This post piggybacks on what I talked about yesterday... There are times when the Lord will allow us to go through periods of drought and famine to teach us a lesson. But He'll never let us go under. You may go through a dry place, but He won't let you die of thirst. You might even have to endure a famine, but He won't let you starve to death.
You see, destroying you is not on God's agenda. He doesn't seek to do you ill. So then, what is He after? I'll tell you. Sometimes, He stands back and allows you to endure difficulties so you won't ever forget where your help comes from. This is important, because if we ever fail to realize that God is our source, we will stray away from Him. We'll begin leaning on our own understanding and relying on our capabilities to make things happen in our lives.
This isn't what He wants. So what does God do? There are times when He'll shut doors that we wish would open. He'll open doors that we don't necessarily want to walk through. This is to remind us that He is in control... so we won't forget to give Him glory when we come into our place of promise.
Whether or not we want to admit it, if we never had to endure hardship, and if we always got our way, we would be cocky. We wouldn't be convinced that we needed God's help. We would rarely seek Him for anything.
He loves you too much to let that happen to you.
A perfect example of this is the biblical account of the Children of Israel in the wilderness.
Remember?
When the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for all those years, do you think they enjoyed it? Of course they didn't. They complained. They cried. They even contemplated going back to Egypt. Even though they weren't thrilled with their circumstances, God always made provision for them. Maybe not the kind of provision THEY wanted... but provision nonetheless.
So why did God let them go through hardship and struggle all those years? He was teaching them that they could do nothing without Him.
He said, "Otherwise... you may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth..." (See Deuteronomy 8)
Did you grasp that? See, God knew He was going to bring the Israelites into their place of promise all along. But He wanted to make sure they knew that HE was their source.
Now, I don't know what you may be enduring right now. But here's what I do know. This test is only positioning you for your place of increase and blessing. And when you get there... oh, because you will get there--never forget God. Always remember that He is the one who brought you into your promised land!
Until next time... may you be empowered to prosper!
Dianna Hobbs
