"God’s hand was upon it,” I told Bea. I was excited about an incredible auction I had won on eBay. I was thinking: “God answered my prayer from the night before.”Now Bea is quiet. When she does speak, I listen. She pondered my excitement and then she said, “Was God’s hand upon it, if you hadn’t got the great deal?”
Deflating my bulb of exuberance wasn’t her intent. It was kind of a Pontius-Pilate-moment, when he asked Jesus, “What is truth?”
“Check your theology,” Bea added, “I check mine all the time.”
She made a significant and valid point. If I would have lost the auction, which would have been the opposite of what I prayed, there’s no way I would have told Bea, “God’s hand was upon it.”
The pattern we typically follow is: if something turns out the way we think it should, it’s good. It’s God. Yet it’s more difficult to see situations which seem totally opposite our desires and expectations as good. As God.
So what is truth? Theology check time.
Standing there talking to Bea, I cited James 1:2, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers whenever you face trails of many kinds.”
Pure joy...come on now, how many Christians actually do this?
Yet God has a reason for trials. A preacher I greatly appreciate, said, “Don’t waste a trial.”
This is why. Listen to the next two verses: “Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
God knows, and so do we; going through a rough spot in life is one of God’s most effective tools in maturing us as Christians. Refining us.
“Consider it pure joy…” When God is molding you into being more Jesus-like.
