Comfort Is No Indicator (PoW)

Pearls of Wisdom

When we step out in faith, perhaps for a new ministry venture or simply to share the Gospel with a friend, and it does not go according to plan… it can be all too easy to think that we completely missed God’s will.

Maybe you have experienced this yourself at times. You felt God lead you in a certain direction, took a step out, and suddenly encountered one problem after another. Or, similarly, you felt a prompting to bless an enemy, but just could not believe God would ask you to do such a thing!

In such times, comfort is no indicator of God’s will. God never promised us that following Him would always lead to a trouble-free existence.

Look at Job from the Old Testament. He was exceptionally blessed, seemingly following God’s will and then he lost absolutely everything in one day. He and his friends wrestled with what had happened to him, and never really got an answer. Unlike us, he could not see behind the curtain and understand that there were spiritual forces at work.

Similarly, look to the Apostle Paul. He was arrested, beaten, put in prison, shipwrecked and far more besides. The author of most of the New Testament faced unimaginable trials, and yet, was smack bang in the middle of God’s will.

I do not write any of this to discourage you. I am not urging you to resist God’s will to avoid such trouble! For Job, although he lost everything, he was restored in the end. Not so for Paul (on this earth at least). The point I am making is that sometimes God’s will leads us into blessing, and sometimes it leads us into trouble. Our comfort or discomfort is no gauge of whether we are well following God or not.

Do not assume that because you are facing times of difficulty that you have somehow missed God’s plan. Often the presence of trouble is a sign that the enemy is resisting you, and you are precisely where you need to be.

Seek the Lord in your trials, as there is always a reason why He has brought them. If you find yourself in an uncomfortable place, do not just run from it, as you may be running from God. We need not seek trouble of course, but let each of us seek God with our whole hearts instead.

Where will God lead you this week?