Last week I wrote a post about believing Romans 8:28 when things don't go your way. I was so thrilled to be able to apply God's Word, take Him at His Word and rest in that comfort. Lesson learned, right? Whew! Glad that's over. Let's apply it and move on.
Apparently not.
You know, I've never doubted that verse. I've always believed it with all my heart. It's just not a lesson that I thought I was lacking.
But God has other ideas.
Last night ... well, suffice it to say that I was bowled over. Circumstances were filling me with so much pain I could hardly breathe. As I cried, I told God I couldn't handle this one. This was too much. I couldn't take this anymore.
And then I came across last week's post.
My words sounded so smug with the knowledge that here was one lesson I didn't have a problem with. I was spiritually mature in this area. No worries here.
How wrong I am.
If my smugness offended you, I apologize. I stand before you today, realizing just how far I have to go before I've learned anything as I should. Truly I don't see how any of these circumstances can work together for good. I can't see it. It's not there.
And yet it is. If it was true last week, doesn't it have to be true this week? My head says yes, but my heart says no.
If you actually believe that verse I need to hear from you. I think my believe button is broken.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Jill,
ReplyDeleteYou certainly didn't sound smug to me. I think it's in these situations that our faith grows the most. Sometimes it's all we can do to know in our heads that God will work out the situation for his glory. That's the faith part, just believing. Then later, perhaps, we feel the emotions of security and peace that he truly will work it out according to his plan. But I don't think our heads and hearts are always on the same page right away.
Praying for you today!
I learned not too long ago that what you know and what you believe can be two different things. It is frustrating and it is hard.
ReplyDeletePAstor shared with me 2 Tim 2:13. Even if we believe not, God is faithful.
Hope it is a blessing to you and it has helped me so much.
Have a great day!
I don't see it as being smug at all. I see it as taking God at His word and believing it to be true. I see it as faith and just trusting Him.
ReplyDeleteDuring the times when we aren't struggling and we "get it," we remind ourselves of His truths and His promises to us, and that's o.k. We need to hear it!
We're still going to have times when we know what we know in our heads, and we know it and believe it in our hearts, but then our emotions try to rise above our faith and we can have a hard time sometimes.
I guess we're just going to live out of our emotions sometimes, instead of our faith. Doesn't mean we're not believing, just means we're struggling with the emotion thing and the enemy can be attacking.
We have to feel those feelings, we are human. But this is how God grows our faith and builds it as a sure foundation for our feet.