Long Before We Got There

Yesterday was both wonderful and awful for me.

There is a common myth among believers that if you are suffering misfortune, it’s because you said or did something to which the Devil objects. You must be speaking the truth, because it made the Devil mad. That’s reading it backwards; correlation is not causation. There are plenty of reasons you might have a bad day; Satan and his allies are always eager to cause you sorrow simply because you are seeking to follow Christ.

Should you engage in promoting your convictions, you would expect some resistance from this world. That does not validate the objective truth of your convictions. It validates only that you are bucking the system. My blog post yesterday was bucking the system, but I’ve been doing that for years. Why would that one post be a specific cause of sorrow? What made it special?

If I were dealing with mere humans, that might be the case. But the Spirit Realm is not like a slot machine that responds immediately to our choices. God is well aware of our time sense, but is hardly bound by it. Time is a variable in His courts. We aren’t supposed to understand much about how things get done there.

No, yesterday was simply a day of testing for me, regardless of any possible proximate causes. It would have turned out worse had I imagined I was being singled out for some particular act. Our Enemy is constantly seeking any opportunity to mess with us and tempt us away from the one thing we need most: consistent and persistent trust in the Lord.

It’s flat out silly to assume that my mundane plans are somehow sacred and that God is required to favor them. My mission yesterday was to face the situation with a sense of peace and purpose and let God show me things I might not know about myself and His work in my life.

As it turns out, He has brought a measure of healing to my body in ways I had not realized. Yesterday was a chance to find out that my joints are doing much better than I had thought. I was compelled to push my bicycle along the streets for about four miles until I got to place I could obtain the materials to fix it. It was the first time in years some motorist did not stop and offer to help. Instead, I discovered that, while there was some discomfort, I could make that long hike. Yes, I’m paying for it today and staying off my feet, but it’s not the end of the world.

I also discovered it was God’s time for me to take certain actions in order to keep using my bicycle. My previous setup was no longer right for the mission. I’m paying attention and trying to obey Him, even if the issues seem rather petty. It’s actually going to make things easier for me in the future. God did me a favor.

A lot of things we face in the moment were in place long before we got there.