Clinging to Him through Trials … a letter to a friend.

God has us in impossible circumstances that He will work in, because we are His children. I know it is a very real struggle to keep our eyes on the Lord and to cling to the hope that is ours in Him.  The wind and the waves are so distracting and all consuming and overwhelm us for sure!!! There,  we are being trained to keep our eyes fixed on the Commander and Chief and our Father, Who is over all.  He knows our frame and frailty and the habits of our flesh, which is why He is drawing us to Himself, teaching us to abide in Him our only hope. He is completing the work He has begun in our lives THROUGH THE TRIALS… He said it would be so… "In this world you will have trouble, but fear not, I have overcome the world!"

"The New Testament writers tell us that we should not be surprised when we face trouble, trial, and suffering... in this broken world and should never conclude from our trouble that God has forgotten us. They say that for God’s children, the opposite is true. Trials are the result of His covenant love. We experience difficulty, not because He doesn’t love us, but because He loves us. God will not neglect us so that we can experience the ease that we want. No, He rather will take us where we do not want to go in order to produce in us what we could not achieve on our own."  ~ Paul David Tripp

Trials force me to run to Him… with things completely out of my control… and I prefer being in control… I learn to abide in the vine and see that all I need is found in Him and how very much I have been relying on my own strength, and on what I can do. I am compelled to cling to Him for ALL THAT HE PROMISES HE WILL DO… oh the precious promises of our God!  That reminds me of a scripture…let's see if I can find the address…

1 Peter 1: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. THIS IS WHAT GOD IS DOING IN US AS WE CLING TO HIS PROMISES THROUGH TRIALS!!!

9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins... THERE ARE THOSE WHO HAVE FORGOTTEN OR NEVER REALLY SAW THE DEPTH OF THEIR OWN SIN, THEY HAVE THEIR EYES SO FIXED ON THE SINS OF OTHERS THEY HAVE BECOME BLIND TO THE HUGE LOG IN THEIR OWN EYE AND ARE CONSUMED WITH UNFORGIVENESS & BITTERNESS… ONLY THE LORD CAN OPEN BLIND EYES AND DELIVER THEM!!!

FOR ME… RECENTLY, GOD HAS BEEN OPENING MY EYES TO AREAS OF SIN THAT I HAVE BEEN BLIND TO AND WHEN I REALIZE HE HAS SEEN IT ALL ALONG, I AM HUMBLED. I STRUGGLE WITH FEAR, CONTROL, PRIDE, SEEKING THE APPROVAL OF MAN JUST LIKE OTHERS I HAVE JUDGED… IT IS SO EASY TO SEE THAT IN OTHERS WHILE WE ARE BLIND TO THE WAYS WE DO THE VERY SAME THING.

I AM HUMBLED BY HIS PATIENCE WITH ME ALL THESE YEARS AND SEE THAT THE TRIALS WERE NECESSARY TO TEST MY METAL… TESTING IS NOT A PASS/FAIL TEST… TESTING THROUGH TRIALS BRING TO THE SURFACE OF HIS CHILDREN THE VERY THINGS HE IS AFTER. HE IS WORKING TO PURIFY OUR HEARTS, REPLACE LIES WITH HIS TRUTH, EVEN AS OTHERS RAGE AGAINST US, AS THEY RAGED AGAINST HIM… HE SAID THAT IF THEY PERSECUTED ME, THEY WILL PERSECUTE YOU. IT IS SO HARD AND YET WE ARE NOT COMPLETELY INNOCENT, AND THERE IS MUCH HE IS DOING IN OUR HEARTS AS WE CLING TO HIM

10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; BUT WHEN WE DO STUMBLE, BECAUSE WE ARE HIS CHILD,  WE WILL NOT BE HURLED HEADLONG B/C HE IS THE ONE HOLDING ONTO OUR HAND… OH WHAT AN AMAZING FATHER WE HAVE!!! 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

12 Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present within you. 13 I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder…"

"These relationships and circumstances, these problems and trials, and these times of grief and suffering come from his hand. They are tokens of God’s wonderful grace, given to deliver us from the power of remaining sin! Behind the circumstances is a God of love who is relentlessly at work to make us holy. Praise that comes from hearts of worship is the only legitimate response to these circumstances. Rather than telling us that God has forgotten us, our circumstances shout to us that he has remembered us and will not leave us until his work is complete!" ~PDT

"For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength... 

And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!  ISAIAH 30:15 & 18

He's calling us to ABIDE!

Keep clinging!