When problems arise it's easy to see them as crises.
And immediately the mind races toward fear, panic, frustration, or
despair.
But Scripture shows us a different way to view difficulty.
Not merely as crises…
…but as providential ways God is at work in our story.
Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and forgotten in prison.
Yet later he could say:
“What you meant for evil, God meant for good.”
(Gen. 50:20)
What looked like destruction was actually preparation.
Moses spent forty years in the wilderness after fleeing Egypt as a failure.
Those years probably looked wasted from a human perspective.
But the wilderness was God’s training ground.
David was hunted in caves
before he wore a crown.
Israel was trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea before God made a way through impossible circumstances.
Paul sat imprisoned while the
Gospel spread across the Roman world through letters he wrote in chains.
And above all, the cross itself looked like defeat.
Yet through suffering came resurrection and
redemption.
This does not mean pain is pleasant, evil is good, or hardship is easy.
But it does mean God is never absent in them.
Faithful men learn to interpret trouble differently.
Instead of asking:
“How do I escape this?”
They begin asking:
“How is God using this?”
“What is He forming in
me?”
“What responsibility do I have in this moment?”
“How can this become part of His larger story?”
Providence changes how a man carries difficulty.
It steadies him and gives him endurance.
It produces anticipation instead of despair, with the belief that God is doing more than he can presently see.
One of the great marks of maturity is refusing to interpret hardship as evidence something has gone wrong.
A problem can be evidence that God is at work.
So the next time trouble enters your life, resist the instinct to only see a crisis.
Look deeper.
The God who parts seas, raises the
dead, redeems suffering, and works all things together for good is still writing stories.
Including yours.
Get Dominion,
David
Bostrom
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