Difficult times occur in our lives occur only because the Lord allows them to occur. And He allows them because each one serves a purpose in our lives.

Recently I was having trouble praying. My mind would either keep wandering, or I would get distracted or sleepy. And then one day an unsettling situation occurred. It saddened and shook me. But it also jolted me right out of the comfort I was settling into and right onto my knees. If anything, the situation helped me to start praying again. So I thank God for difficulties and trials. For strengthening me and pulling to close to Him, time after time.

The Passover

In the Old Testament the Lord repeatedly instructs the Israelites to observe the Passover. It's good to recall what we have been through in the past and how the Lord has brought us out of it. We tend to take for granted the Lord's mercy and become blase about what He has done in for us. So a reminder now and then is good.

Remembering our trials helps us:

1. to not forget the grace of God

2. to empathize with others and help them rather than judge them.

Deuteronomy 10:10 and 2 Peter 3:9 lend lucidity to each other.

Deuteronomy 10:10

“I myself stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you."

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

The Israelites wandered around in their wilderness for forty years. They repeatedly sinned and turned away from the Lord

What could have happened was:

Israelites sin--be punished--die.

What the Lord wanted instead was:

Israelites sin--be disciplined/learn lessons--gain promise.

And the same applies for us. If we're wandering around in some kind of wilderness it's not because the Lord is slow in keeping His promises. But because He is unwilling to see us perish. The Lord making us wait is actually Him giving us a chance to change, grow in Him and be blessed.

No one really enjoys a difficult situation, be it anything. Being hard up on cash, humiliation, pressure at work, not being understood, a fight with a loved one. The Israelites didn't enjoy their time in the wilderness either. But the Lord leads us through the wilderness and allows us to remain there for a while. Unfortunately, we end up focusing on the wilderness and not Him. But only by focusing on Him can we allow ourselves to be taught the lessons He wants us to learn through trials. 

Deuteronomy 8:2-5 says:

2 You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.4 Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 

The Lord allows trials in our lives because:

*Trials are meant to humble us.

*Trials show us what we really have in our hearts: the kind of people we really are.

*They test whether we keep the Lord's commands.

*They teach us to depend on the Lord.

*They are meant to bring glory to God.

*They are what the Lord uses to discipline us.

Ernest Hemingway once said: "Courage is grace under pressure."

Well, the Lord allows the pressure so that He can teach us the courage, extend to us His grace and be the strength to pull us through. He disciplines and moulds us only because He loves us enough to do so.

Don't worry when people abuse you or threaten to harm you for the sake of standing up for Christ. In fact, expect it. Your Lord suffered the same thing.

He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 
                                           Isaiah 53:3

However, the Lord also says,

No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD.
                                                                                           Isaiah 54:17 

When you're a servant of the Lord Almighty, nothing can touch you. Your Master is the head over every power and authority.

"In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed".
                                                                           -Exodus 15:13a

God leads us, loves us and forgives us because of His love for us, not our love for Him. Or our performance to please Him. But the least we can do is obey.

What the Lord provides according to His will may not seem to be what we dream of or desire. But it certainly is according to the Lord's heavenly provision. Which is beyond our imagination, exceedingly abundant, more than we can ever ask or imagine.

Joseph's career may not have seemed to be going according to his desires. He probably wanted to be head shepherd and own the most sheep his dad could give him and that he could rear. Being a slave in a foreign land may have been far from his dreams. However, God's provision was much beyond his narrow imagining. God led Joseph to be Prime Minister of Egypt, whereas he would probably have settled at richest shepherd of a nomadic clan.

Don't let your earthly desires trap you in a place where God can't use you for the purpose you were created.

Joseph got a raw deal for being honest, loyal and faithful. He refused to succumb to his master's wife's overtures and sleep with her. Consequently he got thrown into prison on false charges. It seems unfair: being penalized while actually striving to remain faithful and obedient to God. But Joseph's life story shows that he had to be in prison at that particular time for God to use him.

Similarly, the trials in our lives are strategically arranged. They occur at specific times (even though we don't realize it) to lead us towards God's purpose for us. They also serve to teach us necessary skills we lack. Each individual is an instrument, as are the trials in her life, to bear fruit for God, to help others and to build up oneself.

So whatever happens, we must not compromise on obedience to God, although they seem to place us in uncomfortable and painful situations. Those situations are meant to build us up as well as others. And to fulfill God's perfect plan for ourselves as well as others.

Had Joseph never been in prison, he would never have known that God could use him to interpret dreams.

*God shows us the skills we have, and which He will use as part if His plan.

Had Joseph never interpreted dreams, he would never have been led to Pharoah.

*God leads us to the people we are meant to help

Had Joseph never been led to Pharoah, he would never have been appointed prime minister of Egypt.

*God uses trials to direct us to take up positions he needs us to fill.

Had Joseph never been appointed prime minister of Egypt, he would never have been able to save the people of Egypt or other lands from the great famine that swept across nations.

*God uses our trials as stepping stones towards helping others, to bear fruit for His kingdom.

Had all these preceding events not occurred, his family would have died of starvation. Joseph's tough times led him towards a bigger picture: to help save Israel and his sons. His trials played a part in the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, to make his descendants a great nation.

*God uses trials to fulfill His promises to us and His people.

So never compromise obedience to God. Even when the cause tough times for us. These tough times are momentary. And these tough times are where God can move for you and use you.

A soiled vessel isn't useful until it has been cleaned. Anything poured into an already soiled vessel will also get contaminated. Therefore, neither the vessel nor it's contents can be used to good effect.I guess that's why we need to empty and cleanse ourselves in order to be filled and perfectly used by God. 

"In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work." 2 Tim 2:20-21

"Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, since you are to be free from yeast. For the Messiah, our Passover, has been sacrificed." 1 Cor 5:7 

Of recipes and cake.

I make perfect chocolate cake, even if I do say so myself. But the fact is I do. It's because the recipe I have, the formula, is perfect.

When someone asks me for the recipe, I give it to them, only too happy to help them make perfect chocolate cake for themselves. But my strict instructions are: follow the recipe to the T. DO NOT add your own inputs. However, people invariably do. And this results in not-so-perfect cake. Why? Because they didn't trust me enough to do exactly what I said. Regardless of the fact that I gave them the recipe and that I make perfect cake. And that I've done this a million times before and I know what I'm doing.

Similarly if we want God to work perfectly in our lives, we have to obey Him. To follow His formula to the T. Not swerve to the left or to the right. Not add our own inputs.

Therefore the Bible says:

"The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom". -Deut 28:13

Unfortunately, when God asks us to do only what He asks us to, we misunderstand Him to be a tyrannical, stifling God. It's only in retrospect that we understand that His explicit instructions benefit no one but ourselves. It's only in retrospect that we realize that swerving away from His advice wasted our own time, energy and resources. And that His path is the best path simply because He knows! He's the expert. It's His formula, His recipe. He's done this a million times before and He knows what He's doing.

When someone takes a tried and tested recipe from you and tweaks it according to their own wisdom, only to end up with a not-so-perfect dish, wouldn't it upset you? Especially if that person is a novice? And you are the expert regarding that dish? Don't you wonder why that person didn't just LISTEN to you? Especially when there was a guarantee of a perfect outcome?

May be that's why God says:

"See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it." - Deut 12:32

If I don't, I have only myself to blame if I end up with not-so-perfect chocolate cake.