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Everyone experiences pain and hurt and sickness no matter how rich or how smart they are. Things are going to be unfair. We aren’t going to always get our way. That is just the truth. Trying to deny this truth is only a bandaid on a bloody stump. We can get away with it during good times. But some day, some how, life is going to get difficult and that false tower of denial is going to come crashing down. We’re much better off confronting this truth and dealing with it now instead of from the underside of a tragedy.

We live in a cursed world. We all WILL suffer in one way or another eventually. Nothing happens that God doesn’t allow. Jesus tells us to forgive each other, but can we forgive GOD? Only when we consider all of eternity, can we understand that our sufferings in this life truly are “light and momentary afflictions that are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all.” (2 Cor. 4:17)  Only someone with eternal vision can respond to suffering with worship as Job does.

Any power or control we think we wield is all illusion anyway. We truly are those helpless children whether we understand it or not. Pride is the biggest delusion we could ever entertain. But guess what… we can also believe in MAGIC. When we shift our focus from ourselves to our heavenly Father and depend upon his care and direction rather than our own, our lives truly become magic indeed.

So HOW do you trust in the LORD with all your heart and acknowledge Him in all your ways? How do you let God guide you? How do you HEAR God’s voice? Here are four suggestions…

It all comes down to our attitude. Two people might behave identically but one is motivated by law and the other by freedom. The first person is trying as hard as they can to do all the right things and obey all the rules using their own willpower. The second person enjoys a deepening relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Outwardly, they may both act exactly the same. But the first person is miserable and the second person is full of joy. The goal is not learning how to be perfect. The goal is learning how to walk in FAITH.

I choose freedom!

We just can’t do it. Perfection for us wicked, stupid humans is impossible. That is the whole point. It was the point of the 10 Commandments and the Mosaic Law. It was the point of the whole Old Testament. It was the point of the Sermon on the Mount. God knew when he dictated his laws to Moses that the Israelites could never measure up. Jesus never intended for his followers to gouge out their own eyeballs or chop off their extremities. That’s obviously not what he meant…

40 days is all it took. 40 days it rained and flooded the entire earth fifteen cubits higher than the tallest mountain. 40 days it took to kill every air-breathing living thing on the entire earth except for those safely tucked inside the ark. 40 days Jesus fasted to prepare for his meeting with the current administrator of this planet. Jesus won that battle. And he has also won the war. Jesus is our ark. Within him we are safe from the floods of life and from the lies of the enemy. Within Christ is our victory.

Troubles are certain in this life. No amount of money, good connections, or wile can avoid them. I’d much rather walk through my troubles with the God of David at my side. He is our only real shield from the barbs of life. He is our glory, the lifter of our heads, our sustenance. Only in God is true salvation.