God Intentionally Working On Us
God is always at work in our lives. He is INTENTIONAL about that. Let’s just face it…most of us need work…so I am glad He is about the task. Unfortunately, God seems to do some of His best work on us during seasons of adversity. Scripture tells us that our God is a jealous God and He will get our attention when He is about to do something powerful and good in our lives.I don’t know about you…but I seem to pay closer attention during these times. How should this affect our response?
In I Peter 1:6-7 we are told to rejoice in those seasons of difficulty. Of course this does not mean we have to be happy about the hardship itself. Instead, joy comes from drawing closer to the Lord and believing steadfastly that He is growing us and preparing us. IF your usual response to trials is anxiety, anger, or depression, the ideas of having joy in the midst of the circumstance flies in the face of logic. However, if you look beneath the surface, you will discover that this biblical directive makes sense for several reasons.
1. Often, our natural reaction to pain is to run in the opposite direction, and as fast as possible. However, God wants to teach us endurance–much like a long distance runner builds up strength in training–so we benefit from what He is doing in our hearts.
2. Trials are used as a refining fire to purify us like gold…this produces spiritual maturity. If we can trust that He always has our best interests at heart we can begin to face challenging times with confidence. Each successive trial will seem lighter as we recognize His faithful in the midst.
While the world sees hope and joy in the midst of darkness as naive, a spiritual perspective discerns that we’re really progressing on a journey toward life at its fullest. We can be filled with supernatural joy, knowing that the Lord is making us into world-changing spiritual warriors.
