Devotions from Judy’s heart

Why do bad things happen to us when we are trying to serve the Lord? Why doesn’t He quickly rescue us out of difficult situations rather than let it go on and on? I’m sure we have all asked this question a time or two in our walk with the Lord. Gideon asked the angel this question in Judges 6:13, (The Message), “If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?” He had been through 7 years of trying to avoid the enemy’s attacks and hiding in caves etc.  God answered by telling him to go in the strength of the Lord and He would be with him.  Lori Hatcher writes about the reasons God may choose not to rescue us. Maybe like Gideon, we lack faith to believe He can work it all out. Or we may be going our own way, rather than His, and the Lord does not want to reward our disobedience. Do you suppose He could be trying to teach us to trust and become more confident in His power and not our own? Those are times our faith muscle gets exercised and rescue may not be the best thing in the long term, even though we wish for instant relief. God may be developing a character quality in us and we can ask ourselves, what He is trying to teach us in our present circumstances.  He may be doing something amazing deep within us, even though we can’t see it yet. But it’s in those hard-pressed times that we seek Him and pray for wisdom, strength, and His discernment. It could be that God is building our faith story so we can share and help others in the future also. But the bottom line is that He wants us to learn that a close relationship with Him is far more precious than a life that is trouble-free. May we be more like David that said in Ps. 119:71, “My troubles turned out all for the best—they forced me to learn your ways.” May our troubles draw us all the more closely to the Lord, knowing He is with us in all of our circumstances.

Challenge for today: Ask God what you are to learn in each hard circumstance you go through.