2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NLT), “ Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
How many times have you faced a situation or circumstance that you wished that God would take it away from you. Even if you are aware that you got yourself into a horrible mess that only God can get you out of. God knows us better than we know ourselves, so he knows when we will have hiccups, He knows when we will choose to do things our way instead of being patient for God’s superior outcome. But more importantly, even though He knows every mistake we will ever make in our lifetime, He still has enough love for us to want us for His own.
There-in lies the truth of when the rubber-hits-the-road, so to speak. We’re either going to love God and hate the world or vice versa. We can’t sin over and over and over again and ask God to forgive us every time and expect Him to pat us on the head and say that’s ok, you didn’t mean to do it. Life just doesn’t work that way…as much as we wish it did. Life will give to you what you give to it. In other words, if you do bad, expect that bad will come back to you, exponentially so!
If we could only remember these valuable truisms when tribulation paints the opposite picture of the verse above. I’ve heard and witnessed many Christians suffering mentally, spiritually and emotionally from the pressures of life. One thing about tribulation, it will press you to draw closer to God because things can get so bad so quickly, that you have no other choice but to lean on Him - It’s in the struggle that you see God’s love stronger.
Romans 8:35; “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
[Shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword? nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The apostle Paul was able to boast in his weakness because this is when God was glorified, through him. Paul was going through some horrible times, and he had many enemies, so much so, that he prayed often for God to remove the “thorns in his flesh”, but God knew that Paul needed to lean on Him and not be so concerned about the people that wanted to see him suffer.
There may be some of you that probably have encountered folks who would like nothing more than to see you suffer. But as the elders in my church would say, “With God on your side, you can never fail”.
When we don’t trust God through our tough times, we do separate ourselves from God through a lack of faith in His love for us. Doubt is one of our biggest enemies and a lot of times, many Christians are not thinking about the love of God in the moment of their tribulation, they’re thinking about getting rest – rest from hard times, rest from the toils of struggle and strife that are so common in our everyday life.
God tells us we don’t ever have to be unhappy, sad or depressed if we would only come to him with all of our stuff. Jesus Christ said anytime we have fears, worries or tumultuous situations, to leave it with him.
Some of your most seasoned Christians have a difficult time surrendering and letting go and allowing God to handle their problems. We can't remain stifled by our circumstance, God wants us to get it in our core that we are powerful individuals, life doesn’t have to beat us down in order for us to get this truth. There is a verse in Hebrews that speaks to how and what God has set before us to do.
Hebrews 12:1-2; Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a
huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight
that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us
run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2; We do this by keeping our
eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of
the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is
seated in the place of honor beside God's throne.
God so clearly states that pressures of life can and will get our attention that we’re not where we should be but because of the love of God within us, we CAN learn from our mistakes, learn the lesson and correct where we’ve gone wrong. So that we can live a life of victory and happiness.
“Take it Away, Lord”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2024. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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