Last night at bible study we had a discussion about going through hard times. The question we wrestled with was; Does God always put us through tests or does he allow us to go through things? First we talked about if there's a difference between God putting us through a test and allowing us to go through a difficult situation? Is it always him or is it sometimes us? I'll tell you what I believe and then I'll let you hash that out with God. I personally believe that every hardship or struggle we go through isn't always something God puts us through. I believe that most of the time harships and struggles are things that happen because of our own choices. I will say that I believe that God allows us to go through these things and can turn any bad situtation for good. I also believe that we can be refined and our character is built up during these hard time. (Look it up in your bible:-) Even though these things happen because of our struggles I still can't say that God is always responsible for these things. Let me give you an example that might help you see where I'm going. There's a women who went through a divorce sometime ago and becasue of all that she's been through she now loves the Lord more then ever. When talking to her she says this statement: "If God hadn't put me through this divorce I wouldn't be where I'm at today". She divorced her husband because he committed adultery. Now is she right for saying that? I don't believe her statement is completely right. The reason why is I understand that she was made whole and that her relationship with God is better then ever but I have a hard time believing that God would create a man to commit adultery just so she would draw closer to God. I don't believe God would create someone to do evil and have him created to go against what he commands of us. I believe this is a instance where God allowed someone to go through something and used this bad situation for his good.
So why all this? The reason why I'm sharing this is because last night during our conversation one of my friend said that he believes Christians are so quick to jump to conclusion and credit their rough times and struggles to God. Anytime something goes bad we are quick to say that God is putting me through a test. But what if God isn't, what if you made a choice and now you're reaping what you so? Now I'm not saying that God doesn't put us through tests and refinement because I believe he does. The reason why this is on my heart to share with you is becasuse I believe that having this mindset of always saying God is responsible for everything we go through makes it so easy for us to blame him and get mad at him. But if we have the mindset that maybe it's our fault then we would want to draw closer to God instead of being mad at him and distance ourselves from him.
I want to finish with this, I wish I could tell you what he puts you through and what he allows you to go through but I can't. Reason being is becasue I'm not God and only he knows why. I'll leave you with this thought. I believe that with this mentality of not blaming God for everything will help us truly see how great and awesome God is. When believing that God is responsible for a trial we tend to believe that since he put us in this then he has to bring us out. But if you realize that you put yourself there and don't deserve to be delivered but he still does, that shows greatness and love to me.
So my prayer for us is that God gives us the discernment and wisdom with this. I pray that we would repent of our ways if we are the ones that blame God for everything. I pray that he would change our hearts and minds in this area. I pray for strength and faith for us to let God be God.
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