“You Must Stumble before You Can Dance”

 


                “I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected”.                                                                                                                                                      — Habakkuk 2:1 NKJV

            God says: Never ignore your struggle with how I do things. Ask every question that rises in your heart as you live in this world. But prepare yourself to struggle even more with My response.

You must stumble in confusion before you dance with joy.

Know this: those who live by faith will struggle in ways that those who live to make their lives work will never know. It is that struggle, to believe despite desperate pain and confusion that a good plan is unfolding, that will open your eyes to see Me more clearly. Is that what you want? Will you pay the price?

            The price is this: you will tremble in agony as you live in a sinful, self-prioritizing world. You will learn to wait in emptiness and frustrated desire for My plan of love to reveal itself. With confidence in Me and hope in My plan, you will not only feel the pain of living in the valley but also see My glory from the mountaintop of faith.

Only those who struggle in confusion and wait in hope will be strengthened to struggle well and to wait with confidence. Struggle well! Wait in hope!

Take a Moment to Reflect

  • Identify what your normal way of thinking is in response to unexplainable circumstances and hardships. Do you plow ahead and try not to think much? Do you try to fix it? Do you try to find a Scripture passage to make sense of it? What would it look like for you to embrace before God the struggle and all that you think and feel?
  • Based on the reading, what do you think it means to struggle well? What might have to change in your thinking?
  • Pain in life often tempts us to believe we have done something wrong that, if corrected, would eliminate the pain. How might you think differently about suffering, given today’s thoughts?

Take a Moment to Pray

Father God, I am not sure how to answer this question: “Am I willing to pay the price?” I want my answer to be yes, but I am scared. Strengthen my heart to believe something good is happening when pain and confusion overwhelm me. I want to learn to struggle well. In Jesus’ name, amen.

                        (Except from Larry Crabb’s book “God Love Letter To You?”)

           

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday - October 4, 2016

Woodlawn Family Bible Study TUESDAY BIBLE READING:    Genesis 32:22-32 Do you want to be blessed? That sounds like a rhetorical question, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t want to be blessed? I guess it really depends on your definition of “blessed.” Many people desire blessings that will make them wealthy or, perhaps, material goods. However, being blessed is not limited to those physical things. In fact, sometimes we can be blessed in the most unusual ways. For instance, in Genesis 32:26, we find Jacob wrestling with what we often call an angel. Within the story, Jacob is overtaking the angel and holding him down; refusing to let go until the angel gives him a blessing. The angel obliges Jacob, but not in the way he might have imagined. The angel changed his name from “Jacob” to “Israel,” but he also did something else. He put Jacob’s hip joint out of socket, causing him much pain and difficulty walking. In part, his blessing had to do with him walking with a limp. How is tha...
Read more

Resolutions: Draw closer to God through study of His word

BIBLE READING: John 14.7 Spend time alone with God’s Word.  Besides the spiritual growth we will gain from study, we will also come to know Him better.  Reading His word brings us in touch with Him.  Jesus tells us in John 14:7 – “If you had known Me, you would have known my Father also.”   Just studying the life of Jesus will help us to know God better.   In seeking God’s help, we can draw closer to Him through prayer, meditation, nature, and study.   “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” Psalm 1:2  I Tim.4:13,15 - “Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine… meditate on these things; give yourself wholly to them.”   Regardless of our circumstances we can rely on God’s unchanging character.  God is good. God loves me. God is with me. God knows my problems. God cares. Romans 8:31(b) tells us, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Make a resolution to slo...
Read more

“Examples”

BIBLE READING: Mark 13- Luke 1 DISCUSSION                                                                                   This past week we have read of some great examples in the bible.   We read in Mark 13 about us being ready and being prepared for when Jesus returns.   We need to all stay awake!   In Mark 14 we read of one action having such an impact.   How this woman gave her very best to Jesus because of her love for Him.   In Mark 15 we read of Pontius Pilate and his desire to keep his power.   He loved his power and did not want to give it up even if that meant sending an inno...
Read more