Why doesn’t God bail us out of hard situations?
I was talking with a friend about a struggle someone we knew was having with finances. To help them out, my friend was considering forgiving a debt they owed him. But it felt like God was saying that He would not have my friend forgive the debt while the other person was in a poverty mindset.
That would keep the other person in self-preservation mode. It would be, “Whew! We got this taken care of.” But the heart issue wouldn’t be healed and the person would not be in a place of rest and trust with God.
And then it hit me. God doesn’t always rescue us out of difficulty when we are begging and pleading as orphans. We’ve heard the tough love counsel offered to parents of drug addicts. I wonder if that parallels God’s heart with us.
Is it possible He doesn’t rescue us from circumstances at times because that does nothing to heal the wound He wants to reach in our hearts? He wants His kids to trust. To let Him break off what is stealing from their peace and finances.
His heart isn’t to let us flounder and drown. He truly is a good Dad who wants what is the absolute best for us.
And I would imagine it grieves His heart to see our struggle. To see us gravitate to self-medicating habits, whether that’s shopping, internet surfing, gaming or porn, when He has balm for our wounds.
He wants us to reach for Him, and walk with Him through difficulty—which many of us do. But do we walk through clinging to grief and fear? Or do we walk through holding His hand and trusting His promises? Trusting that He is good and He will never abandon us in our pain.
Our Thought Lives
There is so much more going on in our lives that we are probably aware of.
We listen to lies without realizing we’re being spoken to. We make agreements with darkness not knowing we are being manipulated.
When we think we are the only being governing our lives, we are deceived.
There is a spiritual realm out there that is more real than our physical one. How do I know this? Because God is Spirit and He is lives in the spiritual realm. How could our physical realm (that He created) be more real than the one He lives in?
If we tune in to the thoughts we are having, we can be intentional about which ones we choose to agree with.
It’s pretty easy to figure out which kingdom you’re agreeing with, you just have to turn your thoughts from auto-pilot to intentional awareness.
I’m so fat.
He makes me so mad.
That kid is never going to make it in life.
Those people deserve what they get.
Do we really want to agree with those kinds of thoughts when they drop into our minds? Is it possible that those thoughts were not created by your mind, but rather suggested by an entity trying to get you to agree with darkness?
What would your internal atmosphere be like if you stopped agreeing with negativity and chose to think the best of yourself and others?
Do you think you’d find yourself living with more peace and love?
What would start coming out of our mouths if we said no to negative thoughts and agreed with kind and generous ones instead? If we operated out of the graciousness, mercy and love that God has for us?
If we stopped our agreement with judgmental thoughts, would we find it easier to accept God’s grace for ourselves?
So how do we stop agreeing? It’s pretty simple. When a negative thought comes, we can just grab it by the throat and say, “No. I don’t agree. Leave.”
We can also clean the slate with a quick prayer repenting for agreeing with negativity in the past.
Prayer
Father, I choose to align my thoughts with Your thinking. I want to change my internal atmosphere to reflect the fruit of Your Spirit. I want to agree with what is lovely and true and of good report. And I repent for all the times that I’ve agreed with negativity and judged myself and others. Please wash me and cleanse me and heal my wounds. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Pictures via Pixabay
Sherri this is so true and exactly what is on my heart . You messages are always beautiful.
Thank you and I’m so glad it resonated for you! Blessings!