God's trying to teach me something
I’ve had this thought throughout my life. Perhaps you’ve had it too. "This bad thing happened because The Lord is trying to teach me something “.
I’d like to challenge that thought. So God is good, right? His mercy endures forever, His mercies are new every morning “.... Did God put the tree in the garden to teach Adam something? Did Jesus go to the cross to learn something ? Did Paul go to prison to learn something? You see... it doesn’t make sense.
Do we go through stuff because we need to learn something? Well, school is something we go through to learn. Experiences are things we go through to learn. We grow up and learn to take care of ourselves. Are those things difficult? Yes, they can be difficult. They can give you a sense of almost impossibility . Just try to do Algebra when you are "mathematically challenged". lol
Here's a question... are these learning phases meant to put us in danger? Could that be the key question?. Does God put us in circumstances that will or may cause damage to us physically or spiritually or emotionally to "teach us something"? Does he make people sick to teach them how to get healed? Does he make people poor in order to learn humility? Some people think that way.
Do I need to be sick to learn how to get healed? Most people that become doctors don't become doctors because they are sick. Do teachers become teachers so they can understand how to learn? You see, this life puts us through challenges. Yes, life...not God. It's the Adamic sin nature, we were born with it. Adam didn't need to learn. Hmm... He knew how to name the animals and he knew how to care for God's planet, but because man fell to the power of the devil we lost our "knowing". knew, we had to learn. Learning is challenging. However is it God's plan to use calamity just to "teach us something?"
If he meant to send me to college to learn Algebra, he asked WAY too much. I just couldn't grasp it (shhh...don't tell anybody). If God sent sickness to us to teach us to get well, why aren't more of us well? Are we unable to learn? (well, maybe Algebra)... Do we have to repeat the same mistakes over and over again to gain understanding?
I'm sure this sounds like a lot of jumbled thoughts. So, let me make it real to you. Did God cause me to get cancer to teach me that He is good? Did God cause me to go through a divorce and loneliness so I could learn to depend on him in a new way? Would you do that to your children?
Do you trip your children to teach them how to fall? I hope not. Why do we expect God to trip us up all the time to teach us things? Why can't we accept that life is just a struggle. "Life is a struggle!" Life is also wonderful and full of great experiences. But, the struggle is not caused by God. The struggle is caused by life.
The Bible says that it "rains on the just and the unjust". (Jeremiah 5:24) I think that is the scripture that set me free to experience God in spite of the difficulties in my life. I already knew God when cancer tried to take my life. Do you know what I said to him before the first of many surgeries? "If this is the best it's ever going to be...please take me home." Honesty. I didn't beg for healing, I didn't even hope for it. I was tired. I was in pain and I wanted out.
Here's an amazing thought. Do you know that I had to learn to be well? Yes. I had to learn what well looked like after so many surgeries. I had to learn what normal was after having a serious car accident. I had to learn to walk again and to use my arms....it was hard. I knew how, but now it was a challenge. You see, no matter how hard I tried I could not replace all the missing parts of my physical body. That alone posed a challenge. Do you know that when I get in a stressful situation my body reacts immediately? Not because it's defective, but because it's deficient.
Most people can experience some stress without much notice. The body has many organs and those organs absorb the brunt of stress for as long as they can. But my body is missing those organs. So my normal is nothing like most people's normal. What causes stress to you may actually make me ill. It's my normal.
Back to my first thought...God did not cause cancer to teach me something. He did not cause loneliness to teach me that he was more important than any other relationship. He already had my heart, my spirit and my body. I didn't learn one new thing by being sick except to learn what my "new normal" looked like.
Can we stop blaming God for all the bad things that happen to us? Can we stop making God the "mean teacher" in every situation? Can we stop viewing him as the father that trips us to teach us how to fall better?
I hope this perspective has given you some things to think about. It's done a lot for me just to write it. One last thought....can we make ourselves sick?
I’d like to challenge that thought. So God is good, right? His mercy endures forever, His mercies are new every morning “.... Did God put the tree in the garden to teach Adam something? Did Jesus go to the cross to learn something ? Did Paul go to prison to learn something? You see... it doesn’t make sense.
Do we go through stuff because we need to learn something? Well, school is something we go through to learn. Experiences are things we go through to learn. We grow up and learn to take care of ourselves. Are those things difficult? Yes, they can be difficult. They can give you a sense of almost impossibility . Just try to do Algebra when you are "mathematically challenged". lol
Here's a question... are these learning phases meant to put us in danger? Could that be the key question?. Does God put us in circumstances that will or may cause damage to us physically or spiritually or emotionally to "teach us something"? Does he make people sick to teach them how to get healed? Does he make people poor in order to learn humility? Some people think that way.
Do I need to be sick to learn how to get healed? Most people that become doctors don't become doctors because they are sick. Do teachers become teachers so they can understand how to learn? You see, this life puts us through challenges. Yes, life...not God. It's the Adamic sin nature, we were born with it. Adam didn't need to learn. Hmm... He knew how to name the animals and he knew how to care for God's planet, but because man fell to the power of the devil we lost our "knowing". knew, we had to learn. Learning is challenging. However is it God's plan to use calamity just to "teach us something?"
If he meant to send me to college to learn Algebra, he asked WAY too much. I just couldn't grasp it (shhh...don't tell anybody). If God sent sickness to us to teach us to get well, why aren't more of us well? Are we unable to learn? (well, maybe Algebra)... Do we have to repeat the same mistakes over and over again to gain understanding?
I'm sure this sounds like a lot of jumbled thoughts. So, let me make it real to you. Did God cause me to get cancer to teach me that He is good? Did God cause me to go through a divorce and loneliness so I could learn to depend on him in a new way? Would you do that to your children?
Do you trip your children to teach them how to fall? I hope not. Why do we expect God to trip us up all the time to teach us things? Why can't we accept that life is just a struggle. "Life is a struggle!" Life is also wonderful and full of great experiences. But, the struggle is not caused by God. The struggle is caused by life.
The Bible says that it "rains on the just and the unjust". (Jeremiah 5:24) I think that is the scripture that set me free to experience God in spite of the difficulties in my life. I already knew God when cancer tried to take my life. Do you know what I said to him before the first of many surgeries? "If this is the best it's ever going to be...please take me home." Honesty. I didn't beg for healing, I didn't even hope for it. I was tired. I was in pain and I wanted out.
Here's an amazing thought. Do you know that I had to learn to be well? Yes. I had to learn what well looked like after so many surgeries. I had to learn what normal was after having a serious car accident. I had to learn to walk again and to use my arms....it was hard. I knew how, but now it was a challenge. You see, no matter how hard I tried I could not replace all the missing parts of my physical body. That alone posed a challenge. Do you know that when I get in a stressful situation my body reacts immediately? Not because it's defective, but because it's deficient.
Most people can experience some stress without much notice. The body has many organs and those organs absorb the brunt of stress for as long as they can. But my body is missing those organs. So my normal is nothing like most people's normal. What causes stress to you may actually make me ill. It's my normal.
Back to my first thought...God did not cause cancer to teach me something. He did not cause loneliness to teach me that he was more important than any other relationship. He already had my heart, my spirit and my body. I didn't learn one new thing by being sick except to learn what my "new normal" looked like.
Can we stop blaming God for all the bad things that happen to us? Can we stop making God the "mean teacher" in every situation? Can we stop viewing him as the father that trips us to teach us how to fall better?
I hope this perspective has given you some things to think about. It's done a lot for me just to write it. One last thought....can we make ourselves sick?
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