Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  

Since we know this promise of God to work even the most difficult of things out for good why do we scratch and kick, and try to fix it?  Especially when it comes to someone we love.  When something upsets or hurts my children even as adults my “Mom” mode kicks in and I want to hurry up and try to fix it so they aren’t hurting but in the process I have to wonder how many times my “bandaids” get in God’s way.  It’s not just with those we love though.  Have you ever vindicated yourself instead of allowing God to?  We live in an instant gratification world where we rarely have to wait on so many things people used to have to wait for and our minds have become conditioned to think that’s how it is supposed to work.  God doesn’t “microwave” our problems because we want them taken care of immediately.  He knows what is best and the end result is not always the most important part of the equation.  God often allows situations in our lives to position and grow us for what is next.  

When we quote Jeremiah 29:11 we must keep in mind that prospering is not always financial, sometimes God is growing wisdom, discernment, self-discipline, or patience, and the list goes on and on, but the point is that without difficulties or situations that stretch our beliefs and faith, we wouldn’t grow.  Think about Job 23:10, “But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”  Job had no idea why all of a sudden he lost everything but He knew that God had allowed it and that God trusted Job to stand firm in his faith so that when all was said and done, Job would withstand the fire to come out more pure for having been through it.  God rewarded Job for his faithfulness with double everything he lost but most importantly I am sure Job was even closer to God than he had been before.  When satan attacked, there was nothing Job could do!  Within minutes he lost everything and he sat down overwhelmed and grieving the loss of all of his children and praised God.  Instead of shaking his fist at God or throwing a fit he just paused.  How much better would things turn out in every area of our lives if we paused like Job and instead of jumping to fix things we took the time to go to God and wait on Him?  Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”   Sometimes He does direct us to do something and sometimes He just wants us to wait and He will step in and fight for us when the time is right.

I would like to encourage all of us to slow down and take those things to God before we just jump in thinking we know what is best.  Pray and wait for His answer.  Trust Him that He is in the process of working things out for good and He always knows what is best.