What is your situation? That is the question many Christians today, crying, lamenting every day about their situations because their life is centered on how they are doing, how they are feeling, and how they are treated. It is all about Jesus, not about us.
Your situation could be poverty, sickness, hardship, isolation, rejection, or barrenness. Don’t be ruled by your situation.
First note that In every situation, God is saying something.
John 16 verse 33: “These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Why are you still worried? That is the question you need to ask yourself. If you are with Him, you will enjoy peace.
No matter what you are passing through, if allowed by God as a trial, you must not think it strange and doubt your faith. His grace should be sufficient for you.
A man can be sick in body and yet be a child of God, and yet be a candidate of heaven, and yet be a friend of God.
Our Problem Brings Us Closer to God
We should not, because of our situation, cut off our dependence on God. Many no longer look at God when trouble comes, when things are tough as if we are not children of God.
Our situation is like a test: you get promoted if you pass, but if you fail, you repeat it until you learn the lesson it teaches.
Your life satisfaction is not about having children, money, or other worldly possessions. You have to experience God. Until you experience God, that will be satisfaction, a sense of hunger to know what life is all about. It’s a desire to know what happens after life is over, after death.
Money? Children? Education? Travel all over the world? No, please. Satan tempts us to put on a sensational display of power. He frightens us by displaying fake power and causing people to panic.
Read also: How to Deal with Fear
The greatest thing Satan aims at in tempting good people is to overthrow their position as children of God.
Cut off their dependence on God. It’s their duty to God, their communion with God.
If we receive so much comfort from God, shall we not receive some affliction, pain, headache, or temptation? It should serve as a check, an impediment to our comfort.
John 14:27. Peace I leave with you; the peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
The peace the world gives is time-bound, not for eternity. The peace of God is for eternity. Everything about it is good. If your faith is lifted, you will see, that you don’t concentrate on your situation, because a man can be sick in body and yet be a friend of God.
You need more of these challenges to strengthen you, to refine your focus, and to shape you into the person you’re meant to be. You need more opposition. You need more persecution. You haven’t yet reached your full potential. This is the time when you should expect persecution.
People will try to embarrass you, but the more they do, the more you’ll turn to prayer. Remember, our troubles help us maintain our connection with God.
God Almighty often brings good out of evil and promotes His purpose, even by the sin of men.
Case of Joseph
Look at the case of Joseph and his brothers. His brothers sold him into slavery, which was a sin on their part, but the Lord used that situation, which we see as a sin, to reveal His purpose in the life of Joseph in particular and the Israelites in general. What a God we have to worship, what a Son we have to praise, what a future lies before us!
His brothers intended to starve him to death in the pit, whereas God’s purpose was to use him as an instrument for providing food for his people in times of great famine. God overruled his brothers’ evil designs because the Lord Almighty was with him, and this comforted him in affliction.
If God is with you, you will be comforted in whatever situation you find yourself.
Case of Paul
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? As it is written: ‘For Your sake, we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'”
Paul said, “I not only endure them patiently, I am happy when they occur. For Christ’s sake…”
Paul is saying, “Here, look at the tribulation. You lament, you cry, you fret, you murmur. I, Paul, not only endure them patiently, I am happy when they occur for Christ’s sake.”
Case of Daniel
The case with Daniel. When the decree was published, he was happy. He went to his upper room and said, “Thank You, Lord.” However there was nothing to be happy about because the Lord had shown him a prophetic picture of the future he desired, not the future he feared. You can be happy whereas there is nothing to be happy about. Your picture of tomorrow will impact the strength to endure your present tribulation.
The question now is, is the Lord with you? If you say the Lord is with you, He will show you a prophetic picture of the future you desire, not the future you fear. And if you choose to see a prophetic picture of the future you desire, your words will reflect that photograph. You will talk as an overcomer. You will think of an overcomer. You will laugh as a victor, not a victim.
How do you handle your situation?
Each trouble Joseph encountered advanced his cause. From dry pit to slavery in Potiphar’s house. From Potiphar’s house to prison. From prison to prime minister.
The question you need to ask yourself today is, is your trouble advancing your cause? If the Lord is with you, each struggle is meant to advance your cause. There’s something far more important than rejection, sickness, and setbacks. There is something far more important than failure: my dream and goal in life.”
The Bible says, that as a prime minister, he needed to be encoded. He needed to be prepared in the areas of material management, human management, resource management, and self-control.
Your situation may be to prepare you for the challenges ahead. Your situation may be to preserve you for redemption. Your situation may be to strengthen your desire. And before one’s desire can be strengthened for crying to Jesus, one must see the cause of losing confidence in man. When you lose confidence in man, when the miracle finally comes, you appreciate it, and you will still receive it.
Conclusion
Remember, if you must know love, you must know what it takes to be hated. If you must know honor, you must know what it takes to be humiliated. If you must know the blessing of God, the prosperity of God, you must know what it takes to be poor.
If you must know breakthroughs, you must know what it takes to be disappointed. Whatever situation you are going through, I want to tell you it may be to strengthen your desire. There is no real evil in it.
The one that gets to you is the one that God allowed. Remember always, the best is yet to come.