By: Wilfred, Atigbi (Elder)
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Work in progress is a project embarked upon that is yet to be completed; it remains so until it is completed. Applying this understanding to life situations it can be inferred that there are many unpleasant situations in life that threaten to put an end to the joy and progress of many people.
Often times, these situations make us feel that we have come to the end of the road. Rather than give up on life, those dead-end situations should make you redirect your focus and attention to God and trust Him more.
No matter your situation today, God has beautiful plans for you. He says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end’’.
The Inevitability of Life’s Challenges
Challenges are inexorable in life. They spare no one, whether children or adults, educated or uneducated, rich or poor.
All humans suffer diverse kind of challenges in life at different stages.
Some of these challenges include illnesses, relational conflicts, job loss, delay in childbearing, poverty, disappointments, unemployment, and death of loved ones, to mention but a few.
Undoubtedly, all these bring us sorrow and pain but they are certainly not the end of our lives, rather, they are obstacles to be overcome.
As established above, challenges are inevitable if they were a matter of choice, no one would have considered them an option.
So, contrary to some opinion of some people that only sinners face challenges in life, Christians also suffer difficult times. The fact that you are facing difficulties today doesn’t necessarily mean that you are a sinner. Nevertheless, how you receive and deal with your challenges as a Christian is what makes the difference (John 16:33).
It is, therefore, not a matter of if there will be challenges, but how you handle them when they come eventually.
When such times come, don’t consider it the end of life for you; rather, see it as a temporary setback, a divine inflection pointing you to better days ahead. Moreover, note that these unwelcomed circumstances can become potent weapons in Satan’s arsenal, if not properly handled. Often times Satan uses these negative situations to ensure Christians, intending to draw them away from God and into sin.
In some cases, unfortunately, he has succeeded in making some Christians lose hope in God and give in to their situations. Nevertheless, you can be an impossible task for Satan if you put your trust in God during trying periods. He is the Alpha and the Omega, He can rise up or bring down and our lives begin and end with Him. He knows everything about what you are going through and will see you through triumphant if you trust and wait on Him.
Like the psalmist, believe that ‘’Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivered him out of them all’’ (Ps 34:19). He will surely deliver you.
God’s Unfailing Power to Change Hopeless Cases
Although life’s challenges are simply a result of living in a sinful and fallen world, God has the power to turn every situation around if you put your trust in Him and don’t give up hope. He promised not just to be with you through every trial and challenge of life but to also change your negative circumstances and give you a glorious future (Isaiah 43:1-7, 54: 3.4; Ph 4:19, Ps 126:1, Prov. 1:13).
Just as you are still work in progress and not a finished project in the hand of God, life situations shouldn’t end your faith in God.
They should not sway you from your goals in life or hinder you from reaching your final destination in Heaven.
No matter the toughness of the situation nothing is over until God says it is over.
He alone has the last word (Lamentations 3:37).
Do you feel like giving up already? Don’t!
While the Devil may be at work in engineering delays, God is preparing a better and glorious future for you if you don’t faint. If you hold on to God, trusting Him for victory, you will surely come out victorious.
Proofs abound in the scriptures that throughout the course of human history, God has moved in the lives of people in the midst of life’s horrible situations where it seemed the end of the road has been reached.
Joseph the son of Jacob, for instance, had such a situation. He ran into challenges that appeared to be the end of all his God-driven dreams, but God turned the situation around for him. He was placed in pit to die by his brothers while on a mission for his father, from this he was sold into slavery.
He was falsely accused, imprisoned for attempted rape, and forgotten by fellow prisoner whom he had helped at the time of his trials. But at God’s perfect time for him, he came out of had helped at the time of his trial.
But at God’s perfect time for him, he came out of all his challenges triumphant (Gen. 37:22, 26,36; 39:1, 7-20, 40: 1-23; 41:1-43)
Job is another example of life’s challenges God turned around. His wife and friends encouraged him time and time again to give up on God. For them, the end had come for Job. They had thought that with his children and possessions all destroyed; it was all over for him.
His wife said to him, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die’’. But he replied, “shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil?’’ The Bible concluded that “In all this Job did not sin with his lips’’ (Job 2:9-10).
God has promised to change your challenges to success story and breakthrough if you will trust Him in the midst of your trials and storms. What God did in the examples mentioned above and for many others who placed their trust in Him, He will do the same for you.
Always understand that God is at work in your life, perfecting those things that pertain to you (Ps 138:8).
In your difficulty, let your zeal and faith in God be like that of Job who said “But he knoweth the way that I take: When he hath (tested) me, I shall come forth as gold (Job 23:10).
If God can turn difficult situation around for the likes of Joseph and Job; He can still do it today for us. God hasn’t changed; He is ever faithful; He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8).
God be with you always in Jesus’ Name.
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