Have you ever encountered a situation that didn’t go how you planned? Has God ever led you down a road that felt ever so good, only to lead to a dead end? Have you seen God bring healing, only to lead to death?
The tragedies we face here on earth often don’t make sense. Struggling can bring many questions and doubt. We wonder what God is up to and the purpose that correlates with our pain. I can’t count the times that God has led me through a difficult circumstance and I still look back years later still questioning the purpose for His direction. I can’t make sense of His reasoning. I don’t understand the pain. I become baffled how this circumstance was for good. The trials feel like they’re breaking me apart, rather than strengthening me.
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
When God says “He’ll work all things for good” this doesn’t mean everything will have a happy ending. In fact, often God’s definition of “good” usually consists of intense suffering and pain. As Christians, God typically uses heartbreak, trials and hardships to display His power, provision and love. Not all things we go through will feel good or great, but we can know that when we struggle, God is using it for a better “good” than we can comprehend.
God’s “good” isn’t defined by our definition of “good.” What we may think is beneficial and profitable for our lives is not often the same as God’s intention. God looks at eternity in perspective, not the world we are living in. We often crave goodness based on what we can see, achieve and attain, but God’s goodness is grounded in an eternal purpose that isn’t supplied by anything we can find here on earth. We desire earthly satisfactions to fill us up with contentment, instead of desiring God to use our lives for His eternal purpose.
Our minds weren’t created to fully understand God’s plans or purpose. That is something that I believe we’ll only comprehend when we reach eternity. We’re missing pieces of the puzzle, so this life and the things we encounter here won’t make sense yet. But one day it will!
If you’ve been experiencing an incredibly difficult season and can’t seem to understand God’s reasoning for your hardships, rest in the promise that God has not made a mistake. No plan of God’s can be changed or thwarted (Job 42:2). Whatever occurred in your life was not by chance. It wasn’t a surprise. It was not only planned, but used to help benefit and grow you for incredible purpose. You may not see any signs of your growth, but God is using it to strengthen you, even when you’re not aware of the work He’s doing. The very things that shatter your plans and break your heart, are so God can mold your broken pieces into an instrument to be used by Him.
I John 2:17
The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
When you’ve been tempted to get discouraged and your life doesn’t feel as “good” as you had hoped, you may just be looking at your life with a distorted perspective. If you’re a child of God and you’re struggling, hurting, hoping, praying and leaning on God for strength through the hardest of days, your life may not be perceived as “good” from a worldly viewpoint, but in an eternal perspective, it’s allowing you to experience something ever so extraordinary! Struggles and hardships offer us an opportunity to grow in our faith, something the world’s pleasures will never satisfy. Who wants a moment of fleeting earthly happiness, when we can suffer, for a brief time, and store up magnificent splendor that will last for eternity?