Friday, January 14, 2011

Why Does Adversity Come?

When I listen to Maggie and Howard as they are reading their news copy in the studio, I'm reminded we are living in a world that doesn't operate according to God's principles. With crazed shootings, economic down turns, and war on the streets and in the family, I'm even more encouraged to "put on my armor" as outlined in Ephesians 6 because with the emails, phone calls and comments I get, people are always wanting to spar with me.

Satan will try to convince you he's the one in control, but God has the final control. Nothing catches Him off guard and there is no task too great or too small for Him to handle. The very fact that the check you thought would come Monday has not arrived concerns Him, but there are times when He allows us to wait for His answer a little longer than we'd prefer. In my own life I'm learning God allows problems and difficulties for several reasons which I'll be sharing with you over the coming blogs.

One reason is our priorities get out of whack and God could be allowing adversity to show us how to readjust them. Jesus told his disciples in Luke 12:22, "Do not worry about your life." That was easy for him to say! The people in Jesus' day were living under the strict rule of the Roman government. It was hard for the average person to make a living because of high taxes and political oppression (sound familiar?). The people didn't realize Jesus was the Messiah. They were looking for hope and change, but in their government, not for their life.

Many people are living lives today far from what God had in mind for them. They are so deep in situational ethics, trapped in sin and spend most of their time trying to justify their lifestyle. We can try to make the broken pieces fit, but they never will until our hearts are fully His.

Allow the adversity you're going through to make you focus on putting God back in the driver's seat of your life. God is never out of control no matter how dark or stormy your life may seem.

(Barbie will be speaking to the singles tonight at First Baptist Church, Jackson.)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

i believe adversity enters, to be honest, because life isn't fair.. and i am glad it's not. i have made many mistakes and if life were fair, i would be a whole lot worse off than i am at the moment. adversity is usually because somewhere down the line i made a bad choice. other times it is completely out of my control and i make the best choices available [based on my Faith] and move forward.

Unknown said...

Barbie, I am truly enjoying reading your blog....! Life is full of ups and downs but thankfully we know that's not all there is....our future is secure! Maybe not here on earth, but our REAL future. Thanks for being the example that we need for today!