Any thought about God that denies his greatness, goodness, love, faithfulness, steadfastness, and the list goes on, is a sin against the Almighty. These thoughts often plague my mind in the midst of my most difficult storms. These thoughts cause me pain that is more than unnecessary and more than that, grieves the Lord. There are evil things that we must suffer, truly evil things; but we only add more evil to the suffering when we think less of God. We will only find peace when our mind is stayed on God, the true God, not some imitation of him we have made up in our minds. It is for this reason that we must turn to scripture to hold fast to what he has revealed about himself there. It is in scripture that he tells us…
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Num. 23:19
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Ps. 84:11
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Dt. 31:6
For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Ps. 100:5
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him [Christ]… Heb. 2:8-9
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. Lk. 15:20
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rm. 5:8
God reveals all these wonderful truths and more in his word, but we must abide in it; especially in the difficult times. Though it is probably obvious to others, I have only recently learned that my normal 20- 30 minutes in God’s word and prayer will not cut it during the hard times. If I am being attacked than I should expect to have to obtain more weapons than usual to fight the battle. Whereas, before I would easily get frustrated and disappointed, feeling like God had not come through; now I see that I did not do my part. I did not seek until I found. It is because of all these things, all these sins, that I have cheated myself of the peace of God. It is because of all these things that I have spent many nights lying awake, that I have cried a great many tears, that I have felt utterly hopeless too many times.
I write this primarily for myself. So that when I struggle again, I may come back and read, and reread these words of mine that I so easily forget. I share these words, so that others might also find comfort and be reminded to not think less of the Father than he deserves. I pray that our Heavenly Father might encourage you and give you peace at all times as you seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. May His joy be your strength and His loving arms hold you tight as cry out to Him. Praise the Lord, who being Holy and Perfect came to die for us, sinners unworthy in his sight! What wondrous love he has for us!