“It gets worse before it gets better”.
Ever heard that one? Oh yeah. But it seems to be true more often than not. I don’t like going through tough times. I want it to be easy. Or at least go with the plan. Usually my plan. I can control things that way and not be knocked off balance. But that doesn’t seem to be the way God works. He allows us to be knocked off balance for purposes in us that only He can see.
In the Old Testament, Joseph suffered a whole lot of years in prison, forgotten, before his chance came. After interpreting Pharaoh’s dream, he was rewarded with the power to rule Pharaoh’s kingdom. But the mess came first.
Centuries later, things got worse for the Hebrews after Moses asked another Pharaoh to let them go. The king not only did not let them go, but demanded more of them and made it harder for them to deliver. Definitely this was a mess!
I read about people throughout the Bible who went through the worst times, yet could glorify God and praise Him for what He did. Even through the messes.
So I come back to the things I am going through. What is it that God is getting at in me? What is it that He wants me to learn, to become? Am I willing to give Him glory and praise Him for what He is doing even when it looks like a huge mess?
I read in Oswald Chambers book, “My Utmost for His Highest”, that we don’t know where God’s labor begins in us or where it is going. God is doing a supernatural work that we might serve Him well – that is without the moaning and groaning. I believe the Bible calls it “murmuring”.
Ugh. I don’t want to think that I am murmuring against my God who has brought me through so much. If He has a plan for me to fulfill and this is the way His plan will work out, then I say “bring on the mess”. I can only trust Him better, for supernatural is something only He can do.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” Matt 11:28.
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