Stronger for His Kingdom

Verse of the Week: 

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  1 Peter 4:12-13

Stronger for His Kingdom

I had just checked our beautiful garden that was growing. The tomato plant was getting thick and bushy with yellow blooms on them.  Tiny green peppers and white blooms were poking out of our red bell pepper plant.  Strong stems were holding up the large leaves of our squash plants.  Our cucumbers, which had a rough start, were finally growing.  I was so excited. This was Brian's and my first real garden!  It was gorgeous, and I delighted in seeing God's creation grow.  Then the dreaded thing happened that no gardener wants to happen to their plants.  A hail storm hit!  Hail beat down on the plants, ripping leaves apart, breaking branches and stems.  The wind blew apart our tomato plant nearly uprooting the the giant bush.  Brian and I were so sad to see the once prosperous garden nearly destroyed in less than 10 minutes.  

Beaten down, but not destroyed

After checking our garden, we went home with heavy hearts until I remembered something in the past.  I remember such a storm hitting my parents garden one year, and those stubborn plants made their way back up and began thriving.  In fact they did so well that we had one of the best crops ever that year.  I remembered back to my little garden that I was growing in small pots.   A hail storm once again nearly destroyed my pepper plant leaving only one leaf on it, and that broken plant came back to produce many peppers for Brian and I that summer.  Hope begin to come back, if those plants could survive such tragedies, then our garden could over come this one.

Isn't our lives just like those plants?  There are times when life is going well, and then a storm hits, tearing us apart nearly destroying us. We are beaten, hit, and broken apart. Why doesn't God protect us from such events?  Why does he allow such bad things to happen?  

I was teaching a small group of children at Vacation Bible School when I asked them this question, "Does God promise to ALWAYS protect us?"  A lot of them looked at me saying, "Yes he does protect us!"  While others shook their heads saying, "No he doesn't always protect us!"  The kids began to debate back an forth on the question. We all talked about how bad things do happen, but some of the kids thought that bad things only happen to bad people.  I had to explain to them that it wasn't so.  I told them that God does love us and does protect us at times in our lives.  There are beautiful verses in the Bible that praise God for His protection.  However, car wreaks, health problems, hurt, and pain still happen to people both good and bad.  I had to explain something that people misunderstand all the time.  People think that once they become a Christian nothing bad can happen to them, but the reality is that bad things still do happen.  Jesus himself says that we will have troubles: 

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Here is the catch, while we still have problems, and tragedies strike, Jesus is still in charge, and all things are under his authority or feet (1 Corinthians 15:27).  However, bad things still happen because we live in a fallen world.  The moment Adam and Eve ate the fruit off of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the world changed; people's heart changed; and the knowledge of sin came into the world.   God still allows mankind to make their own decisions even if they are bad ones.  As a result, bad things still happen.  Here is the most important thing that I told those sweet kids, even if God doesn't promise to ALWAYS protect us, he does promise one thing, and that is to be with us when we go through bad times.  Jesus himself said in Matthew 28:20, "Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."  God doesn't promise to take our problems away, but he does promise to be with us when we go through them.

So what happens when a storm comes?  Just like those plants, with God's help, we can come through it stronger.  God uses storms in our lives to mold and shape us into the people He wants us to be, an image of Himself.  He uses storms to teach us about trust, patience, endurance, self control, kindness, forgiveness, and many other traits that represent our Savior.  He uses storms to bring Himself glory, and to teach us to depend on him.  Peter says in 1 Peter 4:12-13:

12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

Growing Stronger

God reveals his glory even in the darkest of storms. Thank you Lord for storms in our lives.  Just as my garden plants will recover and grow stronger producing many fruit on their branches, may we grow and produce more fruit for your kingdom. To You be all the glory!