GOSPEL MESSAGE & RECORDING
It’s hard to imagine that in every situation in life, God is there. Seeing God in everything seems like a good catch phrase or a good quote on a coffee mug; and we are far from that reality when we face extreme challenges in life. We may be Orthodox Christian, prayerful, diligent in fasting, regularly attending Qurbana, and having a good relationship with God, but when life doesn’t go the way that we expected, it’s hard to see God in it. We might not be experiencing anything dramatic in life at present. In fact, we might be enjoying life right now. That is, having good moments with our family, enjoying our career, and being happy about our established life-style. Some of us are experiencing moments in life where it is not too dramatic, not too physically or emotionally exhausting, but at the same time there is worry, a concern that that persists. On the other hand, we might not be experiencing anything at all - just life in general - job, work, family, nothing extraordinary. Whatever our situation may be, or whatever we are experiencing--God is there. Even if we don’t see Him, he is there. From the greatest of trials to the daily mundane experiences, God is there. St. Paul talks about this in his epistle today.
“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4: 11-13) Without exception we always hear verse 13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” in isolation. Rarely, or never, do we hear verse 13 with verses 11 and 12. Of course, verse 13, even if read in isolation, is true in every way. But without the context of verse 11 and 12, we will not be able to fully understand what verse 13 means.
In order for us to come to the realization that we can do “all things through Christ who strengthens us,” we must accept that the trials and tribulations of life, the joy and happiness, the small and the big, the regular and the extraordinary are God’s plan for our life. This is extremely hard to accept; however, I would like to offer some ways that we can get closer to accepting it in our lives.
TRUST THAT GOD IS WORKING FOR YOU - NOT AGAINST YOU!
God, by His very nature, cannot be the author of evil. He is by nature good. He cannot orchestra anything bad in our lives. What has happened to us, or what is happening to us, is there because we live in a fallen world. God does, however, allow us to experience difficulty so that we can grow.
We probably grew up with a belief that God is a God who punishes. Our parents may have said that God will punish us if we do something bad. This has stayed in our mind. But it is a total lie. Through Christ, God is for us. He will never leave us or forsake us.LOVE GOD IN THE BAD TIMES AND THE GOOD TIMES!
St. Paul compares how it is to be full and hungry, to abound or to suffer need. It might be the case for all of us here today that we have gone through good times and bad times. It’s because we have to. Life is not life without both. It’s when we learn to love God in everything that we go through, that we develop a true relationship with Him. Think about it in terms of marriage. Do we love our spouse only when things are going well? I hope not! In a true marriage there is love in the good and bad times. And in both times, we learn to grow as husband and wife.PRAISE GOD ALL THE TIME!
It’s hard to praise God when things are going wrong in our lives. I also think it’s hard to praise Him when things are going well. If things are going wrong, praise is probably the last thing we are thinking about. When things are going well, we tend to forget to praise God.THANK GOD EVERYDAY!
Just like we forget to praise God, we also forget to thank Him. We may at times thank God for our blessings. But do we thank him for the setbacks and difficulties that happen? Next time we face hardship, maybe we can say, “Thank you Lord for this difficulty, for I know that you will use it for my good and for the glory of Your Name.