Here is something that I wrote last week and forgot to share until now.
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
[Philippians 4:6-7]
WHERE DO OUR FRUSTRATIONS LEAVE US?
well there I was, doing a radio show on
www.powerradio104.us
thinking things were going ok., then, uh o! My computer started going weird. All i wanted to do was get back to the broadcaster window so I could at least talk and make sure I had a few songs still queued up, but do you think I could get it to work? I did have a few songs lined up because they kept playing all the time I was arguing with my computer, trying to get it to behave.. At last, however, the final song stopped and I had dead air. the only thing i could do was restart the computer. grrrrrrr! I told the wretched thing how much I hated it and wanted to throw it in the nearest lake. Even when I restarted the computer it took a couple of attempts before i could take back the station and finish the show. grrrrrr!
which leaves me with a question. Where do my frustrations leave me? I think God brings frustrations into our lives for a reason. I was listening to a message on prayer this morning and one of the things the speaker said was that God puts on our platter everything that will happen to us this day, nothing that does happen to us is outside his control. that seems to me to be a good thing to remember when things go wrong. god knows what he's doing.
WHY DOES GOD ALLOW FRUSTRATIONS?
So, if god has control of everything and he has a perfect plan for my day, why did he allow my computer to go haywire this morning? Maybe, as simple as it seems, because he wanted me to think about frustration and write this post? We don't know all the reasons why god allows things to happen to us, though if we look back we can sometimes see how god was working through some circumstances or issues in our lives. We just have to accept, as hard as it is, that we don't know all the answers, but God does and he has a purpose for everything we go through or experience. Sometimes the reason is for our benefit, sometimes for the benefit of others. I remember one time I asked my best friend why god allowed me to go through a difficult time I had come out of. Her answer, which I believe came from God, stays with me to this day. She said that perhaps god allowed me to go through it so that I could help others who have been through similar experiences.
so what does all this have to do with frustration?
When things go wrong our immediate response is quite often "God, why did you allow that to happen?" or "Why me Lord?" a better response would be "What are you trying to teach me in this?" but I admit that's not the way we usually thinkand of course, that's not the way I reacted today. We have to learn, though it is hard, that God ordains our troubles and trials for his own purposes and he only lets us go through things when he knows there is a need, because this will teach us something important, cause us to depend more fully on himself, or any number of other reasons.
TRUSTING NOT REACTING
God will teach us, no matter if he needs to pound it into our brains, that his way is best. The more we trust him and believe that he has good plans for us, the more we will learn to put situations into perspective. What good did my anger at the computer do me? None at all. How could I have handled it better? by bringing it to God, telling him all about it, then asking him if there is something he is trying to teach or show me.
As the Bible says:
Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
[Philippians 4:6-7 MSG]
I don't say that this sort of response is easy but we will learn to think this way in time. Jesus didn't let the little things frazzle him because he trusted the Father completely and knew that god has a reason for all he does.
FINAL THOUGHT
if our troubles trials and challenges, no matter how big or small they may be, are drawing us away from God and causing us to doubt, then we know we need to get into some serious prayer about it. If, on the other hand, they are drawing us nearer to god, then that just might be the reason why he is allowing them to happen.
Prayer:
Father, sometimes things happen that leave us angry, frustrated, annoyed, stressed or depressed. help us to take a step back and remind ourselves that you have a purpose for everything that happens to us and that this situation is in your control. Help us to accept it when we don't receive an answer about why this is happening to us. thank you that in your love you allow us to face hard things so that we can grow and become more dependent on you. teach me, teach us all, to trust you more and learn from the trials we face. amen.
