Thats Just the Way it Is!!!
That's Just the Way it Is!!!
Have you ever prayed for something so bad and wanted an immediate answer? I mean you just couldn't wait for tomorrow, you needed God's answer right now? Have you ever been frustrated by the waiting period in prayer? Have you ever thought that you were so strong spiritually that you could take on any situation or circumstance? Have you ever felt that a peer group of non-christians wouldn't effect you but rather you would rub off on them? Have you ever ignored the biblical advice of not being yoked with an unbeliever because you thought you were strong enough to make it last? Have you ever felt that because of your wisdom that you would recieve more than others who slacked off? Have you ever felt that you deserve more in life because of the circumstances you have been forced to live through? Have you ever been upset with your other Christian friends because they seem more lacsidaisical about thier faith than you do?
I have felt about everyone of this emotions at some point in my christian journey. If not outward, I had them buried in my heart while lying on the outside. How about you? Be honest tonight, be sincere. It's just you and God, no one else. Let's come clean about some of the emotions we have felt inwardly. You wouldn't be the first person in the word to feel this way.
Actually, in Ecclesiastes, Solomon held many of these thoughts himself. He was looking at life and trying to figure out the golden rule, the key that unlocked the secrets of wealth, prestige, popularity, etc... and what he found was the exact opposite of the way he believed things to be.
In Chapter 9:11-12 he shares his observations by saying this, "the race is not for the swift, the battle is not for the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned, but time and chance happen to them all. As fish are caught up in a cruel net, or birds are taken into a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them."
Wow, what a mouth full of truth. If we could just grasp onto this understanding but society teaches us that you reap what you. You make the bed that you lay in but there are those other situations where you can sow and sow and sow and for some reason you get nothing while some idiot does nothing and inherits everything.
There are just going to be times in life when we don't get what we deserve. It is just the flow of life sometimes and we can't or shouldn't get bent out of shape about it. Yes, it does seem unfair but what can we do about changing chance and time. Nothing!!! It is just the natural flow of life.
I am living a first hand account of this right now. I could go on and on about the suffering in my life that just seems unjust and unwarranted but I won't bore you with the sob details. Some mornings I wake up wondering if there is someone waiting above me with a boxing glove on to smack me in the jaw, just to get my day started. It is hard and some days i just feel like not going on, but what do I do, I put one foot in front of the other, holding on to God's promises that He won't allow us to go through more than we can handle.
While we are here on earth, we are meant to plug away, run a race of marathon runners, continue to do good in the face of being made fun of. I was lamenting all of this to my Pastor one day and he said, now you know how Jesus felt and feels, all of the time. You can here him whisper in your ear, "welcome to my world." Which is exactly what we are called to do as Christians. Be Christ-like.
That doesn't mean we skip all of the unfair situations and get all of the riches and spoils. It means that we will travel the same road and meet many of the same situations that Jesus met along the way.
In the short sprints of life it is easy to see that we don't get what we deserve sometimes. We get cheated of some things, we get ripped off of other things, but in the marathon of life, we end up getting what we didn't deserve, SALVATION!!! That is why we must continue to plug away and not fall away. We need to look at situations and not blame God for a lack of answers or a lack of something we think we deserve. We need to look at it as a part of life. Thats just the way it is and nothing you and I can do will change it. I'm reminded of the chorus to a song by Bruce Hornsby from the 80's that says, "that's just the way it is, somethings will never change."
Where is it in life that you stopped chugging along? What unfair situation made you say, "that's it, i'm through with this?" Is Jesus's grace and unconditional love not enough solice for you? Can you not find comfort in the arms of God while going through times of trial? Oh, how weak we really are when the big picture of life is painted before our eyes. Which should lead us to the very understanding that we need Jesus, not reject him and cast him aside.
Have you ever prayed for something so bad and wanted an immediate answer? I mean you just couldn't wait for tomorrow, you needed God's answer right now? Have you ever been frustrated by the waiting period in prayer? Have you ever thought that you were so strong spiritually that you could take on any situation or circumstance? Have you ever felt that a peer group of non-christians wouldn't effect you but rather you would rub off on them? Have you ever ignored the biblical advice of not being yoked with an unbeliever because you thought you were strong enough to make it last? Have you ever felt that because of your wisdom that you would recieve more than others who slacked off? Have you ever felt that you deserve more in life because of the circumstances you have been forced to live through? Have you ever been upset with your other Christian friends because they seem more lacsidaisical about thier faith than you do?
I have felt about everyone of this emotions at some point in my christian journey. If not outward, I had them buried in my heart while lying on the outside. How about you? Be honest tonight, be sincere. It's just you and God, no one else. Let's come clean about some of the emotions we have felt inwardly. You wouldn't be the first person in the word to feel this way.
Actually, in Ecclesiastes, Solomon held many of these thoughts himself. He was looking at life and trying to figure out the golden rule, the key that unlocked the secrets of wealth, prestige, popularity, etc... and what he found was the exact opposite of the way he believed things to be.
In Chapter 9:11-12 he shares his observations by saying this, "the race is not for the swift, the battle is not for the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned, but time and chance happen to them all. As fish are caught up in a cruel net, or birds are taken into a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them."
Wow, what a mouth full of truth. If we could just grasp onto this understanding but society teaches us that you reap what you. You make the bed that you lay in but there are those other situations where you can sow and sow and sow and for some reason you get nothing while some idiot does nothing and inherits everything.
There are just going to be times in life when we don't get what we deserve. It is just the flow of life sometimes and we can't or shouldn't get bent out of shape about it. Yes, it does seem unfair but what can we do about changing chance and time. Nothing!!! It is just the natural flow of life.
I am living a first hand account of this right now. I could go on and on about the suffering in my life that just seems unjust and unwarranted but I won't bore you with the sob details. Some mornings I wake up wondering if there is someone waiting above me with a boxing glove on to smack me in the jaw, just to get my day started. It is hard and some days i just feel like not going on, but what do I do, I put one foot in front of the other, holding on to God's promises that He won't allow us to go through more than we can handle.
While we are here on earth, we are meant to plug away, run a race of marathon runners, continue to do good in the face of being made fun of. I was lamenting all of this to my Pastor one day and he said, now you know how Jesus felt and feels, all of the time. You can here him whisper in your ear, "welcome to my world." Which is exactly what we are called to do as Christians. Be Christ-like.
That doesn't mean we skip all of the unfair situations and get all of the riches and spoils. It means that we will travel the same road and meet many of the same situations that Jesus met along the way.
In the short sprints of life it is easy to see that we don't get what we deserve sometimes. We get cheated of some things, we get ripped off of other things, but in the marathon of life, we end up getting what we didn't deserve, SALVATION!!! That is why we must continue to plug away and not fall away. We need to look at situations and not blame God for a lack of answers or a lack of something we think we deserve. We need to look at it as a part of life. Thats just the way it is and nothing you and I can do will change it. I'm reminded of the chorus to a song by Bruce Hornsby from the 80's that says, "that's just the way it is, somethings will never change."
Where is it in life that you stopped chugging along? What unfair situation made you say, "that's it, i'm through with this?" Is Jesus's grace and unconditional love not enough solice for you? Can you not find comfort in the arms of God while going through times of trial? Oh, how weak we really are when the big picture of life is painted before our eyes. Which should lead us to the very understanding that we need Jesus, not reject him and cast him aside.