Trusting God even with SNAKES!

I know it's hard to trust God with all things!  But, snakes?! Really? Even though these helpful reptiles (the non-poisonous ones at least) are a blessing to us as they remove all the critters around us, I'm still not crazy about them. Maybe being a daughter of Eve, I'm still holding a grudge from the interaction in the Garden.

But God...he calls us to trust him with all things, including our problems, trials, loved ones, health,  and finances, and yes, even snakes that slither across our paths.

Sometimes he doesn't answer our prayers in our timing.  It might be because he has a better view of the situation and needs to hold us back to protect us.  Or maybe we aren't ready for what we are praying for and we need to wait on him. Possibly we need to wait for the snake to pass by.

Regardless, we are to lean not on our own understanding but trust him. After all, he is sovereign, we are not. If we knew what he knew, we wouldn't change a thing. 

Rest in  him, he's got this.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6 

Our Response to Persecution: Change me first, Lord...

My shoulders slumped, tears swelled up in my eyes -- it seemed the more I tried to "show Jesus" to this person, the more they sinned against me.

Beyond weary and tired from the battle, I was now filled with anger. I was angry at this person, the situation, how I was being treated...yada...yada...yada....

Seeing no end to the persecution, I cried out to God. "Why don't you do something? I mean, hasn't this gone on long enough?!"

Silence.

I had been praying for years for this situation to cease and no reprieve ever came. The circumstances just seemed to get worse.

Taking a deep breath, I prayed again. This time I confessed my sinful anger to God and asked him to change me instead of changing the situation.

His words pierced my heart, "Why are you so angry, my beloved?  Am I not sovereign? Do I not hold the hearts of each man on Earth? Why do you direct the anger of your heart at this person?"

I swallowed hard as the Creator of the Universe continued, "Direct your anger at me. After all, I am sovereign. I am allowing this time of persecution to come upon you for such a time as this to make you more like my Son. Don't you trust me?"

I squeezed my eyes shut with conviction as tears rolled down my cheeks. I repented. This time when I prayed, I asked God to forgive me for my anger against him and my unbelief that he can even work good out of evil.

This time, my heart emerged with a different posture -- peace. The situation did not change. Instead, God changed me.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

"Not My Will, But Yours, Be Done."

Why do we sometimes feel like we need to rush God?  Or to help him when things aren't moving at our pre-determined speed? Maybe the outcome isn't quite what we would have desired?

Trusting God can be hard, especially when the answer to our prayers is seeing the very person you are praying for move in the opposite direction!  I had been praying for a loved one's heart to become softer, more open to hope, and to turn from their sin. But instead their heart just seemed to become harder, oppose God even more vehemently, and move deeper into behaviors that pulled them away from the Gospel.

While running, I cried out to God on their behalf, I begged for mercy, redemption, and faith to prevail in their life. That's when he clearly spoke to my heart.

"Beloved, would you interrupt an earthly father disciplining their child? Then why are you praying for me to truncate the very process that will lead them to repentance?"

Convicted of pride in telling God what do, I repented. I had wanted God to lift the pain of suffering in their life, but that was the very tool he was using to break them, have them turn to him in repentance, and to save them. After all he is sovereign and he is big enough to even use our sin for our good and his glory.

"Not my will, but yours, be done." Luke 22:42