I have to admit, I've let good problems slip through my fingers. I don't want to be a lukewarm Christian though, so this is an area of my life I am attacking with God's power and grace, and with a vengeance.
Awhile ago I wasted a VERY good problem. I'm extremely ashamed of it. Here's how it went:
My little sister was helping me with a project. She was doing her best and being very helpful, but I didn't give the instructions correctly, and she accidentally made a mistake. It was a really good problem. But I wasted it. I used her name to vent my feelings. She looked up at me and asked, "Did I disappoint you?"
Whoa.
No, darling sweetheart dear, you'll never disappoint me. But too late, I'd already showed through my tone of voice that she had displeased me. Or, at least, that I was frustrated at her.
For someone to disappoint me, I have to have expectations that person needs to meet in order for me to be pleased with them. So there's my pride, thinking I can make the rules and set the expectations. But then there's also the fact that I was living out the vicious cycle in that moment.
Now, you might be wondering what all this means. So let me explain.
There are 2 types of cycles based off of the beginning of Romans 5.
You've probably memorized this passage, so don't skim over it.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
~ Romans 5:1-5
Alright, that's the VICTOR'S cycle right there. Let's go through what happens if you react this way to a problem.
A problem comes - let's say your car breaks down on the way to church. Problem. This is the pressure point, or the choice point, as I would say. You have a choice to make. Naturally, you would get upset, but if you're acting out Romans 5, you will give it to the Lord, rejoice, and wait. This is working patience and showing faith, so God's going to do something. I'm not God, I can't say what He would do, but He will either work the situation out or teach you a lesson through it. So now you've got experience - God's done it before when I rejoiced, He can do it again! Your faith has grown, which naturally gives you hope in God.
Tribulation - patience - experience - hope!
See what just happened? You grew spiritually! That's the VICTOR'S cycle.
Unfortunately, most of us aren't victors in this area. It's SO much easier to blow up and get upset...?
So here's the easy cycle, or the VICIOUS cycle.
Problem - choice point. You panic and react wrong. Here are the 4 ways we react wrong to problems:
- Guilt
- Anger
- Fear
- Anxiety
These are the excuses we make for why we can't rejoice.
God, I'm so guilty - you couldn't possibly forgive me!
God why did You allow this to happen?
God, I don't trust that You can work out the situation!
God, I don't know what's going to happen!
Now here's the interesting thing about these reactions. If you keep these up long enough, they will ruin your health. When you react wrong to problems, something happens to your stomach acids, triggering digestion problems, stomach disorders, gland disorders, arthritis, headaches, nervousness, and emotional problems.
So now you've got a problem, and you're sick besides, which leaves you hopeless, whereas the ending of the other cycle was hope.
Then Satan gets at you - "Hey, God wasn't there when you needed Him... " So you lose your faith. And you're hopeless. This leads to destruction.
- Suicide
- Defeat
- Depression
You will experience one of these if you keep reacting wrong to problems long enough.
What a vicious cycle that truly is.
But REJOICE friend!
God knows what He's doing. He doesn't send us problems because we deserve them...
He has not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities. ~ Psalm 103:10
... though we DO deserve them. Hey, we deserve MUCH worse. God is so merciful. And in His mercy He sends us problems because He wants us to grow and become Christlike. Don't you? Ah, but so often we waste good problems.
We get more things done by rejoicing and surrendering than by begging and pleading, because God wants His children to come to Him with their problems totally believing and trusting that He will do and has been doing what is best, rather than complaining and coming to Him without faith.
Have you ever played baseball? I've never played a real game, but I've practiced throwing and catching with siblings + friends before, and I tell you, those balls can HURT! Problems are a lot like baseballs.
Here comes a baseball - lookout! Quick! Are you going to rejoice? You'll have to do the work of raising your arm and catching it. Or you can go the easy route and just stand there and let it hit you. You might end up in the hospital. Oh, you're going to rejoice? Good for you! *SWING!* Hey, wasn't that easier than letting it hit you? Look how the crowd's yelling and shouting! See how happy your coach is! You just reflected his good teaching and got him praise! So what are you going to do next time? Rejoice? Good idea!
Which cycle are you living in? Vicious? Victor?
Both?
If you're jumping back and forth between Victor and Vicious, you're in the Lukewarm Christian Category. Because really, are you growing or not? Sure, you grow a little bit in the Victor cycle, and then you lose it (and maybe even some more) in the Vicious cycle.
OUCH.
So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. ~ Revelation 3:16
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. ~ Revelation 3:19
Friends, God provides a way of escape! Hallelujah! Therefore, be zealous and repent. REJOICE at your next problem, whether as small as knocking over a bowl of chips, or as big as getting sick the day of an event you've been looking forward to. Have patience, and see God work in mysterious ways.
Turn every stumbling block into a stepping stone. ~ A.W. Tozer
How true he was when he said this! Problems are always stumbling blocks until we learn to rejoice and surrender them. Then oh! with what joy and confidence we walk on our problem blocks to our Heavenly Father!
It's like a dung hill being dropped on us. But instead of suffocating under it, when we rejoice + practice faith, He lifts us up on top of them. It is our problems that raise us!
Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. ~ Psalm 119:67
It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. ~ Psalm 119:71
I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
~ Psalm 119:75
Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.
~Habakkuk 3:17-19
~ To The Glory Of God Alone ~