When things look bad it is important to remember God is good, and that He has a plan in all this turmoil.
So what is God doing in our lives with the difficulties He brings to us? Are we, through worship, looking at God’s glory daily, and thereby getting glimpses of the great things He’s doing?
Are we grasping that our disappointments, hurts and sufferings are all being used by Him in the big picture in significant ways we can’t understand, and therefore we can praise Him for these problems?
As an application of this, a doctor comments that getting “over an illness should not be the primary goal” for a Christian. “What glorifies [God] is what is best for all believers; therefore what glorifies Him will be the best for the sick believer.
Getting well is not necessarily the best thing…The hope for the believer is victory, not relief. Relief is not inherently wrong, but it becomes wrong when it is the primary goal [an idol].
God promises victory in illnesses and trials, not deliverance from them.” (Dr. Robert Smith, The Christian Counselor’s Medical Desk Reference [Stanley, NC: Timeless Texts, 2004]). The real goal is God’s glory!
Prayer: “Lord, I confess that my glory and comfort has been my goal, not your glory. Forgive me for pursuing personal comfort as my goal and idol instead of your glory.
Help me today to live instead with the desire to bring you glory and honor through my motives, thoughts, words and actions, trusting you to carry me along in your great plan to end history, eliminate evil and bring in the new Heaven and Earth. Amen.”
