God Speaks Through Circumstances
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“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8:28
How we orient our hearts during difficult circumstances will affect our ability to hear God. It’s human nature to lash out and blame when something bad happens. We blame God, accuse Him of neglect, and run from Him. Then we feel utterly alone and lost. We feel abandoned by our Creator when actually we were the ones who ran from Him. How do we make sense of it all?
Reoriented Hearts
When we arrive at our second pastorate, the church is inward-focused and unhealthy. My hubby, the pastor, and I begin the hard work of revitalization. It requires patience and perseverance to shift the culture of a living organization, but, eventually, we do. New life springs forth, lives are impacted. Growth is evident, except the finances remain stagnant, even though my husband faithfully teaches stewardship principles each Sunday. We work faithfully for ten years; we give, pray, and press on.
In the eleventh year, my husband offers to not receive a salary. It isn’t a flippant decision. After much prayer and talking through the options, we agree and have peace. We pray, we wait, and God speaks to us. We believe God is our Provider, not the church; we trust He will supply our needs.
In the past, we experience the faithfulness of God a million times over. We are confident His faithfulness continues. We have a choice to make at this time. How are we to access these circumstances? We have two options: bitterness or trust God.
God proves His faithfulness as He provides another paying job for my hubby. He becomes the Development Director of a men’s homeless shelter. The job fits his giftings perfectly, and it provides new ministry opportunities with homeless men. He also takes on a bus route. I get a part-time job at Marshall’s, in addition to my part-time work at the church. I enjoy the retail job immensely, though it is physically exhausting.
Unexpected checks arrive at just the right time as bills need to be paid. We continue to love the congregation and do the work God calls us to do. God is faithful to our family. When finances are tight, or we feel shaky with our choice, we continue to pray and reorient our hearts to God’s goodness.
I wish I could say a miracle happens and all the finances come in, but they don’t. We do what God asks us to do. As we wait on God that year, our youngest daughter graduates high school, and we feel a release to leave the church. We resign with thankful hearts for the season we had with the church, and are confident God will direct us to our next step.
In God’s faithfulness, He moves us to a new pastoral assignment. We don’t allow the root of bitterness, as we live off of our savings account that year. Instead, we chose to daily look to God for strength and wisdom. We are confident God asks us to take this step of obedience and let go of a paycheck. We listen for God’s voice as we reorient our lives to what He wants to do; we adjust to God’s plans.
God’s Perspective
Henry Blackaby, in Experiencing God, says this about our circumstances:
“When you face confusing circumstances don’t start blaming God. Don’t just give up following Him. Go to God. Ask Him to reveal the truth of your circumstances. Ask Him to show you his perspective. Then wait on the Lord.
You need to have your life radically oriented to God. The most difficult thing you will ever have to do is deny yourself, take up the will of God, and follow after Him. The most difficult part of your relationship with God is being God-centered. If you were to record a whole day in your life you might find that your prayers, your attitudes, your thoughts, everything about your day are radically self-centered. You may not be seeing things from God’s perspective. You may want to explain to God what your perspective is. When He becomes the Lord of your life, He alone has the right to be:
-the Focus of your life
-the Initiator of your life
-the Director of your life
That is what it means for Him to be Lord.
The answer to unsettling circumstances is to reorient our hearts to God. We train ourselves to see our difficulties from God’s perspective. Ask yourself these questions:
What is God doing with these circumstances?
What revelation of His character does He want to download into your heart?
What understanding of His greatness does He long to reveal to you?
How is God caring for me during these hard days?
It’s important to be honest about our pain in difficult circumstances. We pour it out, and He compassionately listens, but God still asks us to bend to His will, not our own. I understand it’s hard to die to self, but ultimately, it’s for our good. It’s because God’s will for our life is perfect. He has good plans and holy purposes for our lives. The hard things won’t feel good, but He will work them for good because it’s His promise to us. He is trustworthy and the more we reorient to God, the more clearly we hear Him speak.
Let’s pray.
Dear Papa, Sometimes my difficult circumstances can be disorienting. I want to blame someone and often I pick You. Help me not to run from You but towards You when trouble comes. Help me pour out my honest pain then reorient my heart to Your purposes. Help me be less self-centered and more God-centered. Thank you for speaking to me in my difficult circumstances. Amen.
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