When I woke up on my birthday recently I started to think about a thought I’d read from an old journal the night before but was too tired to think about. I’d written that I had been thinking about all of God’s blessings to me and I thought, ‘Wow, you know what I would need a semi-truck for all of them to fit into. But then in my head I saw a fast little sports car zoom up.
In Matthew 5 Jesus said we are blessed, we are to be happy when people lie about us for His names sake. I’ve had people lie about me to others, but it wasn’t for the sake of Jesus, it was more of a personal nature.
But if I respond to the situation how Jesus wants me to, now that is for the sake of Jesus.
Jesus also says in Matthew 5, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Usually if we need to make peace there are not so peaceful circumstances around us and generally that doesn’t feel like a blessing.
But here’s the question; Have we made peace with our circumstances?
When I first experienced someone spreading lies about me I wanted to stand up and proclaim to the world the truth of the situation and let everyone know I hadn’t done anything of the sort. But then I realized people had heard the lie first and it’s hard to hear a juicy bit of gossip and not believe it. If someone asked me about the situation, I would tell them the truth, but outside of that I decided I knew the truth and the truth didn’t change despite what people said or thought, so I let it go, in essence I guess, making peace with my circumstances.
Recently I’ve added a new perspective to my outlook of being lied about. I don’t have to run around trying to defend myself because it is God who fights for me. The Bible has multiple stories where God does the fighting. The Israelites marching around Jericho and after seven days the walls came tumbling down. And my favorite Bible story in 2 Chronicles 20 where a massive army is marching towards Israel and God tells them not to fight in the battle because it is not their’s but HIS.
King Jehoshaphat made peace with his circumstances and did what God told him to do.
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Sometimes our circumstances are just begging us to complain about them. But there is no peace in complaining. Think about the things you complain about and how you could make peace with you circumstances. Making peace with your circumstances doesn’t mean your circumstances will change, but it does mean you will have a new perspective of who God is and how His wisdom surpasses our own. Sort of like driving a fast little sports car through a steep mountain climb and zooming right past the semi truck.
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Let’s take a look at the man Noah in the Bible. He certainly could have had plenty to complain about. His family was blessed right? They were the only ones saved from the flood. But at the same time his life seemed like one that could certainly be complained about. First of all the whole building of the ark; it took 120 YEARS. Then all the preaching to everyone else about God sending a flood and trying to convince other people to get in the boat and be saved from the flood. But after 120 of hearing the message no one else chose to enter the ark. And all the scoffing the other’s did for 120 years. To be made fun of for 120 years and all that time to still preach God’s words and invite everyone into the ark. Noah had certainly made peace with his circumstances. And once they were on the ark all the feeding and caring of the animals. The waiting during the storm, the waiting to hit dry ground, the waiting for the water’s to recede enough for a bird to finally bring them an olive leaf and waiting even longer for God to tell them they could now leave the boat.
I have to hand it to Noah, he could see the dry land, he could see the olive leaf the dove brought him, but he did not rush ahead of God and leave the boat before God told him to.
While we may think it would have been easy for Noah’s family to complain, I’m guessing they had pretty heavy hearts over the loss of all the people they knew. All the people Noah had preached to for 120 years and no doubt prayed for for 120 years. All those who almost said yes, but didn’t. It puts a different perspective on all the rain, and all the work of caring for the animals and all the waiting.
But Noah didn’t wait without hope, he waited with a purpose, trusting God’s timing for when to leave the boat even though he could see dry land outside. This is Noah making peace with his circumstances, accepting God’s wisdom as greater than his own and zooming past that semi truck in a fast little sports car and before he knows it he can’t even see the semi truck in his rear view mirror any more.