an evangelist about it and she basically told me I was going to hell because I stayed in the relationship and that scared me so bad, that I still haven't recovered from it. I believed God to have left me for my sin. I am still so scared. I stopped going to church and I was afraid to read the Bible cause I thought every scripture that was condemning someone was meant for me also. I never used to be this way. I used to love to praise and worship the Lord and now I don't do hardly any of that. I ended up having panic attacks and being really fearful of alot of things that are irrational. Before all this happened, I was praying for God to change me into a new person, let me do His will. I meant that prayer from my heart too. I even fasted at times trying to get closer to God. So, please tell me God didn't leave me for something I did. I am so scared. Please help me if you can. Love Jill

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    1. Dear Jill,

      My heart goes out completely to you. I know what it is like to turn fearful and be shamed by a bad conversation or situation from another fellow believer. (I'm referring to what the evangelist told you). I have to tell you that I don't think you are going to hell or abandoned by God at all. I think He loves you more than ever. Writing this post was a brave thing to do and you have more strength than you think. God will not leave us for what we do or don't do. That is not in His nature. He is love. He sent His son 2,000 years ago to die in our place so that we wouldn't have to worry about what we do or don't do. Please understand, I completely know what it is like to be wondering these things. But what I have learned and experienced is that God is always after you. He is always for you and never against you. He loves you dearly, Jill. You are His child and He is coming for you. Don't give up hope. God bless you, Jill.

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  2. Hello Jill, I am concerned about you, are you ok? I am sorry I have not gotten back to you sooner. I must have overlooked your post by mistake. Please forgive me for my negligence. I do want to help if you will allow me. I appreciate you following the blog. That is an encouragement to me. I want to encourage you also.Let me know how I can be of help to you. my email is albert@missionofhopeministries.com
    Please keep in touch and God bless you.

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  3. Hi,

    I Agree, the faith in me is not stable, when i actually think in depth i know he is there with us but when things get worse my faith shatters and i feel alone. At times i feel faith and patience are impossible for me.

    but i m sure i m in half awake n half asleep state - how to adress this problem ???--- your idea might help me. -- mahaveer singh , India, samrat101@gmail.com

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  4. what if you fail his first test of faith? are you done?

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  5. I hope not because I have failed plenty.

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  6. I hope not because I have failed plenty.

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  7. Perfectly what i needed today thank you for this honest post. Going through hard times as i have been physically emotionally and financially has been pure H E double hockey sticks. I have been turned against by my own son, I have had so much physical pain and to top it off God is being silent. I have been through many many tests in the Lord and each time i am ready for the breakthrough to the next level He is silent. I should remember this but today i just shattered.
    Thankfully i have a wonderful friend and brother in the Lord who has helped me tremendously today, and then I found your blog post and it answered a lot as well. Thank you.

    Jill God does not give up on us as much as people seem to think He does. God is very forgiving and if you give Him the chance i know he will show you plainly His love. Hebrews 9:27 it is appointed unto men to die once and then the judgment.We are not condemned in Him for mistakes once we repent we are forgiven! In God's eyes it is done gone like it never happened.

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  8. I am so sorry to read about good fellow human beings being shattered to this degree. The nastier bit is not only that society and others have plundered your life but you have to carry and address a huge burden of guilt. God is silent in my life, which is very difficult. I am not asking God to show me what to do because it is not God who is paying for the consequences of my failures but myself.And nobody spirit or entity or friend is there for me. I was raised to not even think of entitlement to anything and struggled against all odds to get what I got. I disagree strongly with the fatalistic attitude of accepting all bad things and coming to terms with hardship because God sends it to you and God is stronger and he always wins. It never brought me any peace of mind to accept hardship nomatter if I dubbted it Godsent or not. On the contrary, whenever I felt I was giving in and stopped processing the facts around me, I felt I was betraying myself and my conscience to become the best person I can be. If society, God, the devil, my mother, the mayor of my town, do not want me to go on doing what I want to do it is their problem because they do not live my life. I am co-author of my life with God. I believe in free Will and Agency on our part. I hate the fatalistic concept of pre-election. No even God knows what we will decide to do even if He knows how the story is going to end. I do not call upon the name of the Lord in vain everytime I have a flu, my heart is broken, I end up broke and lonely. He will not bother to answer. The answer from God is: that's your problem and your job to solve it. Jesus is there to help me cleanse my mind from spiritual fears, protect me from the Devil, give me visions of the afterlife and the renewal of my new life after all is over and humanity is permanently changed. Jesus is there to relieve me from the pain of my past which is unbearable because of other's people's sin against me.So many times I came to hate humanity and agree with God that it was not a good idea to create us in the first place. Please stop oscillating between fear of Hell and huge guilt about everything. The price has been payed. And on what YOU decide to do everyday God understands if you will be a good man or not.
    Blessings,
    Olga

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  9. I really feel as if God is punishing me when it comes to having a love life which he blessed so many other men and women to have along with their families, and why not us since we are no different than they are? loneliness is very bad for many of us men that really hate it, and who would like being alone anyway? certainly not me. it is very bad enough that there aren't any good women to meet anymore these day since they have a very bad attitude problem since many of them think that they are all that, but they are such Losers. and i know other men that have the same problem as well since women just don't know how to talk to us men anymore.

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  10. Finally something intelligible on Christian blogging. This below did it for me. I needed this confirmed in my heart.
    -
    Whether we are right or wrong, God has a tendency to go into His stealth mode and observe us from a short distance. If the truth were known, God has always been so close to us, He could put His hand on my shoulder at any given time. The problem is we just don’t know it.

    When we enter into a test, God will become anonymous and become the observer of our actions and what we say about the situation. In short, it is God that devises tests and grades us upon our decisions, whether they are right or wrong.

    ReplyDelete