[God] comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 CORINTHIANS 1:4
Problems in our lives make us sensitive to the problems of others. How could the men and women of God reach out to a hurting world if they had never experienced that same pain in their own lives? How can we put our arms around a brother facing disappointment if we have never experienced disappointment ourselves? Sometimes God allows problems in our lives so that we can better minister to someone else. That’s exactly what happened to Joseph. From his humbling slave and prison experiences, he was able to fairly administer grain to a starving populace. You see, problems have advantages. They provide us with opportunities if we will but look for them. They promote spiritual maturity if we let them make us better instead of bitter. They prove our integrity, produce a sense of dependency, and prepare our hearts for ministry. God allows problems so that we can learn and grow. We don’t like them, but they are necessary if we are to grow and change. Don’t run from the pressures God wants to use to make you His perfect example of Christlikeness. - Dr. David Jeremiah Morning and Evening
By no means am I wiser than others that either are here in the world now in Christ nor those who came before me.
But in some moments in life I can assure you that what you experience, God can and probably will, use for you to minister to someone else.
Many of life's situations we never want to go through again. Many we face in our future we don't want to face. Sometimes the past and the future almost paralyzes us when considered together. I am certainly there on that one.
We who are in Christ will undoubtedly go through sensitive, rough, painful times in our lives. We may find moments when grief hits us unexpectedly. If I have learned one thing about at least that point, you never really get through grieving altogether. You won't until maybe you see them again in Heaven if that's where they are. This last week has been a fresh reminder of my missing my Dad. I really wish I could pick up a phone to call him. I still remember my last hug from him.
We all face things we wish we didn't have to. In the book "90 Minutes in Heaven", a Pastor was in a horrific accident. It took years of surgeries both physical and Spiritual to get him to return to something resembling normal. Why? Was always on his lips and on his mind. It wasn't until after the more painful Spiritual surgeries that he saw opportunities to reach people that never would have happened, or been possible, without what he had been through.
Jesus faced the cross out of obedience to His Father. He knew He would be on that cross looking at His mother, and family and knew the pain they were going through due to His obedience. Knew that His Disciples had scattered due to His obedience.
Obeying Jesus often comes with a price. Family and friends may not understand. Job's Wife urged him to curse God and die. Jonathan loved David as a brother, knew full well that to maintain that meant defying his own father. Meant he would never be King. He probably had many trying to encourage him to help his Father kill David to keep the Throne. Who but someone sensitive to the Spirit would understand Jonathan's thinking?
When Saul was blinded on the way to Damascus, he was beside himself. For days he was wrapped up in his own mind. He was being shown every place in Scripture where all the evidence pointed to Jesus as being the Christ. He was shown just how he had missed it all and how he had misled others. His Spiritual eyes were opened. Read what it was about in the books he wrote, but, realize he probably ran across others who were like himself who also needed to know.
Your probably not going to understand why you go through what you do. Jesus's words to you are the same as they have been to me. "Trust Me".
In John when Jesus was walking on the water, it came down to trusting Him that they let Him in their boat. Peter had to trust Him to walk on the water too. John had to trust Jesus to live through several for certain death sentences by Emperor's to be banished to the island of Patmos. He probably had time to think about his mother's request of Jesus. That he would indeed drink of the cup that Jesus did. His brother James had already been killed years earlier. That question of why still probably was with him.
You and I go through things to remain sensitive to the Spirit. It's up to us to recognize injured people and so come along side of them. It matters not if they have given us every reason to hate them, in Christ, we are not to shun them. At the least we are to pray for them, and absolutely forgive them. Christ forgave those who put Him on a cross. Which wasn't just those there that day. You and I and everyone in the human race put Him there. Salvation is free because of Jesus. Forgiveness is but a request away because of Jesus. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Pray for those in your life, the ones you get along with and those you don't. Praying for your situation is easy, praying for those you have a problem with isn't so much.
Praying for opportunities means being open to those opportunities regardless of how you feel about it. Every person alive needs Christ as their Savior even your mortal enemies. Those that hated Jesus the most He still died for.
We may never get an answer as to why on this side of Heaven. Job didn't. Thinking about it, Samson didn't either. You could easily be in good company.
Jesus says only this: Trust Me, Obey Me.
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