Laura Story utilizes Chapters 3 and 4 of Blessings to focus on the first verse of her song. In that verse she states that even though we tend to pray for the blessings of peace, healing, and easing of our suffering, God loves us too much to give us “lesser things”. Put another way, there are times when the greater blessing comes through adversity. God indeed hears each spoken word and will do what is best for us. As C. H. Spurgeon once said, “Grace grows best in the winter.”
The key is that we believe and affirm that God has the power to use all of our experiences for His purposes. This involves surrendering ourselves to Him. Corrie Ten Boom once noted that, appearances to the contrary, surrender to God makes sense: “Surrender to the Lord is not a tremendous sacrifice, not an agonizing performance. It is the most sensible thing you can do.”
Surrender is sensible because our finite minds never will understand the workings of our infinite God. We need to trust that Jesus is with us in the storms of our lives. Lloyd John Ogilvie, a Presbyterian minister and former chaplain of the U. S. Senate beautifully expresses God’s constant presence:
“Sometimes the Lord rides out the storm with us and other times He calms the restless sea around us. Most of all, He calms the storm inside us in our deepest inner soul.”
Today’s question: As the passage of time distances you from your ministry downsizing or job loss, how have you begun to see God’s blessings in your adversity? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “A Memorable ‘Consolations’ Prize”, Crown’s New Short Meditation.
