Questions answered by a wise teacher!

Why do we always think we know better?  Why when a problem comes up in our lives we immediate go through every scenario in our heads we can think of to make it right again instead of first turning to God?  Why do we cry out to God himself when things go wrong and then curse his name when we can’t handle the pressure!? 

These questions have haunted me a good bit lately….and today, about an hour ago I decided to ask God for answers to them and over the past hour they starting coming to me.  Here is what I have come up with and what I feel I am being shown today.

Our desire for normalcy is overwhelming and our “fix it” mentality is that of the devil himself!  We want everything perfect!  We don’t want to suffer.  We feel pity on ourselves and we feel sorrow for others.  We cry when we should rejoice and we rejoice when we should cry!  Think about this for a second…

Imagine a world that obtained no bad things.  No death, no crime, no disappointment…  How does that world look to you?  Is it appealing?  Do you long for such a life?  Do you really think that the world would be perfect if only good things happened?  Do you REALLY think you would be happy?  My guess is that we wouldn’t know happiness at all.  My guess is that we wouldn’t know God at all….

If you lived a life of disappointment and pain you would know what it took to be happy!  In fact, I think it is safe to say that every thought would be “if this happened I would be happy” or “If only this were different…I would be happy”.   The truth is if you knew God on a personal level, would you feel as safe in secure in the fact that these things were intended to lead to a sense of happiness.  Bad things weren’t meant to be boulders in your way, instead they were intended to be speed bumps to slow your roll.  God knows that if life were easy and that if it didn’t take tough times to question his existence you wouldn’t crave him! I don’t think we would crave him at all or attempt to understand him if we weren’t selfish and wanted something.  Think about it!  Didn’t we all come to know Jesus because we wanted a better life? 

Aren’t we told time and time again in churches and by other believers that God is present in all things?  Aren’t we shown that God can handle any challenge?  Don’t we ourselves know the truth of God’s word and the power of his teachings? I suspect that we all have a struggle with doubt in the tough times even though Jesus him self told us to “Not be afraid” and to “have faith in him”!  We need to stop beating ourselves up over how we should react initially and instead concentrate more on how we respond long term.  I think we torture ourselves because we mess up.  I think for some odd reason we feel like we are supposed to be perfect when God knew that we weren’t even capable of such. 

We should accept the truth that God controls our emotions and thoughts.  He has a purpose in all things.  He teaches us daily and challenges us every minute!

Here’s what I took away from my prayer time today…

If we didn’t suffer we wouldn’t appreciate!! 

If we didn’t hurt, we wouldn’t know how to not hurt!! 

If we weren’t sad, we wouldn’t know how to be happy!!! 

If we didn’t struggle, we wouldn’t know how to not struggle!!!

If we didn’t turn to ourselves first and then turn to God, we wouldn’t know that we can’t fix it ourselves!!!

God thank you for this revelation today!  It seems so simple yet so complex in my brain.  I feel like these are things I should know, but never considered.  Thank you for laying a burden on my heart these past few days so that I may understand you better.  You know me better than I attempt to know myself and for that…I am very thankful!  In your precious name I pray….Amen!