Finding Joy Through The Storms Part 2

No matter how perfect we are, crises will happen beyond our control. They remind us that our sufficiency is from God. As much spiritual revelation as Apostle Paul had, he still had a thorn in his flesh, and God did not take it away. Instead, He told him that His grace is sufficient for him. Paul stated that we must, through many sufferings, enter the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).

He is not implying that it is God who makes us suffer, nor we should look dejected, poor, dwell in our sickness, look for pity, or tolerate demonic oppression to prove that we are Christians. No, there is a time when it is the devil coming against us with these things, so we have to use our conquering faith to quench the fiery arrows of the devil. But there is a time when we have done all we are supposed to do, and all God requires from us is to just stand and weather the storm. He forms in us that enduring faith to win over the adversity. But God will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Let Go! Let God!

We are God’s children, but God is omnipotent, and there are things we will never know this side of eternity because our human minds cannot comprehend them. This is why we must have a deep personal relationship with God. In spite of our faithfulness, sometimes sickness or death may happen, marriages may break, children may go astray, businesses may collapse, persecutions, broken relationships, and false accusations will come to us just like they will to anyone else. The difference we have as Christians is faith and hope in the love of God, that He will never allow us to be tempted more than we can bear, but He will always make a way of escape for us in that suffering.

Understanding God’s Discipline

I am not saying we should justify ourselves when we are clearly suffering for our poor conduct or errors. God chastises those He loves, so we must readily accept it when we are judged by God and go through a moment of desolation. This is usually an opportunity for us to see our blind spots, learn from our mistakes, cut our excesses, and be pruned by the Father to bear much and better fruit. God expects us to routinely judge ourselves so we won’t be judged by Him. If we don’t judge ourselves, He judges us out of love, so we don’t wander from our faith and be condemned like the rest of the world. It’s like a believer who refuses to deal with his secret sins and may be publicly disgraced so he can change his ways.