Wiregrass Church
Every once in a while, we run into people stuck in unchangeable, unalterable, in-the-meantime circumstances who get to the place where they’re able and willing to receive their circumstances, their afflictions, their illnesses, their losses, and their disabilities as coming from the hand of their heavenly Father. How do these people maintain extraordinary faith despite extraordinarily difficult circumstances? Where do they find the peace that characterizes their lives?
Through the years as a pastor, I have run into some remarkable people who are facing extraordinary adversity with their families, their finances, just different areas of life, who came to the place where they were able to say and willing to say, and not prompted by anyone just arrived at the conclusion that the best thing for them to do was to receive their adversity as if it was coming from the hands of their heavenly Father.
What do you do when there's nothing you can do?
You're having an in-the-meantime moment. What do I do in the meantime? This is not something I can fix. This is not something I can change.
...you know that trying to solve this problem is only gonna create another problem, that trying to ease this tension is actually gonna create more tension.
In The Meantime
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- I'll never be happy again.
- Nothing good can come from this.
- There's no point in continuing.
The presence of adversity does not equate to the absence of God
In The Meantime
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God is not absent, apathetic, or angry.
There's no actual correlation between God's lack of cooperation and God's love for us.
There's no actual correlation between God's seeming lack of cooperation and God's presence or God's existence.
2 Corinthians 12:7 NIV
Given = This was a positive thing. This didn't mean 'curse'. This didn't mean 'punishment'. It was the word most commonly used word to talk about God giving a good gift to one of God's followers.
After Paul became a God follower and a Christian, he developed something that was...
- Painful
- Humiliating
- Debilitating
2 Corinthians 12:8 NIV
Simply trying to faith God into something we want God to do is bad theology.
2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
It's as if God said to the Apostle Paul, "Paul, I'm gonna show off my power through your weakness. So the answer to your prayer is no. This is not going away."
- Painful
- Humiliating
- Debilitating
- Permanent
2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
Embracing your inability is a prerequisite to experiencing Christ's ability.
2 Corinthians 12:10 NIV
In order to....
I was given a thorn...
A gift with
a purpose and a promise.
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2 Corinthians 12:7 NIV
"The reason I say you have the option is because I think I would be overstepping my boundaries as a pastor and a communicator to say, 'You must view this as a gift.'"
Luke 22:41-42 NIV
When you choose to opt to see your adversity as a gift with a purpose and a promise in some powerful, powerful way. And I think this is why it's so transformational for the people who do this. You enter into the sufferings of your savior, Jesus Christ.
In The Meantime
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Receive it as a gift with a purpose and a promise.
The purpose is yet to be revealed, but the promise is right now, "My grace is sufficient for you."
