And Maybe It’s Not Supposed To Be
“Why does this keep happening? Am I doing something wrong? Am I really a believer? Am I lacking faith? Why hasn’t God taken this struggle from me? I’m crying out to Him for help, so where is He?”
If you’ve ever asked yourself similar questions, you’re not alone. In fact, they’re questions we’ve likely all asked at some point. And usually, beneath these questions lie deeper questions, questions about the very nature and character of God:
o Is God cruel? Is He a liar? Are His promises true?
o If God really cares about me, why won’t He remove this from my life?
o Why does God allow us to face so much opposition when we try to do good?
While wrestling with these questions is normal, it can also be very painful. It’s difficult to reconcile the reality of our ongoing struggles with God’s promises of freedom and deliverance (John 8:31-32). However, believe it or not, our frustrations, difficulties, and questions are actually signs that God is at work in our lives.
“Wait a second,” you’re probably thinking, “I’m begging God to help me and it feels like He’s not doing anything! And you expect me to believe God is somehow present and at work in all this?!”
Yes, but maybe not in the way you were expecting.
It’s tempting to think that if you’re pursuing growth in an area that pleases God, you’ll have smooth sailing. But if you look at scripture, this is rarely if ever the case. Consider the story of the Israelites, God’s chosen people, in their quest to take the promised land.
God had promised to go before them and drive out their enemies. And yet, the Israelites faced fierce opposition as they sought to make the land their own. Despite God’s promise, He didn’t allow them to drive their enemies out all at once. It took time, effort, grit, and faith. They had to fight! Additionally, because of the Israelites’ disobedience, after they established the land as their own, some of their enemies remained. They were never able to fully drive them out (Joshua 15:63).
Similar to the Israelites, when we face opposition in our pursuit of Godliness, we tend to doubt God’s character, which leads to fearful conclusions:
Why hasn’t God taken this from me? He must not care about me.
I’m crying out to God for help, so where is He? He must have abandoned me.
Why are there so many obstacles in my way ? Does God even want me to succeed?
While it’s normal to question God when things are tough, experiencing difficulty doesn’t mean God isn’t with us. In the midst of difficulty, we have two options:
We can succumb to fear, or, we can fight fear with faith.
When we choose to look at our difficulties through the lens of faith, we can ask better questions, questions that take into account the character of God.
For example, in his goodness, God chose not to allow the Israelites complete success in driving out all their enemies to test and teach them.
Judges 3:1-2
“These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience).”
Even though it was the Israelites disobedience that led to the lingering of their enemies in the land, God was faithful. He worked through their disobedience and enemies to test, develop, and strengthen the Israelites and their descendents.
God’s plan was to use their wins AND losses to secure their future in the land.
You see, God is a developer. He cares deeply not just about the success of our current battles, but also about who we are becoming.
While we tend to merely see the problem before us and want it solved NOW, God sees the full picture. We see something to be fixed. God sees an opportunity to make a beloved son or daughter more like Jesus.
Ultimately, this is the reason God rarely brings about the instantaneous change we crave. He has a bigger agenda, the unfolding of Romans 8:29: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
None of this means that the battle is easy. But, maybe it’s not supposed to be.
Isn’t it interesting that the name “Israel” means “wrestles with God.” Have you ever wondered why God calls his people “wrestlers”? Perhaps it’s because God knows that struggle is good because it leads to growth.
When we wrestle with God by sharing our hurts, struggles, frustrations, and temptations, we grow closer to Him. We begin to trust his goodness, even when our circumstances don’t feel good. It builds our faith, because faith, like a muscle, only grows when we use it.
Faith helps us remember God’s character even when our situation looks bleak. When we respond to the same questions we asked above with hearts of faith rather than fear, we come to completely different conclusions about God:
Why hasn’t God taken this from me? There must be something God wants me to overcome.
I’m crying out to God for help, so where is He? He must be waiting to reveal Himself to me in a new way.
It’s not just about having victory over porn. It’s about becoming a more Christlike spouse, a more Spirit-filled parent, and a more devoted follower of Him. God wants to holistically transform us, and quick fixes just won’t do the trick.
Why can’t I quit porn? God wants to help me outgrow porn by becoming more like Christ.
Viewing our circumstances through the lens of faith allows us to see opportunities for growth rather than concluding God is absent. Fear leads us to believe our efforts to grow are futile. Faith frees us to see testimonies in the making.
You see, God doesn’t just want to give us victory over pornography. He wants to make us make us complete. He wants us to have the boldness and confidence that only come through enduring the blood, sweat, and tears of battle.
This is why no one simply “quits looking at porn.” Instead, it is our growth out of using porn that’s we’re after, which we can only do by digging into the root causes of our use of it.
When we’re confronted with evil, He wants us to know without a shadow of a doubt that the power of Jesus Christ can overcome it.
When we fail in our pursuit, He wants us to trust that He is working through our failures to create a powerful testimony. He wants us to remember that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and He works all things together for our good.
So, let’s fight to view our struggles through the lens of faith rather than fear, trusting that God is ever present and ever at work. He will never give up on us, and because of this, we shouldn’t either.
Note: The above article, written by Ken Anderson, was created using an outline given to Ken by Ted Shimmer while Ken was interviewing for a writing position with Ted’s excellent ministry. While the outline and certain phrases are Ted’s, the writing is original to Ken.
