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| Photo: Rev. Ruben E. Navarrete |
Why Do I Face Difficulties?
1. God is teaching me obedience.
Deut 8:1 says: "Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today." It is His will for me to learn to obey Him. Whether I learn the easy way or the hard way is up to me. Blessings will come as I obey. Life is not easy, but it will be better for us if we learn to obey God. He gives us every command for a good reason.
2. God has a plan for my deliverance from the difficulty.
Deut 8:1b says: "so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers." The deliverance comes as a direct result of our obedience. If the people of Israel had obeyed God immediately by believing they could enter the Promised Land and taking it as God had instructed, they would have entered it 40 years sooner. But they were afraid and doubted God's ability to give them victory. So in response to their unbelief, they were not allowed to enter the Promised Land; they had to wander in the desert for 40 years. Yet God was faithful to His Promise, so after the 40 years were complete, He led them into the Promised Land.
3. God wants to humble me and test me.
Deut 8:2 says: "Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands." God wants my willing obedience. His desire is for me to obey--not simply because I have to but because I want to. Just like I want my children to obey me without arguing and with a good attitude, that is what God wants from me. My obedience to God demonstrates that I love Him and I trust that His rules are for my good. In difficulties, we may feel tempted to give up or to disobey what God wants, but if we obey when it is hard, we will pass the test.
4. God wants to teach me to rely on Him and nothing (no one) else.
Deut 8:3 says: "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." During the difficulty, what have I hungered for? If I felt like every desire was fulfilled, then I would not be hungry for anything. God clearly wants to make me hunger so that He can satisfy it. God is the only one that can truly satisfy all that I need in this life. This means whatever I am lacking, He can and will fulfill (The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. In other words, I shall lack nothing. -Psalm 23). This includes material needs, physical needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs.
5. God wants to show His supernatural power to sustain me.
Deut 8:4 says: "Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years." When our circumstances seem impossible, that is when God works. It may be impossible for me, but nothing is impossible with God. He can make clothes last for forty years, which shows supernatural provision. He can prevent feet from swelling, which shows supernatural healing. Think of all the miracles that Jesus did that were impossible in human terms but that He did to provide for and sustain His followers. He turned one plate of food into enough to feed over five thousand people. Remember that if He provides for the sparrows and lilies of the field, how much more will He provide for us. Are we not worth more than birds and flowers (Matthew 6:28)?
6. God is disciplining me as His child.
Deut 8:5 says: "know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD our God disciplines you." I discipline my children because I love them. I want to teach them right from wrong. I want them to grow up to be good and productive members of society. I want them to have good values to pass on to their children. I want them to know Jesus and to show His love to the world. I want their lives to be blessed by God through their own obedience. Think of all the reasons your discipline your children and what you are trying to teach them. These are the same reasons that God disciplines us. He is my loving Father. He knows what is best for me, so He will discipline me until I learn to love Him, to trust Him, to obey Him, to seek Him, and to be like Him.
7. God wants my life to honor Him.
Deut 8:6 says: "observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him." It brings God great joy to have His children walking in obedience to Him, in respect for Him, in honor for Him. That is the best way to increase God's Kingdom. My life is not simply about me. Everything I do affects many other people. If I am godly, then those around me will learn to be godly. The Kingdom of God expands when we honor Him. It honors God when we trust Him during difficulties. If we do not trust Him and instead show anger and bitterness, it demonstrates to the world that we do not believe God is good and trustworthy and powerful. Even our attitudes are a testimony about God to the world, so they can be a testimony that will draw others closer to God or a bad testimony that will push people away from God. We have a huge capacity to influence the world for or against God based on our attitudes during difficult times.
8. God has greater things in store for me.
Deut 8:7-9 says: "for the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land--a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey, a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills." We will appreciate all these wonderful things more in contrast to not having them before. If we always have prosperity, we will take it for granted. Read these verses, and believe that God is speaking them directly to you. I don't know where you are coming from, but if you are like me, you have been in a difficult place. You have experienced wandering in the desert for weeks or months or years. You have walked in the depths of a dark valley where you feel alone and helpless. You have lived through times where you could not even hear God's voice. But know that your mountain awaits, and it will far surpass what you even hoped and prayed for. Everything that you have lacked and missed and cried for and longed for will be fulfilled in a way that is far better than you could hope for because the God of the Universe loves you and wants the best for you! Not only does God have wonderful blessings in store for our future, He has a perfect home in heaven waiting for us, so that is our ultimate hope. No blessings in this life compare to how wonderful it will be in heaven. God wants us to understand that nothing on this earth will fully satisfy us because our eternal home is in heaven with Him.
9. God wants me to praise Him.
Deut 8:10 says: "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you." God will be praised, and it is our job to do so. Praising the Lord brings Him great honor and glory and also helps us to have a heart full of joy and thanksgiving. When God has brought you through the trial and you have reached your promised land, you will be able to praise Him so much more because you will have experienced His power, love, and faithfulness firsthand.
10. God wants me to not forget Him.
Deut 8:11-15 says: "Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." God blesses us in so many ways, but we need to guard against forgetting Him. The more we have, we can easily become proud and give ourselves all the credit for our blessings. Everything we have is a gift from God, so we need to recognize it is God's and not ours. Once you have passed through the desert, do not forget how God brought you through it and all that God has done for you in the past. He not only brought you out of the desert, but prior to that, He brought you out of slavery. He has delivered you many times, and this testimony will encourage you in future trials and can help others that you share your story with.
11. God wants me to tell others about how He helped me through the trial.
Deut 8:15-16 says: "He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known." During the trial, God did many good things for you, even though at the time you may not have been able to see it. But take the time to think about what God has done for you even through the desert. God will give you opportunities to tell others about how He brought you through the difficulty and to help others who are facing something similar.
12. God wants the best for me.
Deut 8:16b says: "so that in the end it might go well with you." Only God knows how to take a terrible circumstance and somehow bring good from it. God has promised He will bring beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3). Do not give up because God is with you. He loves you much more than you could ever understand. He wants good things for you and is working through every situation in your life. This is true even when you do not feel it. That is the great thing about God's love--it never changes! He has done so much for you even in the trial "so that it may go well with you."
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