Sometimes unexplainable circumstances
force us back to the wellspring of life that is the grace of God. Our desire to allow all that comes into our life both to bring glory to God and to draw us into greater dependence upon Him allows us to face these circumstances with confidence. It is so easy when times are good to wax eloquent about the grace and sovereignty of God and how much we want to devote our lives to Him, etc. It's a little bit tougher when times are bad. We must take the good and the bad from the grace of God and rejoice in it.
Twisted? Backwards? Sometimes we think so. Why would we think that in our modern world we might have to take anything uncomfortable? Isn't there a pill we can take or a support group we can confide in? Surely someone somewhere has developed some kind of escape plan so we don't have to deal with whatever current problem we are facing. We often ponder why Paul would say a crazy thing (as he does all throughout his epistles) like, "Now I would rather glory in my infirmities" until we begin to grasp the ramifications of the second half of that statement: "that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
Suffering drives us to depend on Christ. It's just that sometimes suffering is easier to take than it is at
other times. . .
No, thankfully we cannot pick and choose those areas where we are willing to suffer or those parts of our lives we will maintain as ‘untouchable.’ The grace of God reaches the depths of our lives to enact that tremendous transformation process which is the life of Christ. We find ourselves in this place and are counting it a joy.
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