Shift Your Thinking For A Deeper FaithSample

Day Five

Be Like the Buffalo

Scripture: James 1:2

When a storm comes, most animals by nature run away from the storm only to be followed by it—remaining wet, uncomfortable, and pushed into potential danger. The buffalo, in contrast, charges into the storm, knowing it will move over them in short order. 

When trouble enters our lives we would be best served to run toward the trouble rather than away—to embrace it rather than despise it, deal with it rather than delay it, and profit from it rather than fear it. Yet we often miss the inherent growth God has for us during times of trouble because we spend most of our energy escaping from comfort to comfort instead of seizing the value of this uniquely divine appointment called a trial. 

One thing is certain: life is messy. The next trial is just around the corner, and how we hold trials is the game changer to neutralize them into the healthiest possible place. Those who choose to view a headwind as a soon-to-be tailwind have a different air about them. 

This truth remains: God sends or allows headwinds into our lives to build our strength, draw us closer to him, forge closer relationships, and develop our character. Unfortunately, when trouble comes, we’re usually consumed by the problem, and when the problem becomes the focus, the great work God is doing in the midst of it becomes blurred or vanishes from sight. When we connect to God’s promises and see his perfect plan in adversity, we will become clear on how he wants to use us in the trial, which advisors he wants us to engage with for help, and how to access God’s strength and wisdom to help leverage the trial into the fullness of what it can be. 

One who encounters a problem and holds true to what God says about trials becomes an asset to the trial instead of a liability—controlling the trial in a good way, instead of the trial controlling them in a bad way. Take a trial from an earthly view and put it into a heavenly view today and see what doesn’t happen. 

What would it look like to profit from one trial you are currently in? How might you be used to glorify God in the process?