Why, God?
Jane Hansen Hoyt answers the age-old question, Why has God allowed this? Listen as Jane reveals the opportunity in your circumstance to rise up into a place greater than any you’ve walked in before.
Romans 5:3-4
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
Our response to hard circumstances determines how we are developed and stretched spiritually. We can seize those situations as opportunities for God to work in us and to lean on Him, or we can detach and put up walls around the situation.
- What's your natural tendency in responding to hard situations?
- How have you seen growth in your life after experiencing hardship, while leaning into Jesus?
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Yesterday, I was talking with a dear friend who is experiencing some issues physically that has caused her to be almost bedridden. There's much pain involved in activity and as we talked together, we began talking about the discipline of God, as it is spoken in Hebrews 12. And I believe that there is a place, I know we're people of faith, but there is a place where God is calling us to embrace what he has allowed to come into our life, and in the embracing of it, a freedom comes. And you will find yourself lifted up above the circumstance. Let me share the scripture in Hebrews 12. In verse 7 it says “if you endure chastening, God is dealing with you as a son”. And then down in verse 11, it says “no chastening seems to be joyful for the present”. It's painful nevertheless, afterwards, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. To those who have been trained by it, think of that you're in a place of being molded and shaped into the image of Christ. And after the trial, after your embrace of what he has allowed to come into your life, there will be a lifting and arising up into a place of righteousness that is greater than any place you've yet walked in. God bless you.
