The Worst of Times?

Posted: July 24th, 2011   Category: Christianity, Common Sense

It seems now that I’m better traveled along a path of truly discovering the essence of His goodness, it seems like a millennium ago, when I first heard the words, “it’s easy to thank the Lord in the best of times, we need also to thank the Lord in the worst of times”.  At first this made very little sense to me, but such is the way of learnings which have not been applied in life.  Hypothetical learning produces hypothetical outcomes.  So what does this mean and what can we learn from it?  Our Lord, doesn’t bring the worst of times upon us, those are generally the consequences of life and often our own choices.  Yes the Lord knows about us, starting with our genes and ending with our character.  He also knows when and where the most trying or worst of times will descend upon us. These are the times when most of us will reach out to Him in prayer. When there is NO other viable solution, explanation, alternative or cure, we seek His help. If we could have abated our dilemma on our own or with the help of others, we would have and then simply moved on again.  In these worst of times, we call out for His; help, understanding, strength and even miracles because these debilitating times are outside of our control. Even those of us who do not know Him want to believe or know hypothetically that nothing is outside of His control.  If the worst of times bring us closer to knowing the Lord, that by itself is a blessing beyond comprehension. For when we come face to face with our greatest fears, we least want to hear; “But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.‘ (Matthew 25:12 ESV)”.

Can and does our Lord bestow His blessings on us?  Yes, but His blessings are not always or even often in the form or substance which we seek.  We know only what we want, He knows what we need for the ultimate outcome to be a truly blessed event. Trusting in this knowledge often requires our tremendous leap of faith.  It was with this faith bracing me, that I began to offer thanks in the worst of times, which have been painfully plentiful.  When my worst fears were repeatedly realized, I thoughtfully thanked the Lord and waited.  To begin with, I was blessed with the time to wait, to embrace His love and to see His purpose for my life.  There can be no blessing greater than coming heart to heart with Jesus and following His lead, whether that be in the best or worst of times.

JC Calkins with COMMON SENSE 4 UNCOMMON PEOPLE (share)

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