First I want to say with great joy, it is Spring officially!
Moving on...
This topic came to me, maybe a while ago but again recently. I noticed that sometimes bad things happen. I am not talking about tragedy. I'm talking about days or weeks that feel like "bad luck" has set in. I do not believe in luck because it is based on the understanding that the universe operates solely on its own, without the knowledge, wisdom or intervention of the divine. Romans 1:20-32 covers this, warning us about the consequences of worshipping God's creations, rather than the Creator. Still, you know the feeling. That, "I just can't win" feeling. Something breaks, we fix it and it breaks again. You start to do better and then you do worse. Your streak of sick days finally goes away and then something else comes up. You feel like the devil is kicking you around and he won't quit. But is it always the devil.
I have learned that our responses to these situations are critical. The Bible tells us that God is a blesser. He loves to give us the desires of our heart. He wants to see us prosper because He gets the glory from true believers. He gets all of the credit for doing the impossible in our lives. So, miracles and blessing are for us, but for Him. We readily accept when good things happen, they must be from heaven. We reject the notion that bad things are happening because of God. The Bible says "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (James 1:17, NIV). So, we know that God blesses. But how about these times when nothing goes our way? What if these were blessings too?
What do we know about fathers? We know that they love their children and want the best for them. We know that they are placed as guardians over the precious lives that God created. They would not say yes to a request that would lead to harm or death. They would never deny basic needs nor would they allow sinful actions to be the main lifestyle. Would a father be considered good if he gave his daughter away to every boy that stopped by, knowing that they would then go somewhere and put their hands all over each other? Would a father be considered good if he gave the keys to his car to his son with one hand and a case of beer with the other? The answers to both of these is no. We would judge both fathers very harshly. Likewise, our Heavenly Father is not a "feel good" deity. He is a wise and righteous judge who hates sin but offers us hope for change. That means that He also doesn't love a bad attitude. Just like we loathe a bad attitude in our children, He despises it in us even more. He instructs us to give thanks in all things. He tells us to rejoice in our suffering and reminds us that our trials work patience. We could all use more patience.
So, is that losing streak demonically inspired or God working out our bad attitude? How would we know? First, we can discern nothing without the help of the Holy Spirit. So we must pray and ask God to show us what is happening. Then we must examine our responses to these situations. If we are grumbling and complaining in these times, we are displeasing God. If we are speaking as though we never have the victory, we are showing our ungrateful side. If others stay away from us when bad things are happening, we probably have a bad attitude that negatively affects those around us. We are a bad testimony to God's grace and mercy when we focus on our failures and set-backs and losses. Christianity isn't that great, bad things always happen to them. How does that look to someone who's religion is based on good being rewarded with good?
We serve a loving God and more so, we are loved by an incredibly loving Father. He wants us to be blessed but our bad attitudes prevent that. Our bad attitudes prevent us from rejoicing in the blessings we have and they also keep us from receiving more. Our bad attitudes show God that nothing He does for us is enough, it only focuses on what He's not doing for us. If this is the issue in your life, I encourage you to blossom into some new habits this Spring. Ask God to grow a garden of gratefulness in your heart and purpose to keep praise on your lips. These things usher in blessing and favor and above all - peace.
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