The Refocus of Adversity

​Just a quick thought from my personal time with God today...

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​But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob,
He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
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Isaiah 43:1-3 (ESV)

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How much of Jesus do you really want? 

Moreover, what are you willing to faithfully endure for the honor of sitting beside Him, learning from the Master, wherever He may lead?

We often seek out Jesus as the panacea for all of our issues, as long as the remedy He brings to the table is palatable to our very refined and personally prejudiced tastes.  If we are only looking for Jesus at the receiving end of a long checklist of personal preferences and greedy desires, we may want to keep looking.  The depth and authenticity of our walk with Christ is not forged in the relative ease of calm waters and satiated personal agendas.  More often than not, I have found that my walk with Christ grows exponentially when my level of comfort is challenged and the path I’m walking becomes steep and treacherous. 

It’s in those moments that God has my full attention.

The promises that God made to Israel in the verse above are beautiful.  Just as God promised to be with Israel through the waters and the rivers and the fires, so God is also with us. 

Child of God, we don’t have to look forward to adversity, but when adversity arrives, and it will, we should identify it as an opportunity to learn more about our God who will meet us there – in the fire.
 
Don’t always default to prayers to simply be delivered from all adversity; instead, pray to find God within the adversity itself, because adversity will certainly come, and it arrives with purpose.  God has allowed it for purpose.  Adversity will teach you more than ease ever could.  Don’t miss the purpose and the opportunity to learn more about the goodness, provision and love of God which is often disguised as something less than a superficial view of “blessing."