Hold On to What You Know – When Life Doesn’t Go as You Expect #3
I’m a bit slow in posting at the moment because we are still settling in at our new house, so there is lots to do!
I wanted to carry on the series I started on what we can do when life doesn’t turn out as we expect it to.
Last time I wrote about trusting that God has a plan, and I want to go on to how we need to hold on to what we know.
When life doesn’t go how we thought it would, and things go wrong, it is natural to wonder if God has left us. We think we won’t be able to handle this. We think He’s forgotten us.
Chuck Smith, the founder of the Calvary Chapel movement, says when you are going through trials,
It’s always struck me as a bit odd that in the book of Job, some of Job’s most famous words seem totally out of sink with his surrounding thoughts. He is talking about all the bad things that have happened, and then suddenly out of nowhere come these amazing words:
I think that after he had lost his family, possessions and health, this is how he kept going – he held on to what he knew about God.
We may not know why this is happening to us, but there are things that we do know. Here are some that we can keep reminding ourselves of – I have put in the Bible verses because I think it helps us to understand the weight of it when we see it written in God’s word:
God’s love for you is everlasting
God will never leave you
God will never forget you
God cares for you
Nothing can separate you from God’s love
God will never give you more than you can handle
If you doubt that some of these things are true, remember what God has done for you and others in the past. And remember God is faithful – He will keep to what he has promised.
As one of my favourite hymns says:
there is no shadow of turning with thee;
thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
as thou hast been thou forever will be.
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided;
great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
You can find the rest of the series on when life doesn’t go as you expect here:
1. Being Prepared For Trials
2. Trust that God has a Plan
4. Prayer Changes Things
5. Take Responsibility
6. Keep Pressing Toward the Goal
7. 10 Ways to Support Christians in Trouble
Very nice, thanks!