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When I think of some circumstances I have had in my life that I really did not want, I realize that I have them so that I may become closer to You, Lord.
Your word in Psalms 119:71 says, “I am glad that I was afflicted so that I may learn your decrees.” I realize that I do not want to deal with some situations, but, when I take a closer look, I see that I need them. I desperately need them to keep me closer to You. Without them, I realize that I can stray from the Way. To overcome the situations, I realize that I must be able to follow the Way closely without having the situation present. If the situation is removed, will I stay on the course of the Way as closely as I am with the situation? If I answer no, I need the situation just as Paul needed a stone in his side. The circumstances that I deal with are not for my fleshly or worldly pleasures and desires, but to keep me narrowly on the Way. Let me be strong in You, O Lord.
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Learning to trust in You means that I must be completely sold out to You. The more that I am sold out means that I am depending less on me and more on You. I need to be completely, and some more, sold out to You. I must know that You will provide all my needs. I must have the mind to know what are my needs and not just fleshly desires. I must realize that the world and my flesh have bombarded me with things that are unlike You. In many instances, I have succumbed to their overt and subtle pressures to be a person of the world. However, I declare that I want no part of anything that is unlike You. This means that I must put off the parts of the flesh and the world as I come to recognize them. I realize that my hope in You is twofold: first, let me recognize these impediments, and second, give me the strength to overcome them. Let me seek You more.
The Lord is good. He has turned me from my life of sin and destruction. I was sold under sin, turning to every whim of sin because I found pleasure in doing the things of the flesh. I lived only to make myself happy. I had become totally selfish, wanting only to fulfill my desires. I did whatever was needed to fulfill them. It did not matter who was involved or got hurt. As long as my needs were met was all that mattered.
Living life this way fails to produce any amount of sustainable joy. Because of the crooked way, and the drugs and alcohol involved, I felt many times depressed. My soul wasn’t satisfied. Jesus came into my life, and everything changed. I found purpose. I had a different perspective. Many paths that I had gone down, I now saw them as being wrong. I found a soft heart in myself. I found a person that I knew only as a child. The rains of life had beat down on me. Jesus lifted this burden. I now could find meaning, joy and a way for me that I never knew before. Now, that I have my way established in the Lord, I must trust only Him to establish my steps. |
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