I've got to say, this is not the easiest part of the Christian life.
The easy part is when everything is right, and you feel good. The bad thing here is, when you're on the mountaintop you get a little high on yourself. At least, in my life, when everything is going well and I feel closer to God than I've ever felt, I start to feel like I put me there. How ridiculous right? However, it happens. I made everything better, I did this and I did that, I've made the way for myself. When in actuality you could not be further from the truth! The truth is, HE made everything better, HE did this and HE did that, HE has made the way for me!
In Matthew, Jesus talks about how much the Father cares for the life of a sparrow, then He tells us to not fear, that we are worth more than many sparrows. What He has told us here is that even one the lowliest of birds ("Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?") is cared for by the Creator of the universe, that "not one of them will fall to the ground outside of the care of the Father," and if we are worth more than a bunch of sparrows, how much more does God care for us?
When I struggle through things or have things on my mind, I tend to do many things. One thing I do with the most consistency is listen to music. Tonight, I had been struggling with something and so I pulled out my iPad and opened up YouTube. One of the first videos on my suggestions was "Praise You In Advance" by Marvin Sapp. Well, of course, I clicked on it and since I knew the song I started to sing. (If you don't know, I love singing, that's different for a coach and I know that, but I enjoy it) That song has the line "Praise will confuse the enemy...", when you're going through a struggle, one thing is certain, God is in full control. Another thing that is most likely to happen is that Satan will surely try to trip you up.
When we are in a struggle, sometimes we are vulnerable. The best thing Satan thinks he can do is attack a vulnerable Christian. What throws him off his game is when we immediately lean in to the power of the Almighty God. Whether Satan is coming after us with all he has, or he's taking advantage of a faith building moment God has laid out for us, he is coming and he's coming on strong. The best defense for that, is just to praise God in the midst of the struggle. Is that easy? No way! As humans, we have some kind of innate hard-headed attitude. I go through this type of scenario too many times. The struggle appears, and all God is doing is holding His arms out begging me to fall into them, but I want to push through on my own power. So I ignore him, and stumble and fall. He's still there, arms stretched wide, and waiting for me to fall into them. I get up, and keep pushing.
I fall again. And again. And again.
It reminds me of the quote from Batman Begins. Bruce Wayne gets freaked out by a bunch of bats and falls down a well. As his dad is lowering into the well to rescue him, he says, "And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up."
At the risk of coining some corny Christian phrase, I've learned, as Christians, we fall so we can learn that God wants to pick us up. We can't do it. As I alluded to earlier, we, under our own power, are going to keep falling back and falling back. The trick is going to be, when will you finally let God take control of whatever trial you are in.
As if you were sitting in the palm of His hand, just lean back against His fingers.
This is one of the things I am still learning on a daily basis. I did not orchestrate any part of my life: not Jennifer falling in love with me, not getting a job at Henderson ISD and working for and with the awesome people I do, and not any struggle I meet in life.
It reminds me of the old coaching philosophy, if a coach isn't on you to be better, he's given up on you. The best thing about God being our "coach" is that He will NEVER give up on you!
The fact of the matter is, God is in control , he always has been. If we let Him do His work no matter what struggle your in.
TRUST HIM!
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