GOD’S IN OUR SANDBOX

Anyone out there who is struggling and thinks God has deserted their sandbox... think again! Jesus said, “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life.” So… we should not be surprised when difficult stressful times invade our life-journey for The Way home to be with God is pockmarked with physical, financial, emotional, and relational difficulties. A powerful and profound command of our Lord confronts our attitude during adversity: “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” This passage is one of only three passages in the Bible where something is expressly stated to be “the will of God.” Giving thanks during hard times recognizes our submission to God and His sovereignty over our life. We are not in control, but our all powerful, all knowing everywhere Daddy is. When we give thanks we are casting our cares in dependent trust on the only one who can fix our problems, demonstrating unshakable faith… “Though He slay me” trust. There is no place of comfort for the powers of darkness when confronted with a thankful submitted believer who has determined to fully embrace our Lord and abide by His eternal word. Obedience to this command is not easy, going against everything our natural mind wants to do, but then our transformation – God’s real goal here – never is.

Life will be difficult and stressful: We will need patient endurance waiting on the God who owns time to fix our problems, and we won’t really know how God will intervene. But somehow, knowing God is right there in our sandbox... real-time, makes everything bearable. The clearest personal promise of God in scriptures is “Fear not, for I am with you.” This point is documented with some variation in over thirty scripture passages, normally in the Imperative Indicative, a command followed by an undergirding statement of fact: “Fear not”, the command, followed by “For I am with you”, the statement of fact: “Fear not, for I am with you.” Being thankful during adversity demonstrates our trust in the God who is always right there with us, working our things... our difficulties, into good in accordance with His divine purpose. If we look closely we will see His footprints in the sand... feel His breath on our shoulder...

(Matt. 7:14; 1 Thess. 5:18; Job 13:15; Is. 41:10; Rom. 8:28)

“IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS ... FOR I AM WITH YOU”