This morning I was reading in Jeremiah:
Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: "Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. Jeremiah 24:4-7
Some of the most difficult and pain filled times of my life, I later came to recognize as the mercy of God, as He removed things from my life that I wanted so desperately and that seemed so good, but in retrospect I realized that they would have competed with His place in my heart.
During one particularly heartbreaking episode of rejection, I was seeking the answer to the question I could not get away from – WHY LORD??? The verse He gave me in answer was this:
Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. Psalm 116:7
At the time it made no sense to me. But over the months that followed, as events unfolded, I saw that He truly had done a wonderful thing for me by orchestrating events the way He did.
If God is really in control (and I believe beyond a doubt that He is) then every difficulty, every painful circumstance becomes part of His plan for us – conforming us to the image of Christ.
Danielle
