But God, You Don't Understand

I don't know about you, but sometimes I find myself playing tug-of-war with God regarding my life. So many times we say things like, "God, I trust you" or "I give this situation to the Lord". Maybe it's just me, but I find that this is easier said than done. I find that my heart really does long to turn it all over to Him but if I'm not careful, my soul (mind, will and emotions) begins to scream at me and I get tempted to listen to it.

I imagine a situation like this: Me smiling at the Lord and totally surrendering something that we as humans hold dear like, say, my love life. I imagine the pure-hearted version of myself (my spirit) fully extending my arms to God with my love life in my hands, offering it to him, like a gift. Then, I see another version of myself (my flesh) looking at the pure version of myself incredulously. My fleshy self then snatches my love life out of the hands of the pure version of myself and shouts, "ARE YOU CRAZY?!". And often times, I believe that's exactly how it happens...at least for me.

Circumstances and situations that we go through and experience can often tempt us to feel as if God can't help us. Sometimes, for me, I find that I start out on top of the world in trusting God to bring me out of a situation. Then over time, the situation begins to grow each day that it's unresolved until one day I look up and panic because the situation has grown into this vicious monster that is bigger than me. And for some odd reason, I feel that just because it's a vicious monster in my eyes, then surely it is a vicious monster in God's eyes. It's not though!

So back to the little scenario above...My fleshy self snatches my love life out of the hands of the pure-hearted version of myself and shouts "ARE YOU CRAZY?!". I begin to coddle the situation, rocking it back in forth in my arms like a baby. I give it all my attention and try to take care of it myself (Although, I'm too incompetent for such a task) by taking matters into my own hands and without even realizing it, I'm nurturing this situation and it begins to grow. Thus, I see it has turned into a vicious monster that I cannot control because I messed it up. I was trying to take care of something that wasn't meant for me to take care of. Meanwhile, God is looking at me and watching me fumble around and try to figure this thing out. I imagine He is shaking His head at me like, "Seriously?" and once I've made a mess of everything and finally surrender, He's looks at me pathetically and says "Are you done yet?" and by that time, the situation is a big vicious monster mess and I hide behind God and timidly nod my head "yes".

We don't have to go through all that foolishness all the time! Here is what the Lord has been dealing with me about regarding the matter.

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1. We just can't be moved by our circumstances! I'm not going to lie and tell you that not being moved by circumstances is a cake walk because it's not. It's sooo challenging sometimes...okay, most times. However, God tells us that we are to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us. 1 Peter 5:7 That means to throw, hurl or fling our worries and cares upon God. Right now, if I were to cast my car keys at you, I would no longer have my car keys. You would have possession of my keys and I would not have access to them again unless I deliberately went and took them back from you.
It's the same with God, we should be casting our cares, concerns and worries upon Him and we no longer have access to them unless we deliberately go to God and say, "Welp, nevermind God. I don't believe you really care for me like you say you do. I think I wanna take care of this on my own after all."

2. Nothing is too hard for God! It's hard for us because we are mere humans who are in desperate need of Him. For us, our situations may seem impossible but with God all things are possible. Mark 10:27
Did you catch that? Not a single one of our situations is impossible with God!

3. We know what the problem is but what did God say? We MUST meditate on the word of God. What does the Bible say about our situations? One time I was talking to God and He told me that a believer without the Word of God in his/her heart is like an athlete without food in his/her stomach. Crazy! We give our bodies food throughout the day for nutrients, energy and strength. Well, our spirit needs the word of God for spiritual strength so that we may endure. How often our we feeding it? The Bible is so necessary! This is why when Jesus was fasting for 40 days in the wilderness and Satan came to tempt him, Jesus told him that man must not live by only bread but by every word that comes from God. Matthew 4:4

4. Every circumstance is temporary! It's not forever. No negative or unfortunate, challenging situation can last forever. Whew! That's encouraging! So even in those situations where we see no way out, there is a way! I love how we are instructed in 2 Corinthians 5:7 to walk by faith and not by sight. In other words, it doesn't matter what the situation is. It doesn't matter what we see because we believe what God says. Our faith and our hope is in the Lord.

So rejoice and be encouraged because God does understand and He is beyond capable to handle even the toughest of our situations! Just be wait and see. ;-)

With Love,

Ris Walker


*Note many blog images have been obtained from Google Images.