Biblical wisdom does not necessarily help us decide which college to go to, which job to accept, which house to buy. It’s true that His wisdom may have an influence on those decisions, but the reality is if the decision doesn’t conflict with Scripture in any way, then the choice is yours to make.
God’s purpose for the struggles in our marriage is to grow us to be more like Him. He wants our hearts to be sacrificial in our love for others, to be abundant in our grace and mercy.
Far too often in life, we inform God of our direction rather than patiently allowing God to inform our decisions.
Doubt is a lack of confidence that God will keep His promises, and faith is an active confidence that God’s promises are always true.
God wants us to choose joy in our struggle because He desires for us to know steadfastness—this is the state of a refined heart. When we are steadfast, we are not easily provoked or angered by difficult situations.
We get anxious, we get overwhelmed, we even get angry, but the difference is we do it with the hope of things to come. Our response as believers to those difficult emotions should distinguish us from the world as we have something different at work in us.
God designed marriage as a way to chisel away at the self-centered nature of our hearts. His desire is for us to love others as ourselves. He wants us to put the needs of our spouses before our own instead of demanding our needs are met.
Rather than running, if we only learned to stop and open our eyes in the moments when the trials seem to be the greatest, we would find the supernatural power to transform our hearts. We grow a little more like Jesus in those moments, and we find His peace and His joy.
We are told we can find joy even in the most difficult struggles, and we can. We have to stop focusing on the solutions to the problems and start focusing on Him, trusting completely that He has it under control.
Having the 'Christian club card' was never meant to be a pass from the struggle—we don’t get to just pray away the hardship. God’s not our genie in a bottle, and when we approach Him that way, we’re going to be sadly disappointed.
