Difficult Destiny
The difficulties you face in your journey can be what God uses to unlock your destiny.
"Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken. Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called his son...Isaac. Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a container of water, and gave it to Hagar and...sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness...God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and as he grew up, he became an archer.”
Genesis 21:1-3, 14, 17-20 WEB
This story is full of difficult decisions and delayed destiny in the minds of the people. Abraham and Sarah waited years before God brought them Isaac. Their destiny was to become parents of the nation of Israel, but before they could receive their blessing God had to prepare their hearts. Hagar and Ishmael are sent away not knowing where to go or what would happen. God planned to make Ishmael great, but first he had to make him strong through living in the wilderness. He would not have become a strong leader and archer living in the comfort of Abraham's compound.
What difficulty are you going through today? Have you sought the Lord how this could be part of what God is using to shape and prepare you for something greater? How does it change our perspective if we choose to believe God can make all things, including life's difficulties, work for our good?
“The king rejoices in your strength, Yahweh! How greatly he rejoices in your salvation! For you meet him with the blessings of goodness. You set a crown of fine gold on his head.”
Psalms 21:1, 3
David sings out a lesson he has learned. Life is not meant to be easy rather what we go through will make us strong. The king rejoices in our strength but that strength is developed through training, discipline and difficulties. God prepares us for His purposes.
“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Yahweh weighs the hearts...To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice...He who follows after righteousness and kindness finds life, righteousness, and honor."
Proverbs 21:2-3, 21, 31
How often do we make a plan that should ensure a comfortable journey only to have disruptions and difficulty? God weighs our hearts. While He might not be the cause of the difficulty, He never wastes an opportunity to help refine us towards a life of righteousness dependent on Him.
“They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread.”
Isaiah 21:14
Look at the world around you. How does seeing the needs of others help us cope with our own difficulties and encourage us to participate in helping? God not only wants to use our difficulties to shape our destinies, but most often He connects our destinies with how we can impact the lives of everyone around us. We become the ones who bring water to the thirsty and bread to the hungry. Jesus said that when we serve the least of these, we serve Him. Where could you lend a hand?
“He said to them, “It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer"...A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went. He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I’m going, sir,’ but he didn’t go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to him, “The first.”
Matthew 21:8-9, 13-14, 28-31
Listening and doing. These actions are the pillars of following Jesus. Prayer connects us to the voice of the one who knows how all of our challenges fit within the broader scope of our lifespan. We were never meant to do life alone or feel the anxious weight of hardship by ourselves.
Jesus came to us to show the importance of connection with God through the hard times because He knows how to guide us to our eternal blessing that is tied to our kingdom calling. He teaches a simple lesson. Your life will be measured by what you do, not what you say you will do. Will we be faithful to trust God not in spite of the hard times, but with gratitude through our difficulties? At the end, God will not say to you well said good and faithful servant. He will say well done good and faithful servant for you lived the life I made you to live.