Adverse City, by Shelia Lipsey
Some of this may sound awfully familiar to many of you. It seems like as soon as you make it through one trial or problem, another one bombards your life and the battle is on again. That's life. God has never promised that we would live a life free of pain, hurts, and disappointments. But can't they let up sometimes? Can't I catch a break sometimes? Yes, is the answer but believe me, that 'break' won't last long. It's the world in which we live - it is an imperfect world complete with imperfect people like you and like me. It is a world where adversity happens and continues to happen.
God's word says in Isaiah 30:20, "Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them." As many times as you need to read this scripture, do so. It is well worth remembering. Every time adversity barges in you can rest assured that those responsible for it will be found out. Your enemies, your problems, the attacks of Satan will not go unnoticed. God says, 'with your own eyes you will see them.' Nothing bypasses God. He encompasses everything! There is no adversity that you can experience or will ever experience that God doesn't know about already.
What gets me through tough times of adversity is to remind myself that trouble doesn't last always. This too shall pass. God won't place on me more than I can bear. Nothing is impossible to those who believe. God is sovereign. God will not allow my enemies to destroy me. No weapon formed against me shall prosper.
Your house might be in foreclosure, God has a better place waiting for you. You're sick and have no health insurance - God has a ram in the bush for you. Your kids are rebelling and giving you trouble - God is a God of perfect peace. Every adversity that comes your way, God has already planned the way for you to make it through. If you give Him your troubles; tell Him all about it; let Him know how it makes you feel; cry out to Him, God will hear and He will answer.
You say, "I thought God already knows what I'm going through. Why do I have to tell Him that I'm about to be evicted. Why do I need to tell him that my child is on drugs? Why do I have to tell him that I don't have money to feed my family?" The answer─God wants you to talk to Him. He wants to know that you truly do rely on Him. He wants to know that you totally believe that He is fully capable, able and ready to deliver you from the hands of your enemies.
If you're living in Adverse City you must remember to Trust, Delight, and Commit your ways to the Lord. Times may get rough. Your vision may get clouded because of your hardships. It seems like you will never get away from Adverse City. But rest assured, if God is your savior, if you truly do trust Him, then He will show Himself to be the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Lily of the Valley, Wonderful, Counselor, the Great I Am. God cannot lie. He will never forsake His children.
To those who are living in Adverse City, the Word of God says, I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. That's a mighty Word. I lean on the Word of God even though I may be living in Adverse City, I know there is no place where God is not. So rest, my friends. God is with you. While you're trying to figure it out, God has already worked it out.
|
Comments |  RSS |
|
| |||||
|
| |||||
