I'm sure you can relate.....there are some days when you feel like you can conquer the world, and there are those when you feel like you can't conquer getting out of bed. We ALL have them. It's simply a part of life.
I would consider myself to be a fairly strong person on a regular basis. I've dealt with my fair share of happiness, good times, ups, downs, and outright horrible situations. I'll be honest, most of the time when dealing with a low time or bad situation, I inevitably find myself asking God why this is happening, or what is the lesson in all of this God, or better yet, why me/us?
It's ok....God is used to those questions, and He gets them from a lot of us. I believe that He's ok with questions like that as long as we are bringing them to Him. Keeping the lines of prayer and communication open with Him is ultimately what He desires the most. It's when we turn away or simply quiet our hearts from Him that we lose sight of the amazing possibilities He can do through us.
I'm not switching gears....PROMISE! But, think of the first time you stood on the shore of the ocean staring at the horizon and wondering just how far that water really goes. For me, I was about 5 or 6 years old and I remember standing there in complete awe, shock, amazement, and a little bit of terror too. The shear vastness of that ocean consumed me in every possible way and to this day, it still catches my breath a little bit. Now...think of Moses. Moses was charged with the task of leading the Israelites out of Egypt and to a safe, promising future. After already enduring numerous trials, there he stood at the shore of the Red Sea staring off into the horizon, wondering just how in the world he was going to get his people safely across to the other side, and the Egyptians were hot on their tail.
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.'" - Exodus 14:15-16
Moses did what most of us would do, he turned to his Father in Heaven. However, the answer was probably not what most would expect. God asked Moses questions right back. He asked him why he was crying out to Him? Then He tells him to lift his staff and stretch out his hand over the sea and divide it so that they can pass through the sea safely. (Enter jaw-dropping and deer in headlights look...)
God was asking Moses why he was coming to Him and asking for Him to deal with this when God already gave Moses the power to handle it himself. He didn't wipe out the sea or eliminate the Egyptians to eradicate the problem so that Moses and the Israelites would not have to endure the situation. The sea was still there, the Egyptians were still coming, yet the word says, "that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground." The problem wasn't going away. However, God gave Moses the power to lead the people through the sea on dry ground.
Sometimes I think we pray to God to take away all of our problems, or question why we have to go through something. However, we don't realize that God blesses us time and time again with His supernatural power and strength and we don't rely on it! There are many things in life, often terrible things, that we have to go through, just like Moses and the Israelites did. In those times, we need to remember that God showers us with His love, mercy, strength, and power. He gives us the ability to go through our own Red Seas, yet walk on dry ground. Do you think the Israelites were still not afraid when they were passing through? Wouldn't YOU be afraid?! A long way to travel and HUGE walls of water that could crush you in a heartbeat, and oh yeah, those darned Egyptians are STILL in hot pursuit....yes...there's a bit of fear there! Fear is natural and God expects it. He also expects us to turn it over to Him and trust that He will lead and empower us to come through those situations stronger than when we started. We can't always expect God to wipe out the situation or take care of a problem all together, but we can expect that God provides us with the strength to endure the situations where He's also refining our hearts and deepening our relationship with Him.
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