I grew up playing sports. That's just what you do when your father is a coach. Then I married a coach so I have lived in a coaches house my entire life...I think I know them pretty well. One thing you always hear is it's a good thing when your coach is on you...yelling at you....pushing you to go harder, be better. It's when the coach is silent, not saying anything, that you should be worried.
He's not saying anything to you because he's not seeing anything from you.
I was reading the story about Paul becoming a follower of Jesus in Act 9. Paul had just been blinded and now God was asking a man named, Ananias to go to Paul and help him. These were God's words to Ananias about Paul:
"Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and the Kings as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake."
I just sat there and couldn't quite move passed this verse.
If Paul was Chosen by God why did he have to suffer because of God?
As I started writing in my journal, other names and stories came to my mind that had this same story line:
Chosen by God, but suffered because of God.
Moses was chosen by God...but suffered rejection from Pharoah
Joseph was chosen by God...but suffered slavery and prison
Mary was chosen by God...but suffered humiliation for being an unwed mother
Jesus was chosen by God...but suffered death on the cross
Maybe you are reading this and you are suffering.
-Suffering a broken heart
-Suffering a broken relationship (marriage, parents, friends)
-Suffering watching your kids suffer
Asking God what you have done wrong that he would allow such heartbreak, discouragement, despair, suffering. You are praying...and you suffer. You are reading His Word...and you suffer. You go to church....and you suffer. Why? Why? Why?
(God Whispers)...BECAUSE YOU ARE CHOSEN.
Just like a coach, God sees something in you that you can't even see in yourself. He's going to allow things to shape you, build your faith, make you stronger, and build your character not for your glory but for HIS!
I have learned from all these stories in the bible of being chosen and suffering is
God uses suffering to build his soldiers.
Strong, leading,humble, change the world soldiers.
You see, DOING LIFE WITH GOD DOESN'T MEAN YOU WON'T HAVE PAIN...IT MEANS THERE IS PURPOSE BEYOND THE PAIN!!
Moses suffered....but God helped him lead the people out of slavery
Joseph suffered...but God used prison to lead him to the palace as the head of Egypt
Mary suffered...but God used her pure heart to give birth to the man that would have mine
Jesus suffered...but God used his body as my sacrifice
Jesus said, "In this life you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world."
Whatever you are going through, may this be an encouragement to you that God sees you, God sees your suffering, and there is purpose beyond the pain!
