Understand God’s Will! 1-18–26

Welcome to the word for the week. Trouble is a necessary part of this journey with God. But all trouble is not necessary. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them from them all. But all of the afflictions are not from living righteous. The bible tells us that we are to be happy when we suffer for righteousness sake. It also tells us there is nothing to celebrate when we suffer because of our own wrong doings. All of this means we have to be honest with ourselves. All of us have gone through things and we did not have to ask why. We already knew the reason. All of us have been through things and wondered what in the world is going on. As you can tell, there is no one size fits all when it comes to our testing. That depends on where we are with God and what we are doing. One thing is for certain and that is the person who is being tested will know it is because of them or that God is up to something.

We hear the expression all of the time that nothing just happens. Everything has a purpose under the sun. God does things for very specific reasons. Rather we understand those reasons or not will vary but nothing is just because. Rather God is trying to build you or get your attention there is a reason. Now here is where the real challenge lies. When we are suffering because of our own actions that actually makes a lot of sense. It is when things are happening and we do not know why that causes problems. It can seem that trouble knocks on your door when you are trying your best to live right. You are praying more, studying more, and just really trying to live by what you know. Yet, trouble comes. Job was doing everything right when his troubles showed up. However, we see for several chapters that he needed to be refocused in many areas. Yes, he is an upright man but we also see he has several flaws. The good news is that he gets it all right in the end and he gets double for his troubles.

So now the question is do you know why you are going through what you are going through? Have you even considered that God may be doing a new thing in you? Imagine being someone who does everything on schedule and at a certain time every day. You wake up at five in the morning, you pray, you listen to God, and you study His word. Now imagine the shock of that person if God tells them He wants them to wake up at six in the morning. It can make you wonder if it is really God. After all, His word says to seek Him early while He is near and may be found. Is six in the morning not still early? Yes, it is and that is the point. We get too comfortable in our “God routine” and struggle when He “needs” to make changes to it. What looks good, appears to be the right thing to do, and even sounds good is not always for you in that moment. Just because God moved in a certain way last week in your life does not mean He is going to continue doing the same thing the rest of your life.

I have to close this week but there is a real point in all of this. Can you accept God changing things in your life? Sure, you may say yes but is that really true for you? Can God really do a new thing in you? Can He change your plans? Can He change your habits and patterns? Can He disrupt your sleep or make you stay up later so He can speak to you? Can you accept what He tells you and shows you? Will you still be excited if things do not happen the way you want them to? Will you lose hope if He does not answer the way you want or think He should? Will you still pray if you hear nothing but silence when you are done? We are in a season where old things are being passed away and all things are being made new. Some things you did before got you to where you are. Some things you will need to do differently if you plan on getting to where God wants you to be. Will you understand His will is greater than yours? That is the question to always keep in your heart and mind.

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you in His grace,
Bishop Carlos J. Lennon