Have you ever felt like you were being wrung through the wringer? Have you felt like you were being tested beyond your ability to withstand it? Were you able to get through it? Were there multiple occasions you felt that way? Did you think God had abandoned you?
We all go through trying times. Some of them are tougher than others. Some may be so tough that we feel like there is no way we will get through them. The truth of the matter is that we wouldn’t get through them without a little help. That help always comes from God.
I know, some of you will say, “It wasn’t God who helped me, it was my family.” Or you might say it was your friend. So, let’s ask the obvious question. Who sent that person to help? Who tied you to them in the first place? Who put them in your life? There is only one answer — God. He has created each of us and uses a variety of situations to put different people in our lives — some for a lifetime and some for a season.
God allows us to go through tough times so that we will learn to depend on him. It is when we depend on him for everything that we gain a deeper understanding of how God provides. He also allows us to go through tough times to cause us to grow. I’m reminded of the story of the silversmith and the passage that states God will refine us like silver (Zechariah 13:9). A silversmith must heat up the silver to burn off impurities. He knows when it is enough when he can see his reflection in it.
When we go through tough times, rather than complaining, we would be better served to ask God what he desires to teach us. As God reveals what he is teaching us, we should learn. The more we learn from God, the more we understand who he is. The more we understand who he is, the more we will love him. It all works to our good.
I pray we all seek to learn from God during the tough times. I pray we choose to grow, rather than stay stagnant. I pray each one of us will seek to better understand who God is and love him more. Learn from God. Choose to grow. Seek to understand God. Love God with your whole being.
Psalm 66:11-12
You brought us into the net;
you laid burdens on our backs;
you let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
Marty Pressey 