There is a question that has been really convicting me lately. I would like some insight into what all of you think. This is probably more appropriate for a message board, but I really want you to feel free to leave as detailed of a comment as necessary.
so, here it is...
Okay, I know that sometimes God allows us to go through things to draw us closer to Himself. For whatever reasons unbeknownst to us, God has a purpose in allowing us to walk through some valleys, however deep and lonely they may feel to us.
I also know that sometimes Satan attacks our lives to try to distract us from God's will for our lives or worse, to try to get us to be the straying sheep that Jesus has to come after to rescue.
My question is:
How do we know the difference? In other words, how do we know when it is God allowing us to go through something versus Satan having a battlefield with our lives? Is there a difference?
Opinions wanted!
6 comments:
I would say that it does not matter. I learned from a Beth Moore study that you should continue to ask for God's healing/deliverance. He will either A. completely deliver you and your faith will be built because of what He did miraculously. B. bring you safely through the "valley" and your faith will be refined (strengthened) or C. deliver you into His arms and your faith is perfected. The last one was if maybe you were battling a disease. He would either heal you completely, bring you through the illness or bring you home. Each “result” has one thing in common, to build your faith. To ask if it’s from God or Satan does not matter. Because of sin, people suffer. Satan will use it to break down your faith. God will use it to build up your faith. Good question! Don't know if I answered it right, but it got me thinking!
hmmmn! a million dollar question & one that every honest christian struggles to answer. Short form answer is i don't know. its like me and IVF. There's a part of me that keeps wondering if fertility treatment is a sign of lack of faith in the God who heals but then in a haphazard type of way i relate all this to Jesus's parable of the talents. In summary - you use what God has given you to get what you want & every good & perfect gift is from above. je digress.
So in answer to your musing, reference to our good man Job. The trial may be from Satan's pranking, but nothing in the life of a believer can happen without God's say so. & no matter what God allows, just as He did for Job, He sets boundary limits that nothing & no one in creation can defy.
(this is getting real long and I'm sorry about that) but in summary i always answer that question with "can satan outsmart God?"
I tend to take my life as it is, not that Satan is causing anything that God is neglecting to heal me from. I pray to God to ask for strength and peace so I can travel this rocky path that was set to be my life. I have a hard time with that. I struggle in so many ways every day of my life. But I never think Satan is throwing me stumbling blocks. They are just there and I think God has his arms around me, weeping with me when I fall down and just can't take it anymore. He doesn't want me to hurt, but I do. I just have to trust that this is what He wants me to do. There is a reason, which I may never know, but there is a reason. It's God's will and I will try to obey it.
If Satan were to be trying to get at me, I would think it would be through others, the things they say, messages, things trying to turn my mind and heart away from God. I pray to God for strength in my faith so these attacks don't faze me. I have very rarely felt Satan in my life, just the few times I was fighting to live. (That's actually an incredible story I may share one day).
I think that all MY suffering has been of great use to aid in the suffering of others. When I worked with animals they could not tell me how they felt. But I had been in their "paws" before for some of the testing and could do things to make them feel better, to comfort them. I've always felt a connection with all of God's creatures and I think he needs me in certain places to help heal some of his creations in a way that only my unique experience can be of use. With my preemies, they can't talk either and are in a world of pain. So I can use my experience there and use it to teach others how to do procedures a better way, comfort parents, empathize with the baby. I think we all have things in our lives that aren't ideal but they are there nonetheless. We can use them to help each other and bring each other closer to God. I like that the PP said too.
(I'm really quite sick today and feverish so if this makes no sense that's why. I'll reread it tomorrow!)
You have asked a most excellent question, and one I wish I knew the answer to. It sure would come in handy.
i don't think we do know how to tell the difference. i guess that is why we have to have blind faith. god always answers our prayers, but sometimes he doesn't give us the answer that we want. there is always a reason though. he knows the plan for each of us.
hey...btw! it is thankful thursday!
hey elaine,
i am getting worried about you! you have been mia for a week now. i hope you are okay!!!!
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