Seeing God's purpose in my problems

(The following is a summary of the messages preached on March 1 and March 8 by Michael Larsen.)

The truth is a lot of times problems are God’s will for your life.  There are five ways God uses problems for good in your life.  

1 Peter 4:1 “Friends, when life really gets difficult don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job.  Instead be glad that you’re in the very thick of what Christ experienced.  This is a spiritual refining process with glory just around the corner.”

1.  God uses problems to direct us.  

Sometimes you’re headed down one direction and God says, “I don’t want you going that way,” so He puts a roadblock there.  It forces you to go a different direction. 

Proverbs 16:9 says “A person may plan his own journey but the Lord directs his steps.”  

Proverbs 20:30 “Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways.” 

Remember the story of Jonah in the Bible?  You might say he was swallowed up by a big problem.  But when that problem spits him out he’s not at all where he started.  He’d been heading that way and God said, “No, I want you to go this way,” and between that way and this way there was a giant problem.  And when he gets spit out by the whale, he heads the right direction, doing the right thing.  

One of my very favorite stories of the Bible is the story about a guy named Elijah.  He was a prophet, a great man of God in the Old Testament.  He had gone through some really tough times.  He was kind of hurting.  So God put him over by this little stream and said, “Rest here, Elijah.  Relax.  Refresh yourself.”  There’s this beautiful stream or brook with all the water he needed.  And there were birds.  And God provided food for him supernaturally.  So he had everything he needed.  He’s just having a good time.  It was like Elijah’s Spa.  

But one day it says in the Bible a little sentence: “and the brook dried up.”  Have you ever had a brook dry up in your life?  Something you were depending on and all of a sudden it wasn’t there any more.  Like a job or a relationship or a friendship or something you were depending on for emotional strength or spiritual strength or physical support.  Something you had counted on and all of a sudden it’s not there anymore and the brook dries up.  That source of income isn’t there anymore.  That source of support isn’t there any more.  Many times in your life the brook will dry up.  Count on it.  It’s going to happen because things change.

So what did Elijah do?  He did exactly what we do.  He complained.  “Hey God!  What’s wrong?  Don’t You love me anymore?  Don’t You care about me?  God, haven’t You promised to meet all my needs.  I’m thirsty and there’s no water here any more.  What’s wrong?  Don’t You love me?”  And God says back to Elijah, “Of course I love you.  Of course I’m going to care for you.  Of course I’m going to take care of your needs.  I’ve promised to always provide for you.  There’s just one little problem.  I don’t want you at the brook any more!  And the only way I can get you to move is dry it up.”  Wow!

Sometimes God wants to put you in a different job.  He wants to put you in a different relationship, a different situation, a different circumstance.  As long as everything’s comfortable, you’re going to stay where you are.  God says, “Elijah, I never intended you to live the rest of your life at this brook spa.  I’ve got something else for you to do.  So I had to dry it up.”  Was God being mean?  No.  God was being loving.  Because God uses problems to direct us.  

Here’s the first question you want to ask.  We’re going to give you five questions to ask:  Where is this problem leading me?

God uses problems to direct us and then… 

2.  God uses problems to inspect us.

He uses problems to check out our character, our integrity, our motives, our thoughts, to show us what’s inside of us.  The Bible says this in Jeremiah 17:10 “The Lord searches our hearts and examines our deepest motives so He can give to each person his right reward according to his deeds, how he has lived.” 

God is more interested in your integrity than in your image.  

Remember the story of the children of Israel in the Old Testament when Moses was taking them from Egypt to the Promised Land.  They came out of Egypt, they went through the Red Sea, they went to Mount Sinai and got the Ten Commandments.  Then they had a desert to cross that should have taken them maybe a couple of weeks to cross that desert.  But remember how long it took them to get across that desert?  Forty years!  Why did it take so long?  Because God kept testing them and they kept failing the test.  And like when a high school coach punished disobedience by making an athlete run a lap around the field, every time they failed the test it was another lap around Mt. Sinai.  They kept doing this for forty long years, going through the same problem and the same wrong reaction.

3.  God uses problems to correct us.  

There’s a very important verse, Hebrews 12:8-10, “God corrects all of His children.  And if He doesn’t correct you then you really don’t belong to Him.  God corrects us for our own good because He wants us to be holy as He is.”  

The Bible says in Job 36:15 “God teaches people through suffering and uses distress to open their eyes.” 

So when problems arise, don’t ask “Why?  Why is this happening to me?”  Ask, “What?  What do You want me to learn, Lord?”  Here’s the question to ask:

What is this problem teaching me?  Because God uses problems to direct us, inspect us and correct us.  

4.  God uses problems to protect us.  

It’s taken me a long time to learn that disappointments are often His Hisappointments.  

I guess the most familiar story about this in the Bible is the story of Joseph in the Old Testament.  Remember that story.  He’s in Potiphar’s house as a servant.  Potiphar’s wife is continually trying to seduce him and he continually says “No,” to the extent that eventually she accuses him of rape.  He gets thrown into prison because he did the right thing, because he had integrity.  Years later Joseph looked back on what had happened and instead of blaming others for the problem, he said in Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me but God intended it for good.”  

One of the points that you learn from Joseph’s life is that problems often prepare us for success.  The problems that he went through in jail eventually prepared him to become the second leading ruler in Egypt.  The problems he went through in his life prepared him for the success that God wanted to work in his life.  When you and I are going through a problem it really all boils down to this question: Will you trust God?  In the midst of the problem, realizing that there’s no problem greater than He is?  

So when you face a problem would you ask this?  How is this problem protecting me?  What is this problem preventing from happening in my life?

5.  God uses problems to perfect us.

To make us into His image.  To help us to grow up spiritually and become like Jesus Christ in character.  

1 Peter 5:10 says this “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who calls you to share His eternal glory in union with Christ will Himself perfect you and give you firmness, strength and a sure foundation.”  

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “These hard time are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us.”  So what is our response?

Romans 5:3-4 “We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials for we know that they are good for us.  They help us learn to be patient and patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it.”

Your problem is not your problem.  Your problem is how you respond to the problems of life.  That’s the bigger problem.  When does your problem become a real problem?  When you respond in the wrong way.  When you lose God’s perspective on it.  When you start blaming other people for the problems in your life.  When you become bitter, angry and resentful.  When you lose your sense of humor.  When you throw away your values.  When you refuse to forgive.  

When you open up and look at your problems and so focus on them you’re not focusing on God.  The problem is when you don’t respond correctly to the problems that come into your life.

What should you do?  You should say, “God, I know that nothing comes into my life by accident.  So I want You to use this circumstance, this situation to direct me, to inspect me, to correct me, to protect me, and to perfect me.”

Lord, are You using this problem to direct me?  If so, what do You want me to change? Where do You want me to go?  What direction do You want me to take?  

Lord, are You using this problem to inspect me?  If so, what does it reveal about my life?  A weakness?  An insecurity?  A misplaced priority?  A sin?  An unforgiveness?  A compromise?  

Lord, are You using this problem to correct me?  If so, what do You want me to learn?  I’m not going to ask why it’s happening.  I’m going to ask what do You want me to learn from it?  

Lord, are You using this problem to protect me?  Have You brought this into my life to keep me from getting hurt in a worse way?  If so, tell God that you’re going to trust Him because He knows best.  It’s not my plan God, but I trust You.

Lord, are You using this problem to perfect me?  To make me more like You?