The Reason Why

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
1 Peter 4:12-13 (NIV)

Every one of us, at times, asks the questions: Can I trust God’s plans when His plans have put me in these deeply painful periods in life? Can I trust God’s plans when it has cost me so much emotionally? Can I trust God when He has decided that the best way to grow me is to let my heart be broken?

Part of the reason you’re going through what you’re going through is because God is doing a work inside of you. He will let you stand in the middle ground between pain and the desire for relief because He wants you to decide what you are going to lean on in order to deal with the pain. Will you lean on people? Will you lean on substances? Will you lean on doubt? Will you lean on cynicism? Or will you lean on your faith and trust that He will show up?

You can’t manage life in Christ any other way but in faith. The Lord won’t let it happen. He won’t let you move through life without having to manage where your faith is, where it’s being pushed, where it’s being matured, where it’s being challenged, where it’s being stretched.

Could things have happened differently in your life? Could you have gone through some things with less pain? Could they have resolved much earlier? Could they not have happened at all? To all of these questions, the emphatic response is yes. But to deepen your faith, to keep you engaged, to help you see better for your future, the pain was necessary.

Whatever that particular pain is in your life, it is permitted to push you past too much confidence in your own capacity or your own stability. It’s to push you into the sphere of faith, where you can develop spiritual confidence and trust in the Lord.