For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Eph. 2:10
Do you
sometimes wonder what is going on in your life?
You make a commitment to God to follow whatever path He has for you and
He gives you a vision for your life. Looking
forward to accomplishing great things for God you head out and may even see
some initial success, things are going well.
Then, something happens, as you move further in the journey it seems
that no matter how hard you work or what you try to accomplish you can’t seem
to make any headway. In fact it seems
like life is conspiring against you and you find yourself in situations you never
would have expected. Sound familiar?
You try to
figure out what you are doing wrong that has resulted in you ending up where
you are, lost and without any idea how to move forward, or worse yet in a
situation that is moving you in a direction totally opposite of where you are
trying to go. You pray, asking God to
help you get out of the situations you find yourself in so you can refocus on
what you are trying to accomplish in fulfilling the vision given you by
God. You may even begin to wonder if you
understood the vision given to you, after all if God gives you a vision and you
are pursuing that vision; it should all work out right. Shouldn’t it?
There are a
couple of reasons that things don’t usually go as we expect them. One, when you go out with the intent of
accomplishing what God has set before you; you draw the attention of the
enemy. The last thing he wants is for
you to be successful in your endeavors.
He will do whatever he can to hinder you, his intent is to cause you to
fail, or at least give up trying. Yes, I
am talking about spiritual warfare. I am
not going to discuss spiritual warfare at this point, that is a topic for
another day. Here I want to look at another
reason things don’t go as we expect they should.
First, let
me say, I totally believe that if you are faithfully pursuing a vision given to
you by God, it will work out, if you keep at it and trust in God’s promises. I believe part of the problem lies in our
perspective concerning what we see happening in our lives. Too often we head out and, since we are
following God’s direction for our lives, we expect immediate results. When we don’t get the results we expected our
response tends to be negative. We also
tend to try and do everything with our own strength, our way, or in the way
which we think is the best way to go.
There is a
different perspective we need to consider when we look at what is happening in
our lives, God’s perspective. God works
sovereignly and providentially in our lives, meaning He is in complete control
and He is going to execute His plan for our lives as He knows best fits into
His plans for the entirety of creation. Here
is how He relayed this idea to the prophet Isaiah, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,”
says the Lord. “For as the Heavens are
higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts are
higher than your thoughts.” (Is. 55:8-9)
That makes
for an all-encompassing and eternally different perspective that we tend to
hold.
So how
does this relate to when things don’t go the way we expect or want them to
go? In this, when we become Christians
we get a new boss, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, aka God. We now work for Him and He has an assignment
for each of us. Our individual
assignments are as unique as we are, but basically it boils down to
accomplishing something great for Him. Most
often this assignment is given to us in the form of a dream of what we want to
accomplish in life.
Remember,
God is in control. When God puts a dream
into our heart, we have everything we need to start the journey; the challenge
is that where we are is seldom enough to help us complete the journey. In order to complete the journey we will need
to go through a growth process. Since we
tend to rely too much on our own abilities and overestimate what we can do
ourselves we don’t know how much we need to grow and in what areas we need that
growth. The good news is that God knows.
Since God
knows, He will make sure we gain the experience we need in order to accomplish
our dream. This experience can come from
any number of sources; the job that seems an ill fit for you and where you are
trying to go in life, illness, accidents, failed relationships, financial
hardships, and any number of other challenges in life.
Don’t hear
what I am not saying here. God does not
cause bad things to happen to us but He will allow those things to happen so we
can grow through them. Also remember,
the enemy is out there trying to keep you from accomplishing your assignment,
but God has us covered there as well. “And we know that in all things God works
for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His
purpose.” (Rom 8:28) God can use anything for our good and sometimes this
is an opportunity to grow.
Would it
help to know that others have had this problem?
Here is one for you to consider, the story of Joseph in Genesis
37-50. Here is a very quick summary:
Joseph,
the favored son of Jacob, was sold in slavery by his brothers. As a slave he attained a position of
influence until he was falsely accused and thrown into prison. After a couple year years in prison Joseph is
able to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams and is put in charge of preparing for the
coming seven years of famine becoming the number two guy in Egypt.
Years
later Joseph is reunited with his family when Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to
buy grain during the famine. Ultimately
Jacob is brought to Egypt to be reunited to his son. After Jacob died the brothers were concerned
that Joseph would take his vengeance on them and the families they had brought
with them to Egypt.
Here
is Joseph’s response to his brothers, “Do
not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in
order to bring it about in this day, to save many people alive.” (Gen 50:
19-20)
Joseph had
dreams which he had told to his brothers.
His life definitely did not go as he would have expected for these
dreams to come true but God used all of these things to bring about His
purpose. God can do the same thing for
you.
As you
move through life and things are not going the way you had planned or expected,
look for those things you can learn along the way. Believe that God is in control and will use
these challenges in life to help you grow into the person He wants you to be.
Claim the
promises that God has made, align yourself with God’s purpose for your
life. In his book Dream Thieves, Rick Renner calls it Divine Alignment, when you come
to a place where you begin to say the things God says and do things the way God
wants it done.
When you
enter into divine alignment with the words, plans, and purposes of God, you
will see your confession come to pass. "Let
us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who
promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23)
