"Our Response To Difficulty" by Deanna

I have been greatly encouraged by my Bible reading over the last several weeks! God's Word is always right on when it comes to what I need for the day or week that I am facing. The past few weeks have been no different. My family has been under incredible pressure over the past few weeks as have many people in our extended family and our circle of friends. That has led to times of deep discouragement and doubt for me. I have been asking God some tough questions. "Do you care, God? Do you see the pain we are in down here? Are you working on our behalf? Have you forgotten mercy in this trial?" The list goes on and on. But God in His greatness is not changed, threatened, or affected by my questions! Instead, He brings me to passages in His Word such as James 1:2-4 that remind me God has a definite purpose. It is to grow patience and maturity in me through the difficulty. He also emphasizes His involvement and care for me in passages like Is. 49:15-16. My name is engraved, as it were, in stone for God! He cannot and will not forget about me!

If I would need more truth, He reminds me of Joseph, who was mistreated and forgotten multiple times yet Joseph chose not to focus on that (Gen. 41:51-52) and instead chose to attribute it all to God's plan for his life (Gen. 45:4-8). This is the view I so desperately need! I tend to focus on the here and now- how difficult something is- how it doesn't fit into what I want! God wants us to be looking for His plan and heart in the matter. I might not understand but I can respond as Paul did. In Phil.4:11 he tells us that he had "learned to be content in whatever state" he was in! Imagine! I don't know about you but I struggle being content even when things aren't necessarily difficult. But when they are difficult? Be content? Not my first choice!
God, help me this week to remember that you have a plan for my pain! You love me and cannot forget me! You are working within my difficulties to produce your character in my life for the purpose of your glory! God, help me not to resist You and Your plan but to expectantly embrace both!