If He Brings You To It, He'll Bring You Through It

I always find it interesting when you hear a similar message/sentiment from multiple sources during the same day/week.  The latest thing that has been rolling around in my noggin is discerning whether God just turns bad thing that happen to you into something good for your life or if He specifically brings something bad into your life in order to change you. 

Whenever I hear reference to Romans 8:28, I don't think of God purposely bringing me to something bad. But then in the last few weeks have seen a number of quotes like the following:

• God will wreck your plans when He sees that your plans are about to wreck you.
• Sometimes you have to get knocked down lower than you've ever been, to stand up taller than you than you ever were.

Being knocked down and being forced to give up something you thought God gave you in the first place, something you thought you'd have your whole life, is confusing and painful. I've been in a deep valley for quite some time now and as I pleaded for God to "let this cup pass," I just keep seeing reminders that the valley I'm in is right where He means me to be. I see signs like these:

That made me started thinking that maybe God will bring you to a very difficult time on purpose in order to bring you to where He needs you to be. That point was driven home at mass on Sunday, when during the priest's homily he said, “'The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert 40 days, tempted by Satan.' Did you catch it? Jesus is always victorious in his temptations because he is driven by the Holy Spirit.” He explained that the Holy Spirit didn't just bring Jesus through temptation he brought him to that temptation.

That seems quite opposite from the all-loving God we like to think of, a God focused on our happiness who we think should shield us from every pain. But our idea of happiness is quite different than God’s. Our happiness is in the now, focused on our own wants and needs in the time frame that we can see. 

But God is entirely different. He knows how your life will impact others in much more far-reaching ways than you can even comprehend. He knows what you need to bring you to the person you were meant to be, who he designed you to be.

So even with this idea that God brings us to the hard times, not just through them, we don't need to be afraid. In fact, the Bible has the phrase "do not be afraid" 365 times in the Bible-for each day of the year! 

            

Of course being "okay" with and finding solace in the the idea of God bringing you to temptation really depends on your reliance on him.

If you read the verse from Corinthians, you would think that nobody would fall into addictions or make wrong choices, but yet look at our world.  The key is to let God direct your steps in every moment of your life - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Stay in relationship with Him so you can, indeed, get through each temptation or trial victorious.

With my new outlook on trials and temptations, I've been reflecting on James 1:2-3. I encourage you to mediate on the beauty of this verse.