I have observed that there are basically two types of people, those who see through eyes of hope and those who don’t. Of course, you can further nuance this, but I don’t plan to do so today.
I have wondered why hope wanes in some who get well into a path and face trouble, while others face the same type of difficulties and remain in a deep seeded hope? There is something deep inside of some of us that, even when faced with great difficulty, holds to an internal hope that won’t let go. While others seem determined to feel sorry for themselves.
I don’t know which camp you fall into, but I do know that if you find yourself a person who can’t remain hopeful in affliction, you can always be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
The truth is, we all face troubles of many kinds throughout our lives. All of us. We can’t measure one person’s problems against another’s…because there are so many different factors involved within each of our lives that make things hard. We do better to simply realize that we all face problems of many kinds.
The thing we observe that is most important is how people weather these storms.
We each have a path; we can each choose paths.
If God directs you down a certain path and you refuse, then face troubles in your disobedience, I wonder why you would blame Him. If God sets you on a path, but then He begins to move in a different direction, yet you won’t change because you are so hyper-focused on the first one and can’t trust Him in the change, why would you blame Him when troubles come? Finally, if God places difficulty in your path to strengthen you for other things, why would you be mad about that?
The following verse is very eye opening…
Those who follow the right path fear the Lord; those who take the wrong path despise Him. Proverbs 14:2
This boils down a lot of what we see in people…even believers.
Fear of the Lord leads us in the right direction, that’s true, but the second part of the verse is shocking…it demonstrates that when we choose wrong, we are hating Him. When we decide not to follow His lead, we are showing we despise Him. That’s pretty black and white, isn’t it? It makes me desire to check in with Him more often to make sure that He and I are still on the same path.
That’s what I do all that time. I ask God if I’ve gone off track, or if I’m just learning something new through the challenges.
When we made the big family changes that I’ve talked about multiple times, and then we faced a lot of challenges, I kept checking in with God and asked if we were being punished or trained. It’s been a long season of strength training and reshaping. It’s been hard, but really good at the same time.
You can tell the difference between “disobedience” hard and “strengthening” hard, if you pay attention.
I encourage you to take heart today. Look at your life and ask God, “Am I having these troubles because or disobedience or are you teaching me something?” Then listen. Listen and feel. Let God show you where He is and what He is doing. If you need to make a course correction, then do it. If you are where He wants you and it’s just hard, then re-focus and keep going. It’s that simple.
“But it you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
365 Days in the Presence 