When You Don’t Understand Why – Part 3 — A ‘Time With God’ Devotion

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Transcript

Good morning,

Let’s start this day the best way possible by talking to God and listening to Him.

Prayer is listening to God and talking to God, and listening to God is done best with your Bible open in front of you, whether it’s an app or your book Bible. Either way, listening to God, reading it with a heart that is saying, God, what do you want to say to me today? How do you want to speak to me today? Well, all this week we’re listening to God around the topic – what should I do when I don’t know why.

When I don’t know why God has allowed something in my life that’s bringing me so much anguish, maybe even physical pain, but maybe it’s just a hopeless, helpless situation, I found myself in that place at numerous points in my life, truly beyond myself, truly with no idea of a possible way forward. It seems like there’s no hope, no way forward, no way out of the situation that I’m in.

For myself, for my organisation, for my business, whatever it is that you’re struggling with, and you don’t know why God would allow that, what should you do?

We saw that firstly you should when you don’t know why, remember who remember that God is there. He’s involved. You can trust him. Secondly, talk to God about it. Talk to him about your questions. Sometimes He’s not letting us know why, and we have to just trust Him.

But sometimes He will give us insights into what He’s trying to do in that circumstance, and that changes it for us, doesn’t it, when we know the purpose of it. Today, here’s the big lesson when you don’t know why you’re in the situation you’re in, look for how God may want to use you in that situation.

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Here’s what the apostle Paul says when he writes to the Corinthian Christians in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 in the Bible. Starting in verse 7, he’s just talked about the ministry that’s been entrusted to him, and he calls it a treasure that God has given him. In verse 7, he says:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay – talking about his own body, his own self, I’m so weak, so broken, he says. God’s given me this amazing ministry to others. But it’s in me, such a broken weak person in weak circumstances. We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power – what God is doing in people’s lives through our ministry – That this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Everyone can look at our circumstances and our brokenness and know it’s not us that accomplished what God is doing in people’s lives. He goes on to describe his situation. We are hard pressed on every side. Do you feel like that today? He goes on to say, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed, we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body, for we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then death is at work in us, but life is at work in you as Jesus works through us.

Well, what an impact looking for how God wanted to use him in that situation had on the apostle Paul’s mindset.

How we need to learn to look beyond ourselves and when we’re struggling, when life is painful when days are dark when we feel hopeless. Typically our natural reaction is just to think about ourselves. How can I get out of this? What, why am I in this situation? What can I do?

Yes, it’s legit to not want to stay in a hard situation. However, we need to look beyond ourselves. It’s not natural, but that’s what God wants for you – a ministry mindset, a sense that even in these desperate situations, God has sent me into this situation because He can use me in this situation in a way that He couldn’t use me otherwise.

When Paul’s in prison and he writes to the Philippian Christians, he says, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ, and he goes on to talk about his fruitful ministry.

In my own life I went through terrible trauma in my youth, and I was so hurt and hopeless. And when God brought me out of that, I’ve realised ever since then that God was using the pain of those days to shape me for a lifetime of ministry to others. Look for how God might want to use you in that desperate situation.

I’m John North.

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