“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh the joys of those who take refuge in Him!
Fear the Lord, you, His godly people, for those who fear (respect) Him will have all they need.
Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who TRUST IN THE LORD WILL LACK NO GOOD THING.” Psalm 34:8-10 NLT
But wait a minute, you say! Have all I need? Lack no good thing? What about that pay check that I don’t get any more? What about my car that broke down? What about that beautiful house we lost? Why did God take my husband? I surely needed him!
Why does God allow sickness? Why does He wait to heal until our loved ones are in Heaven? Why doesn’t He answer our prayers?
Oh my friends, He does. He always hears and He always answers. In His time, in His will. His timing is always right, even if its not our timing. Remember, He is always more concerned about our souls than about our earthly comfort.
For you see, it can’t be perfect for us. Not yet. He can’t answer every prayer as we would want. As my granddaughter at 10 years old once said, “It would be too easy.” Yep! She had it right.
If life was easy street, where would we be? If we got every desire, every prayer, everything in life just as we wanted, where would we stand? Not near God, I’m pretty sure. Not hiding under His wings, close to His side, seeking His face every day, I can assure you.
We would be sailing out there somewhere, flying on waves of our own making. Going our own way, doing our own thing, thinking we are pretty special. That’s the way we are. We can be very independent when things are going smoothly.
A sunshiney day, smooth seas, a good stiff breeze and we set our sails, lean back with a big self-satisfied smile, and pilot our way through the day.
That’s why God has to send some rough waters, some high waves, or maybe a raging storm to reminds us we need Him. To grow our faith muscles. To teach us to rely ONLY on Him.
We can’t do life without Him. But we need reminding. We need knocked off our high horse now and then. We need a reason, some times a big reason, to seek His face, to hide in His shadow, to dwell in the secret place, near His side. To run to Him. To call out to Him. To give Him our burdens.
That my friends is why we should rejoice in trials and great troubles.
“Dear brothers and sisters when troubles of ANY kind come your way, CONSIDER it an opportunity for GREAT JOY. For you know that when your faith is tested, your ENDURANCE has a chance to grow.
So let it grow. For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.” James 1:2-4
Only by working do our muscles get strong. Such is our faith. Only by testing and trials will it grow.
So let it grow.
Prairie Wind 