Bible App | Abide
I’ve been there.
I’ve prayed on my knees until the carpet permanently imprints its knobby pattern in my skin.
I’ve cried out with my face to the floor, begging God to give me the miracle.
And then. And then. And then.
The “no” hit me with the breaking force of a hurricane, and there I was. Stranded on a path I didn’t recognize, headed down a road I didn’t ask to journey.
The paralyzing thoughts came, like Job’s friends, to say, “Why are you here? What did you do wrong?”
But, I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I believe Paul when he writes that “affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.”
So, I get up. I shake my frozen legs. And with the power that comes from Christ alone, I take an aching step forward down this strange path. The farther I walk, the easier it becomes because my muscles grow stronger than I knew they could.
At times, I still have to dig in and scale the mountainside, but the view from where I stand is lovelier now than it ever was on the easy path.
It’s not true, you know.
When they say God will never give you more than you can handle.
If that’s true, it means I must be superhuman, able to balance stacks of breakable worries on the tips of my fingers. But I am just a person. And it’s hard when God says no.
As I thumb through the Scriptures, I read story after story of lives that matter. Very few of those lives are distinguished through ease. In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul writes, “We were completely overwhelmed– beyond our strength– so that we even despaired of life.”
So, the proof is there. God often gives us more than we can handle.
But, He also promises the rarest of commodities: life and peace.
And it is because of our Savior that even suffering has purpose. 2 Corinthians 1 also says, “He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
God says no, but I can breathe in peace and breathe out this new story. My story will touch someone, who will touch someone else, and so on for all time.
I sat outside the other night. In a rare moment of quiet, I looked up.
It’s a funny thing when I focus on something so expansive as the sky– I feel small. But it’s a smallness that somehow simplifies my life, distills it down so that I see clearly the things that matter.
When God says no and I begin to drown in the whys, my focus is inward. “This will be hard,” I think. “Do you even hear me, God?”
Yet, there’s something about looking up that changes me. As I look up and think about the cosmic vastness that my God holds in the palm of His hand, my perspective shifts. I am small, but I am part of a much larger plan.
It is as Job says at the end of his trial, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.”
It is the “no” that takes me to a foreign place– a place I never would have traveled on my own. But, while I have been here, my God has come sharper into view and now I see the miracles He can work.
Study Further:
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”
Romans 5:3-5 NLT
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.”
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 NLT
“Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’ I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.”
Job 42:1-5 NLT
