Job CXLI

Whenever I’m going through a trial, a test, or a time of sifting, my purpose isn’t to ferret out why but to ensure that I love God, knowing that all things work together for good to those who love Him. My daily focus is to love Him more today than I did yesterday, to grow in my adoration and affection for Him, knowing that everything else will be put in its rightful place. This trust in His plan brings a sense of security, and eventually, the entire masterpiece of His plan will unfold before me, leaving me speechless and in awe and wonder of His amazing grace.

It’s not something that occurs naturally in our hearts and minds but rather something that must be actively pursued. The first instinct we have when we’re blindsided by something, whether a new, heretofore unfelt pain or an unforeseen setback, is to sit and stew, wondering why this has happened to us. If allowed, this ever-present question becomes an obsession, something we ponder and think about every waking hour while dismissing the underlying promise that if we love Him, it will work together for good.

When God said all things, He wasn’t being hyperbolic. It was not an exaggeration but rather a true and present reality that all who love Him experience. All things work together for good! This doesn’t necessarily mean they will work together for good in the physical, although we are predisposed to believe it was the physical He was referring to. Trials are inevitable in our spiritual journey, but they are not meant to break us. They are meant to shape us and make us stronger.

It’s the reason the entire doctrine of prosperity falls apart because the foundation of its presupposition is flawed from the start. When God says that all things work together for good to those who love Him, there is no addendum insisting that it would be in the physical or material sense. It could be that as well, but more often than not, when God strips away the material things when God allows testing to come upon us, it has more to do with our spiritual man and the maturing and perfecting thereof than it has to do with the supernatural healing of a bunion or the accidental deposit of a million dollars in your bank account.

When we love God, we naturally trust Him to define what is good rather than taking it upon ourselves to do so. What you may deem good may be detrimental to the utmost for your spiritual walk, leading you to a place exponentially more debilitating than what you are currently navigating.

When we take it upon ourselves to demand what we deem to be good of God, rather than trusting in His sovereignty, we are no longer walking in obedience or submission but attempting to usurp His authority and dictate terms to Him as though He were no more than a wish granter who must bend to our will. Obedience, therefore, is not just a requirement but a key to our spiritual growth, inspiring us to follow His path and not our own.

Not understanding something doesn’t necessarily mean we should reject it, dismiss it, or discard it simply because we do not understand it. When my daughters were babies, and they were old enough to require more than just their mother’s milk, whenever we’d attempt to feed them something new, usually some puree, whether fruit or boiled vegetable, their instinctual reaction was to turn their head and make the pucker face known by parents the world over, but we nevertheless persisted because we knew the nutritive value in the things we were feeding them.

Even if we’d taken the time to explain why the purees were necessary to their development and that they needed to eat them to grow strong and healthy, they could not understand or perceive the words we were speaking to them. The same can be applied to us when God allows something unpleasant to occur in our lives. That one experience can ripple throughout the rest of our days, making us better, stronger, more in tune with His will, and less reticent to obey Him even when the road ahead is not as straightforward as we would like it to be.

He can take the time to explain, but chances are we wouldn’t perceive and understand it even if He did. An infinite God explaining His grand design and plan for an individual, finite life, limited in its understanding, is likely to fall on deaf ears and not to be comprehended. Do this, and it will make you stronger. Do this, and it will give you endurance. Do this, and it will build up your most holy faith. Rather than doing it, rather than committing and putting one foot in front of the other, not looking back but only forward, we procrastinate by asking how these things will transform us in the way He promises they will. Even if He took the time to explain it, we wouldn’t fully grasp it. So, rather than pitching a tent in the land of indecision, our best course of action is to do as He commands and see His promises come to pass.

Are you calling me a dullard? Don’t take it personally. In light of God’s eternal wisdom, we’re all dullards. We get glimpses of the plan and mind of God, but as far as possessing full understanding thereof, there is none among us who has. Men have thought it, perhaps, or have declared it to the awe and aplomb of some, but in reality, we see in part and understand in part.

God will never steer you wrong. He will never set you on a path that will be detrimental to your spiritual well-being because that would mean actively working against His own purpose regarding your sanctification. The only time we find ourselves confused, and off balance, uncertain about the path we are treading is when we heed the whispers of men over the voice of God and convince ourselves that we’ve found an alternate route to the same destination. We haven’t; no man has. There is only one way, only one truth, and only one life. Every other path leads to destruction, no matter how well-paved or amply lit it may be.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.