how about you?

Thus far on our walk with God through difficult days, we have focused on the heavenly side of our earthly troubles.  We have looked at some of the reasons God allows difficulty into our lives. We have seen that…

God allows times of trouble and trial in our lives…

1. TO GET OUR ATTENTION so we will look to Jesus.
2. TO SHOW HIS LOVE TO US and prove we are His children.
3. TO MOTIVATE US TO CONQUER PRIDE that we may receive His grace.
4. TO LEAD US TO SELF-EXAMINATION that we may be cleansed.
5. TO REVEAL OUR WEAKNESSES that we may have His strength.
6. TO CAUSE US TO CRY OUT TO GOD that He may deliver us.

We also looked to the Scriptures to see another part of heaven’s perspective on our times of trial.  We called it…

God’s Goals in Our Difficulty:

1. TO GIVE US VICTORY IN THE SPIRITUAL BATTLE by motivating us to put on the armor of God and to pray.
2. TO PURIFY OUR FAITH that the genuineness of our faith will glorify Him.
3. TO SIGNAL US TO REEVALUATE OUR PRIORITIES and thereby make us successful in His work.
4. TO TEST OUR WORK and to help us build for eternity.
5. TO BUILD A HATRED FOR EVIL especially for our own sin.
6. TO SIFT OUR FRIENDSHIPS that we may be in the world but not of the world.
7. TO MOTIVATE US TO PRAY FOR AUTHORITIES that those under their authority will be protected and blessed.

Before we take the next steps in our walk with the Lord, let´s be sure we have profited from where we have walked thus far.  You know, it is possible to walk a path and not remember a single thing you saw as you walked!

I hate to admit that seminary was much like that for me – not entirely, but far too much.  My days in seminary, while enjoyable in many respects, were busier than I should have allowed them to be.  At one point in my seminary career, I was a full-time student, an associate pastor/student minister (preaching an early service weekly, leading children´s church weekly, and leading a youth ministry), a part-time math teacher in a private school (five afternoons a week), and a husband. 

Something had to slide, and I allowed seminary to be that something.  I still made good grades, because I could cram really well.  But I was taught a lot that I didn't learn long term.  I walked the path, but there was a lot I couldn't remember seeing a year later!

Have you ever done that?  Probably.  Most have, sometime.

​I am pausing here as much for me as for you.  Let´s not do that with discovering what God is doing in us and around us in putting much of the world on pause with the Coronavirus.

​Would you go back to the list of six reasons the Scriptures show us that God allows these times of trouble into our life, and see if you can identify at least two reasons why God is allowing you to be a part of this pandemic?
Then would you examine the seven goals we identified from God´s Word that God often has for us in times of difficulty?  Again, see if you can find at least two.
I did both of those things I just asked you to do.  I could identify with four reasons and five goals.  If you have not reviewed those things and picked out the ones that seem to apply to your life, stop reading right now!  Back up two paragraphs and walk the path again.
Monday, we are going to see what to do with the things God has shown us as we walked with Him through these difficult days.  So, don´t let Monday arrive and say, “I don´t remember!”
By the way, tomorrow in our online worship, I will be telling you about a woman who discovered the faithfulness of God for herself and her family, even though she had no right or reason to expect it.