"How do we respond when we look around in life and see the world is so successful while we, as Christians, are struggling so hard?"
Psalm 73:2-11
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For they have no pangs until death;
t h e i r b o d i e s a r e f a t a n d s l e e k.
They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
And they say, "How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
Allen gave us a great answer: "Everything they have can be taken away."
Thank you, Allen. I thought that was an excellent answer.
That's the truth about life. The big question is, where is your treasure? Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.
I seems that everything I have has been or is being taken away in my life right now. This year, I've lost everything it seems like.
Two siblings fly the coupe. I've had no one to talk to it seems like... so one to look up to.
Close family member go through divorces and break-ups.
Friends move on.
My church goes through major reorganization.
Good friends flee the patriarchal movement.
M y l i f e i s c h a n g i n g e v e r y d a y.... so fast I can't keep up with it.
Everyone I love and everything I dreamed of is being squashed like a grape on the cement.
My world, as I know it, is being turned upside down!!!
When this happens to us, we feel totally small and insignificant. I always get the feeling that I could never love anyone or anything again.
That's not true, though! What you love makes you who you are. God is deeply concerned with what you love and who you love.
So, why is He so quick to take it all away??
The great paradox of all time is that God's people live in ruin and destruction while their enemies g r o w f a t a n d p r o s p e r o u s. How can a loving God abide by such disgrace.
God is our Father, and we are his children. His children go around clothed in sackcloth and ashes. Surely, surely, this brings disgrace to God.
73:16 and following
But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
Until that time, we are called to be men and women of faith.
We are sheep to be slaughtered.
God will take away everything from you. Everything. In the end, when it's all said and done- HE WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR LIFE.
21 and following
When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
God will take everything from you- only then can he reward you with ETERNAL life! The question remains,
What am I supposed to do???
If God is going to just break my heart every chance He gets, every time I fall in love with something or someone, what is there left to live for???
I found the answer while reading beautiful Jess' blog, http://generationstandup.blogspot.com/
She posted John chapters 15 and 16 one day and it touched my heart so much:)
"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other."
So, what's our response? Love one another.
When God takes someone away from you, don't stop loving your brothers and sisters. Maybe God is taking them away because there's someone else standing right beside you that you never could have noticed unless first the big distraction was taken out of the way.
God moves our lives around. He takes people away from us because we are so narrow minded. We cannot know the plans God has for us. We can only know that they are very good!
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,"
declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."
Don't fool yourself into thinking you know your life. Don't fool yourself into thinking you know God. And, don't fool yourself into thinking you know what's around the next bend.
Love you people when it's hard.
Let go of them when they are ready to leave.
Make room for the new friends God will give you.
These are the HARDEST lessons to learn.... at least for me. I will learn them, I will! But it will not be without great cost.
I have been brutish towards God. I am pricked in heart. But God holds me by my right hand!!!
25 and following
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
M y f l e s h a n d m y h e a r t m a y f a i l ,
but God is the strength [fn] of my heart and my portion forever.
For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.
Where is my treasure?? My treasure is with God in his kingdom. Everything I have right now will be taken away.
It's going to hurt.
But, that is not the end. Until that time, I will love what I have, cherishing the blessings God has given me.
When my life changes, God will not! When friends forsake me, God will not! I treasure these days and this life up in my heart.
Mat 6:21: "For where you treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Thanks for posting this. =)
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