One of the most impressing moments of my life has been forming my heart into a God glorifying tool. As a human we usually make our hearts our own and because we begin to struggle with letting go of our issues, pain, and happiness creating a constant struggle trying to make ourselves happy when in reality, God has provided everything. God has always promised to take care of His children and to provide good things for them whenever they need them. That doesn't mean life will be easy or happy, but does mean that you can have assurance that your life is valued and you are being uplifted to a higher purpose. Sometimes as humans we create our own dreams and aspirations and when we do that, we forget that God has bigger dreams and aspirations for us. If our moments of pain and insecurity, God isn't abandoning us, He's working in us, creating a stronger desire to seek Him in everything. Just like Jesus on the cross. Jesus cried out to God, but God did not answer. But while He lay on the cross in pain, God was working something bigger; He was creating a new hope for all humanity through the pain of one man. That's how He is in our lives. Those moments of heartbreak, sadness, pain...they are the beginning of a stronger desire for God, a new hunger not for good, but for an encounter, a community, and spiritual restoration. The book of Ruth explains this very well. Naomi was a married woman with two sons when she left her hometown. When she returned she was bitter accompanied only by a daughter-in-law. Her husband gone, her sons gone, her life was no longer what she wanted. However, she kept her faith in God, and encouraged her daughter-in-law, Ruth, and her story ends quite differently.
After Boaz marries Ruth, Ruth bears a son and this is what the Bible says,
"The women said to Naomi: 'Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.' Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, 'Naomi has a son.' And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David."
Even though Naomi was not related to Obed by blood, she still cared for the boy and loved him like it was her own grandchild. Through her encounter with pain, Naomi was able to restore herself in God's community and even able to be a spiritual blessing to others for the rest of her days. This is what I have found has happened in my life. I have seen that through my pain, God has created a new heart, a new mindset, a new hope that is restoring me back to His people, and even allowing me to minister in ways I hadn't imagined yet. It literally brings me to tears, to think that this entire time while I felt that God was entirely working some crazy madness with me, that I was angry with Him for taking my peace, my hope, and my happiness at times. This entire time.....He was actually restoring my soul, shaping it into a caring and compassionate heart. My goal now is not happiness, emotional feelings of joy, but a spirit that sees the hurting and the weak. Brandon Heath puts it perfectly....
"Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach?
Give me Your heart for the one's forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see"
Give me Your eyes God, give me Your love for humanity. Help mine unbelief so that I can minister to those who need spiritual healing. That is my prayer now.
