The Purpose Of The Things We Go Through

We are a short-sighted people. Each of us tries to understand life and our experience with our God in the context of our single life. It is only natural that we do. But we are called to go beyond the natural order; we have been called into the supernatural, into the Kingdom of God, into a new perspective.

Instead of seeing life in the context of an individual life we are called to see it in the context of family. Each family member affects the other family members and is affected by those members. In this context we can understand that our God will take us through things that have little to do with us and everything to do with what he is trying to bring into the lives of others.

The nation of Israel is a great example of this. Yahweh grew this nation out of Israel for his purpose. Why Abraham? I don't know but his purpose was greater than wanting to bless Abraham. He states that he wanted to use Israel to reveal himself to the world, so that he would be glorified through Israel. Israel's blessings would have a greater purpose than prospering one nation.

At the root of it was Father's plan to reconcile the world to himself. To do this he needed to reveal himself to the world. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob knew him in a limited fashion but they didn't even know his name. It was through Moses that Yahweh gave his name and revealed his character and power. It was then through Israel that Yahweh revealed himself to the world. Read Joshua's words as he addressed the nation:

"This happened so that all the earth’s peoples might know that the Lord’s power is great and that you may always revere the Lord your God.” (Joshua 4:24)

The Church has been charged with the same purpose as the nation of Israel had before they failed Yahweh; we are his instruments to reveal his name and glory to the world. He does this with the same power as he always has, where his instruments allow him to operate through them.

Understand how Paul's words puts this in the context of your life and the things you go through. He was struggling with a tormenting spirit from Satan and he prayed to have it removed. After the third time he prayed he received this answer:

“My grace is enough for you, because power is made perfect in weakness.” So I’ll gladly spend my time bragging about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power can rest on me. Therefore, I’m all right with weaknesses, insults, disasters, harassments, and stressful situations for the sake of Christ, because when I’m weak, then I’m strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Our life in context of family is to understand that our Lord reveals himself through the many things we face for the encouragement of those around us. It doesn't mean that there is not benefit for us, but the main focus may not be about us.

This does not mean that our Lord wants us weak and frail and lacking anything. That is not what he did with Israel. He is not glorified in our depraved condition. He is glorified in our success when he brings that success through the areas in which we are the weakest. He wants us to succeed so that Father receives the glory. But either we want to avoid these weaknesses or we refuse success in the weaknesses thinking we are glorifying God in our suffering. He is only glorified when we allow him to overcome this suffering.

Stand up under the weaknesses, insults, disasters, harassments, and stressful situations because Jesus is using those things to profit others. We lay down our lives for the benefit of others. We allow Jesus to be glorified through us. We allow Jesus to make us prosperous and successful in our weakest points, for his glory, for the benefit of others. That is what it is to serve him in our lives in the context of family.

Understanding Our Weakness

Many of us in the Body of Christ desire to be used by the Lord for his glory, but few of us are willing to pay the price. We read the Word through the eyes of our flesh, defined by the principles of this world without understanding how far we are from the heart of our Father.

Many of us find it hard to accept that the Lord needs to form our hearts before he can trust us with his glory. He needs to take us through storms and deserts, valleys and mountains, all with the purpose of forming what he needs us to be.

Consider what he took Joseph through before moving him into his eternal purpose. He faced slavery, false accusations, imprisonment but all the while he was developing a heart's heart in Joseph. A servant's heart is a must to be a leader with eternal purpose.

Our Lord will never give us what will destroy us. We may be looking for a million dollars to glorify our Lord, but he knows that million dollars will drive us far from him. We may be looking for things that he has not yet finished preparing us to receive. Often he wants us in a place of complete humility and utter dependence before he will move us into position, like Joseph.

Consider this Scripture:

The Lord said to Gideon: “You have too many people on your side. If I were to hand Midian over to them, the Israelites might claim credit for themselves rather than for me, thinking, We saved ourselves." (Judges 7:2)

Exactly. And if we are willing to be honest we would admit it is true of us as well. If our Lord does not do things in our weakness we will not give him the honour and glory. In our weakness he demonstrates his strength for the ultimate glory. Isn't that what we want?

Often we are children who just learned to ride a bicycle so think we are ready for a motorcycle. The most basic purpose of everything we go through is to learn humility and dependence on our Lord for all things. Until we learn, accept and walk in this truth, we will not move into our eternal purpose. We need to stop struggling in it, stop denying the Lord and begin to allow joy to permeate everything we experience.

We will continue to give him glory in all things but yet may not arrive at that place of maturity because the greatest glory is given in our weakness. Humility and dependence is the basic and yet pinnacle of everything in our service to the Lord.

A Cause Of Our Spiritual Weakness

There is a spiritual truth that is almost impossible for us to live in our current age where the almighty dollar reigns supreme. For years we have allowed the seed in our heart grow, the seed that says "money makes the world go round". Everyone wants a comfortable life with enough money to do what they want and what most people want is to be entertained. So we work to spend, and what we don't have, we borrow. We lean heavily on credit cards and enslave ourselves to the financial system of this world; and we think it is good.

How can we discover the greatness of our God when we are enslaved to another? How can we discover the wonderful provision of our God when we are enslaved to another? How can we discover that he is mighty to save, whether by many or few, when we trust another god for our salvation?

You may think I am being a little over dramatic but that's because we have become blind to our own condition. We have become spiritually weak for several reasons but this is one of the big ones. It is not unlike the kings of old who trusted their own resources instead of Yahweh. Over the last couple of days I have been using king Asa as an illustration and today is no exception.

You will recall that Asa was a great king, bringing spiritual renewal to Judah as he encouraged everyone to turn back to Yahweh. He was a king who leaned on his God, who trusted him and as a result the land was blessed. During an invasion of the Ethiopians, when he was outnumbered 3 to 1, Asa cried out to Yahweh and trusted him in the battle. He easily defeated the army and gained great riches. Because Asa and Judah sought the Lord, they found him, and he gave them peace for 35 years, during which time they prospered. It was a golden age, until Asa made the same mistake we make today.

The King of Israel attacked and was building a city to cut off a major trade route. Israel's army was nothing compared to the Ethiopian army Asa had defeated in trusting Yahweh but during the 35 years of peace Asa seemed to have forgotten. He panicked and made a bad decision:

Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying, “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you silver and gold; come, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.” (2 Chronicles 16:2-3)

The fact that Asa trusted his riches and paid a foreign king, who was actually an enemy, to get him out of trouble was distasteful to Yahweh. He sent his prophet to tell Asa what he had done was wrong:

Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. ( vv. 7-8)

Now pay attention to the next part and understand how wrong we have been and why we struggle in spiritual weakness:

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. (v. 9)

Our Lord looks for opportunities to show his strength through the weaknesses of his children. It brings to mind the Lord`s response to Paul`s prayer for deliverance, when he said that his grace was sufficient for Paul because he reveals his strength through our weakness. But we refuse to be weak in this age. We turn to other sources for salvation. We rely on the wisdom of man. We lean on credit. We run after means to feed and clothe ourselves. We wear ourselves out, ignoring Jesus entirely, as if he were some decorative ornament that adorns our lives; totally useless but pretty to look at.

Now that you are aware of this you have an opportunity to repent of it. Father wants us turning to him in our weakness. He wants us to lean on him so he can glorify himself through us. But please do not react like Asa. He had an opportunity to repent here. He had made a mistake but our Lord is the source of all grace. He only looks to us to repent and be restored. But instead of repenting, Asa allowed his heart to be filled with anger, bitterness and resentment. He threw the prophet into jail. He became a tyrant, oppressing the people because his heart had changed. And even when the Lord used disease to bring correction and to soften his heart, Asa refused to turn to him for help, instead choosing to die in suffering with the disease. We can be stupidly stubborn in our disobedience.

Face it, we are a distracted people who lean on other gods for salvation. We are wrong, we are weak, and we are in much need of repentance. Just for this moment, be honest with yourself. In your weakness, who or what gets glorified? If the answer is not Jesus then fall on your face before him. And don't lie to yourself. This could be a major turning point in your spiritual maturity. Allow Jesus to be glorified in your weakness.