Unexpected Events

What do you do when an unexpected event or circumstance takes place that rocks your world and your emotions, leaving you feeling like the very floor you’ve been standing on has been pulled up from under you? What do you do when old feelings of hurt and loneliness try and take advantage of this unexpected trial, trying to creep in and rob you of your joy and confuse you of your purpose? What do you do when God allows this to happen to test where your heart truly lies, either in the security and hope of others or in Him alone. Remember how Abraham, being tested with his one and only son, was commanded by God to be sacrificed to Him as a burnt offering. (Genesis 22) Abraham obeyed God and passed the test and I am confident that his world was rocked when God asked him to do this. Thankfully, God’s grace and mercy stopped Abraham from following through with the sacrifice right before he was about to strike Isaac his son. When we too are tested, God tests us for the benefit of us seeing our hearts revealed before Him. Is it okay for God to change your circumstances; is it okay for Him to shake the ground where your feet stand? Will you continue to hold onto Him, allowing your heart to learn how to cling to Him and therefore be protected by Him within the storm, or will you give up on the plans He has set before you? Will you give up on Him when He commands of you something, even something as great as what Abraham was commanded? Or will you obey Him and with Him walk into the storm as He leads? I am learning that God’s will is never the easier road, but rather the road that forms a desperation in you for Him. This road compels me to cry out to my God day and night, and nothing so sweet and bitter can compare with its’ course. Don’t walk away from His plans, take courage, and walk with Him through them and when there’s nothing to do but trust, then choose to trust in Him. May we, like Job, be able to declare “But He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” Job 23:10 Lord, let me come forth as gold!