Control Yourself!

Do you have control over anything in your suffering?

Where do you turn when there seems to be no answer to your suffering? Whom do you ask for insight when tough times come your way? What if the answers are not what you want to hear?

Jesus prayed in the garden for the cup of suffering to pass from Him, for the cup to be removed, for His part in the redemptive story of human history to be cut from the final edition…The outlook was more difficult than He originally anticipated, and staring it in the face was entirely different than talking about it months, days, and even hours before it all commenced at the last meal with His disciples. Yet the answer Jesus received was not the one He was looking for…Jesus asked for things to change, because He wanted them to…and nothing!

So the question remains, what do you do when things happen that you never asked for, maybe you never saw this coming; certainly you asked for a change in your favor once it arrived; yet the answer you sought never comes? Jesus had a shift in His thinking after starting His prayer with “please let this cup pass from me”…He first asks for the pain and suffering to be removed…and then He postures Himself in a place so many of us today find very difficult, and even troubling…”Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done”. Jesus was essentially saying, ”ok, since things are not going to turn out like I would prefer to see them; then let it ALL happen according to your will and may you get the glory for it all”. Now keep in mind, God’s will is more than just how God wants it to be, or how God makes things to become because He is sovereign. God’s will is also a state of mind for the believer that invites God’s wisdom, His provision, and God’s glory to be revealed in the very thing you once asked God to fix. Consequently you shift diametrically into a mode that says, “OK, if not my will…then to your will and your glory may this situation be of service”! In other words, I may not agree with your answer, but I’m on board 100% for mission…operation Glory!

So do we have control over anything in our suffering? I have come to see that we have no control over the suffering; but one thing we can control is our reaction to the suffering once we are faced with it. How will you react to the pain when it comes? Our reaction is the only thing we have control over when suffering comes, and it will shape your communion with God one way or the other!

Romans 8:28 says, “We know that all things work together for Good of those who love God, those who are called according to His purpose” I used to believe that this verse meant we will have no big issues in this life, and when a trial comes it is going to be “turned around” for my good because God loves me. It was always implied I will be just fine and it may look bad, but it will soon be turned around and the situation will turn out good for me because Jesus shed His blood on the cross so that I might have an abundant life! However the continuation of this set of verses speaks of Christ’s sacrifice and how God didn’t spare even His own son…

35”who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, because of you we are being put to death all day long, we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loves us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels or rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!”

I’ve learned that in the midst of the storm, in the middle of a crisis, and in the depths of my worst nightmare…God’s will and glory can be celebrated by His followers, but it’s up to us to point to it. My reaction to my trouble has the power to shape its outcome! If I ignore the pain and suffering or if I chose to run from God, the enemy has won and Jesus who said He had overcome the world and His sacrifice are made nothing. Yet if I choose to trust God, in the good times and in the famine…He can and will get glory from my suffering…and He will be in perfect position to carry me through it all! But it is up to me to be in position to lean on Him!

You may be feeling a little indifferent because the answer to the prayers you prayed never came. Or maybe God did answer but He just said…no? I don’t know for sure, but this one thing I do know…if you’re praying; God is listening! He loves to communicate with you more than you can imagine. I have chosen to see the creator of the universe as a guide for my family; He is the good shepherd that leads us everyday and we have decided to set our noses at his legs in our darkest hour! “Though I walk Through The Valley of The Shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me”…And secondly we recognize God as someone who understands me in my deepest despair, yet cannot let go of His hold on His glory. So may the reactions to all of our pain, sufferings, joy, and hope point to the one and only Messiah, Jesus the son of God who takes away the sins of the world, for He has overcome the world, and He is ever present with us in our darkest hour, He hold us up…one step at a time!

He Never Let’s Go!