100
Posted by:
Bible Blogger on
March 19, 2007 at
5:42PM EST
This is blog number 100.
When I felt God impressing on me to write this blog ninety-nine blogs
ago I had no idea that I would reach 100 blogs. I thought perhaps I'd
write for a few weeks and then God would say it was enough. Instead, I
press on and feel him telling me to "go on."
So today I was thinking about what to write in a blog when I had the
thought to do a Bible Gateway search for "hundred." It came up with
many passages but this one spoke directly to me (and I hope it will
you!)
"In hope he believed
against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he
had been told, "So shall your offspring be." He
did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as
good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he
considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." - Romans 4:18-25 (ESV)
Trust is a very hard thing for many Christians. Sure, we say we trust
Him. What happens when the storms of life hit and you find yourself in
a deep valley that's filling up fast from the rain? Do you keep on
walking saying that you trust God will stop the rain or raise the
ground level?
I know the times in my life where the storms hit and I'm barely keeping
my head above water it's very hard to just trust that God's going to
keep me from drowning. Now, I KNOW in my head that he's not going to
leave me drown. The Word is clear that he loves us and that "in
all things God works for the good of those who love him." - Romans 8:28
(NIV) And, sure enough, I always get brought through and God's been
entirely faithful.
However, God comes in at His perfect time which is almost always never
our perfect time. We want everything to be done right now. We're in
what I call a "fast food society." We want it fast, we want it now and
we want it exactly how we want things to be. If we don't get it, we're
not happy and we let everyone know about it. If we "trust" someone to
do something for us and they're not doing it how we would do it or as
fast as we would want it done we zip in and do it ourselves.
That can't work with God.
It's so counter to our human nature and in my opinion it's one of the
biggest challenges we as Christians face every single day. Sure, when
everything's going well and you're in a time of favor it's easy to
trust God. Once you find yourself starting downhill into the valley
the first instinct is to try and fix it. Christians need to check
themselves and see if they can keep that trust level just as high in
the valley as on the mountaintops. When you reach that level, you've
taken a huge step in your spiritual growth.
This does not mean you should be "happy happy joy joy" all the time.
If you're really hurting, if you're really down, if the storm is so
heavy you feel that you're about to go under then you need to reach out
to your brothers and sisters in Christ. You need to let them know
where you are and have them pray for and with you on everything.
Christians need to be real at all times and not just when things are
good.
If you're in the midst of a storm...and I know from messages and
e-mails a few of you who are regular readers are facing
hurricanes...know that if you stay strong and keep your eyes on Jesus
you will always get the victory from God. Just realize that may not be
in your way or even on this side of heaven...but there's nothing you
can do about it anyway!
God bless you all.
