Accept Adversity With God In The Lead

“Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?”

JOB 2:10 HCSB

I have sat at my computer day after day, wondering where to start once again.

As I write this, I want to be open with my readers. I have spent months struggling to find God in the situation before me, one that feels beyond my strength to carry.

I am giving everything I have to manage it all, calling out to God, yet I cannot hear Him or feel His guidance.

This is why I haven’t posted recently. In the midst of trying to make sense of everything, and to no avail at that, I ended up talking myself out of sharing the common struggle of trying to move forward when you feel distant from God.

But God has taught me better than to turn back to doubt in a time of adversity. God told me from day one that I would have to move forward, not just once, but again and again.

Now, I want to pass along the same message to you – move forward, again and again. You can pass through any difficulty with God and this includes the days you do not feel His presence.

The key is to not depend on yourself during adversity. Instead, depend on God, even if God is allowing the adversity. His purpose is bigger than we can grasp during moments of trial, but it always includes hope, restoration and growth.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6 HCSB

Accept Adversity With God In The Lead

To accept adversity from God is hard to imagine. God loves us as His children so why would He want us to walk through troubled times where heartache, pain and frustration lives?

What I am beginning to understand is that if God’s desire is to guide us on the right paths, He might have to allow a few bumps in the road to show us the correct way.

With that in mind, I wonder, what if we changed the way we look at adversity by putting aside the worry and instead accepting it with God as our support, putting Him in the lead.

You might ask what this would entail. The plan is just as God says …

Trust the Lord and think about Him in all your ways.

• Start your day with God: Hand your troubles over to Him every morning and give thanks for what you do have.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7 HCSB

• Pick a verse to lean on: Depend on God’s truth. When you feel weak like you can’t go on, speaking God’s word will pick you back up, overriding such thoughts.

“Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.” Proverbs 30:5 HCSB

• Pray through it all: This might just be the most difficult step because sometimes it’s easier to get through the day by staying busy, but taking a moment to pray builds your trust in Him and an unbreakable bond forms.

“The Lord is near all who call out to Him, all who call out to Him with integrity.” Psalm 145:18 HCSB

This is what I am currently working on and as I take one step each day, I can see more clearly that God is there, whether I hear Him or not.

As we focus on Him, our faith becomes stronger and we are able to overcome in unexpected ways.

A prime example of this can be found in Psalm 119, where affliction becomes a positive because it leads to wisdom through God’s word.

“It was good for me to be afflicted so that I could learn Your statutes. Instruction from Your lips is better for me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” … “If Your instruction had not been my delight, I would have died in my affliction. I will never forget Your precepts for You have given me life through them.”

Psalm 119: 71-72, 92-93 HCSB

Accept Adversity With God In The Lead

To not lean on your own understanding makes so much more sense, because our own thoughts can’t lead us out of affliction in the same way that God’s word can.

My thoughts, for example, put me in a place where I couldn’t find God.

He is not answering me. I don’t feel Him at all anymore. I have fallen short of God’s expectations.

I ended up distancing myself from God more and more each day, not even realizing it.

I even wrote at the beginning of this article that the adversity feels too heavy for me to carry.

How could I forget what Jesus has already shown me – I am not carrying this alone.

You are not carrying your struggle alone.

God is right there, waiting for us to turn to Him.

The Lord is not going to distance himself from you during a storm. Rather, He will love you through it in a way that builds you up and leads you to peace.

“Though the mountains move and the hills shake, My love will not be removed from you and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says your compassionate Lord.

Isaiah 54:10 HCSB

Always remind yourself of this promise, because it will help you continue to move forward with God in the lead.

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Give these three steps a try today:

• Start your day with God
• Pick a verse
• Pray through it all

Remember to stay positive, because hard times do have a purpose. God will reveal that purpose in time.

“… We also rejoice in our afflictions because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Romans 5:3 HCSB