Reason #610
It's weekends like this where my heart is really overwhelmed by the Lord's goodness. Weekends where I get to wake up late and have a lazy morning with Aaron. Weekends when I get to spend one on one time with the people I love. When the weather is nice and our football teams wins. Weekends when Aaron and I spend Saturday night preparing for a Sunday morning lesson. It's weekends like these that make me grateful, and it's weekend like these when life seems perfect.
We've been studying Job in Sunday school. It's such a powerful book, and I've learned so much from Job and his friends. Last weekend we talked about how Job referred to God as His Redeemer. In chapter 19, after expressing how distraught he was, Job ends his speech by saying basically that it's okay. Because He served a living God who was going to make everything right in the end. A God who would redeem. And today I thought a lot about redemption.
I don't know about you, but when I go through trials my prayers are typically for change. For one, I want the suffering to end, and I just want things to go back to how they were. I want God to change my circumstances in the way I think He should. But I've never asked God to redeem a situation. Maybe it's because redemption is a word we use but really don't understand. I looked up the definition on dictionary.com, and it used words like, "to recover, exchange, convert." It didn't flat out say "change," but these are interchangeable words. So I suppose I am not making much of an argument here, but I see that when I pray and ask for change, it's to get me out of the situation and right back to where I was. I never say, "God, I don't understand this. I don't like this, and I don't know why this is happening. But I trust you and I just pray that you will redeem this one day."
But what if we prayed like that? What if we realized that God doesn't put us in situations only to move us back to how things used to be. God doesn't change our lives so they can be like the good ole days. God redeems them. In fact, God may decide not to change the circumstance at all. He may let it be, but He will redeem it one day even if that day occurs when we see Him face to face. Because eventually there will come a time where God redeems, or exchanges, what we have for something even better. A time when we converts our sorrow into joy, our tears into gladness.
Job said, "Nevertheless, his mind concerning me remains unchanged, and who can turn him from his purposes? Whatever he wants to do, he does. so he will do for me all he has planned. He controls my destiny." (Job 23:13-14) What joy to know that a redeemer controls our destiny. To realize that His purpose will prevail, and ultimately His purpose is to bring glory to His name. His purpose, in the end, is to stop sorrow, pain, suffering, and trials. His purpose is to make all things new. His purpose is to restore all that has been broken, and repair all that has been damaged. And nothing will stop Him from doing the very things He has said He will do.
And so the idea of redemption has filled my mind today. Because although I prayed for change, and got exactly that, what I was actually given was redemption. God exchanged a life filled with insecurity, doubt, pain, and sorrow for a life filled with joy, satisfaction, peace, and laughter. Taking what seemed to be the worst of the worst and somehow turning into the best of the best. I don't know how He does it. Funny that He takes our rags and turns them into riches, changing our ashes into beauty. But He does it in some form or fashion. Whether there is change or no change, there will be redemption. Just wait on Him, let Him deliver you, and you, too, will be thankful that God is in the business of redeeming our circumstances rather than simply settling to just change them.
#610 - For a God who chooses to redeem our situations versus just changing them.
"You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.” You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life." - Lamentations 3:57-58
We've been studying Job in Sunday school. It's such a powerful book, and I've learned so much from Job and his friends. Last weekend we talked about how Job referred to God as His Redeemer. In chapter 19, after expressing how distraught he was, Job ends his speech by saying basically that it's okay. Because He served a living God who was going to make everything right in the end. A God who would redeem. And today I thought a lot about redemption.
I don't know about you, but when I go through trials my prayers are typically for change. For one, I want the suffering to end, and I just want things to go back to how they were. I want God to change my circumstances in the way I think He should. But I've never asked God to redeem a situation. Maybe it's because redemption is a word we use but really don't understand. I looked up the definition on dictionary.com, and it used words like, "to recover, exchange, convert." It didn't flat out say "change," but these are interchangeable words. So I suppose I am not making much of an argument here, but I see that when I pray and ask for change, it's to get me out of the situation and right back to where I was. I never say, "God, I don't understand this. I don't like this, and I don't know why this is happening. But I trust you and I just pray that you will redeem this one day."
But what if we prayed like that? What if we realized that God doesn't put us in situations only to move us back to how things used to be. God doesn't change our lives so they can be like the good ole days. God redeems them. In fact, God may decide not to change the circumstance at all. He may let it be, but He will redeem it one day even if that day occurs when we see Him face to face. Because eventually there will come a time where God redeems, or exchanges, what we have for something even better. A time when we converts our sorrow into joy, our tears into gladness.
Job said, "Nevertheless, his mind concerning me remains unchanged, and who can turn him from his purposes? Whatever he wants to do, he does. so he will do for me all he has planned. He controls my destiny." (Job 23:13-14) What joy to know that a redeemer controls our destiny. To realize that His purpose will prevail, and ultimately His purpose is to bring glory to His name. His purpose, in the end, is to stop sorrow, pain, suffering, and trials. His purpose is to make all things new. His purpose is to restore all that has been broken, and repair all that has been damaged. And nothing will stop Him from doing the very things He has said He will do.
And so the idea of redemption has filled my mind today. Because although I prayed for change, and got exactly that, what I was actually given was redemption. God exchanged a life filled with insecurity, doubt, pain, and sorrow for a life filled with joy, satisfaction, peace, and laughter. Taking what seemed to be the worst of the worst and somehow turning into the best of the best. I don't know how He does it. Funny that He takes our rags and turns them into riches, changing our ashes into beauty. But He does it in some form or fashion. Whether there is change or no change, there will be redemption. Just wait on Him, let Him deliver you, and you, too, will be thankful that God is in the business of redeeming our circumstances rather than simply settling to just change them.
#610 - For a God who chooses to redeem our situations versus just changing them.
"You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.” You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life." - Lamentations 3:57-58
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