jeannemari3

December 30, 2020

If God loves us, why can’t He just make all the bad things go away, why can’t He just make it easier?

Remember the Israelites, the chosen people, God loved them so much and God was with them always. Yet God had to let them go through slavery, hunger, pain, loss, fight wars and battles before they can get to the promised land. God could’ve easily just magically snapped his fingers, and obliterate all obstacles and bring them to Canaan but He didn’t do that. Because as much as He loves us, He also wants us to love Him. Our very nature as humans to feel “easy come, easy go”- when we acquire something without any hard work, it’s so easy to let it go and forget about it. When you earn easy money through maybe gambling or winning the lottery, it’s easy to spend because you didn’t really work hard for it. It’s the same with our love for God. We can easily forget it when things are easy. When we go through what feels impossible, and you see how only God can get you through it (not yourself, not others), when you know it’s God working on your problems, you see His great love, His power, that’s when/how we, as humans, typically worship and appreciate and love Him. And we don’t easily forget that. We need to put in the work. He needed the Israelites to put in the work so that they may see His love, His power, and that they may not forget. I’m certainly not saying we only praise Him when He helps us out but that’s why we go through these trials, so we can praise Him during and and not just after each victory. God gave us freewill- that means we decide to love Him or not, to follow Him or not. He showed the Israelites His great love, power, protection, provision, by being by their side, by leading them, but not handing things to them on a silver platter. The trials they went through also weeded out a lot of non believers, those who did not really believe in God’s love enough, did not really love and respect Him. They went through the impossible and they know they succeeded because of God- they would not have glorified God for everything that happened had it been any other way. Had it been easier.

The Israelites went through so much trials and surely a lot must have questioned God and probably thought or asked “if you truly are God, why are you letting us go through this? Yes, you tell us you are handing us all these nations we will defeat in battle but why do we need to go to battle? Why can’t you just wipe them out?”

God wants us not only to see His love through these experiences, but also to speak of it to our children and our children’s children. “We fought nations quadruple our size and yet we won- because God was with us”— is a statement (among many others), none of them would have been able to say and pass on had it been made easy. 

God wants the credit? Yes. But not for anything but for us to see His love. Imagine giving your son a gift or preparing his favorite meal for him that’s so complicated to cook. YOU want to get credit because you want him to know how much you love him. Not for anything else. Imagine sending a present to a friend you haven’t seen for years. You’re not sending that anonymously, because you want the credit. You want them to know you are thinking of them, you love them, and you’re there for them.

This reminds me so much about our own hardships whether it’s this pandemic or something else, we have to look at them as battles God wants us to fight but it doesn’t mean He is not there by our side. We may not understand it now, just like the Israelites did not understand all the trials they were going through at that time- but God has His reasons, there is a purpose and you don’t have to understand it now, just walk by faith. God’s love doesn’t mean, he will make life easy for us. It simply means, He is there for us as we go through difficult times and He wants to see the trust we put in Him during. He wants us to focus on Him- ask for HIS help, seek HIM, no one else. HE can hear your most silent cry (no one else can) and glorify Him for our victories and love Him back because my, how He loves us. 

Remember that our trials also mold us to become the people He meant for us to become. They humble us, they discipline us. “Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.” (Deuteronomy 8:5)

I can only put so much into words. Rereading this now, and it doesn’t feel enough. It’s incomparable to how I feel now realizing all these, learning and getting to know God, typing this up. Read the Bible for yourself, realize it for yourself, experience it for yourself, understand His love for yourself. He made sure it was accounted for. It was written for a reason, and it’s accessible to you. Open the Bible and get to know God and how much He loves you.