because sometimes God allows us to go through difficult things, or He will allow us to choose a path that is so easy we sit back and do nothing. Each one is a learning path. Which will we choose? We all want the easy life. We all want things at our disposal and to have things done our way and all things provided - just as we want it. And we can give God the glory for all of it.
But what if....
Everything seems to line up and we feel that a certain path is the one we should take.... and it proves to be dfifficult and hard and .... Perhaps it is still the one we should take because God wants to teach us something through it. Perhaps the circumstance you are dealing with is going to take you to a new level of consciousness and awareness of Who God is. Perhaps it will bring your character up a notch. Ever think of that?
I haven't. But I was reading about Gideon this morning (Judges 6). Remember when the angel came to him as hehid in the wine press threshing wheat because of his fear of the Midianites? The angel called him a 'mighty man of valor'. The angel told Gideon that God was going to use him to conquer the Midianites and set Israel free. An ANGEL visited Gideon with this message. And what does he do? He askes for a 'sign' from God. Seriously? He was talking to an ANGEL, aned he wanted the assurance and PROOF that God was wanting him to go into battle. And he didn't ask for a sign just once, but TWICE!
Judges 6:36-40 (NKJV): "So Gideon said to God, "If You will save Israel by my hand as you have said, look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if ther eis dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on the all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as you have said." And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew." And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground."
Do you ever do that? Do you ever feel like things are lining up the way you want them to - everything seems perfect... and yet... our FEAR of failure jumps in and says "God, can you give me a sign, please, that this is what I'm supposed to do?" I'm sure I have. And probably more than once. And there have probably been times that situations and circumstances have come up that I SHOULD have asked God for a sign and didn't - and regretted not checking in with Him first! And because we don't check with God first, sometimes we find ourselves in predicaments that we wish we HAD asked Him first.
But... with that being said, I also believe that God will take our mistakes and will turn them for good. Do you believe that? I believe that God allows our wrong choices, our wrong decisions, because He wants to take us to a higher level of accountability. I feel He wants to move our level of integrity to another level. He wants our character to grow and be and strive to be more than we could ever imagine in our own thoughts.
Proverbs 5:21 (NKJV): "For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, And He ponders all his paths."
Proverbs 16:1-3 (NKJV): "The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits. Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established."
When you know that you have heard from God, don't ask for a sign. Trust Him that if He said it, He will do it. Just as He said.
My late father-in-law once told me "God said it, I believe it, that settles it." I have carried that thought around with me for years. Have I heard God speak to me? Yes. Have I been used by Him? Yes. Have I always followed His instructions for my life. Unfortunately, no. BUT, I still believe that God takes my wrong choices and uses them to change me, to change my heart, to change my thinking, and to turn my heart towards Him. People who have walked in my shoes, would not be where I am today if they had chosen differently than I did.
God showed me how desperately I needed Him, and showed me the plans He had for my life, when He turned my heart and mind towards Him and opened His arms of love and forgiveness to me. Once I accepted Him, the part of my life I had been living was history. I was starting a new life, one that would be fruitful and productive for His kingdom. I have never regretted surrendering my life to Jesus. He is the One who set me free.
And He can set you free as well. All you have to do is ask Him. Let Him guide your thoughts and your life from this day forward. You will never regret it. "Let go and let God".......
Blessings!
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