God does not bring about those things we consider bad, but when we have opened ourselves for such things to occur, he is already there with a solution to heal the problem you have allowed to arise.

What is the point?

Copyright 2006 Riverdeep Interactive Learning Limited, and its licensors. All rights reserved.

"God does not bring about those things we consider bad, but when we have opened ourselves for such things to occur, he is already there with a solution to heal the problem you have allowed to arise."

Every day has the capacity to bring on a whole new world of peace and miracles...but often never seems to. Every day has the ability to be brand-new, totally forgiven from the day before and a wonderful new choice of walking forward where you never walked before...if only it would.

What is there to prevent you from deducing that the whole concept of spirituality is just a hoax to make you believe in false peace and false hope?

Because all things work together for good...and not just for those who love the Lord. God does not have favorites. All things work together for good.

God does not bring about those things we consider bad, but when we have opened ourselves for such things to occur, he is already there with a solution to heal the problem you have allowed to arise. God takes advantage of every situation we create, to provide a pathway back to healing and him.

A favorite modern parable I like is the one where a man is stranded on an island for a very long time. After doing all he could do to attract help, nothing worked. He prayed, he cried, he begged...and nothing seemed to make any difference.

One day while out looking for food, he saw smoke in the direction of a makeshift hut he had built. As he arrived back at his "home", the entire structure was ablaze, along with all the tools and devices he had made to help sustain himself. His heart just dropped. There was no crying, there was no sobbing...there was just nothing.

As he tried to sleep that night without his shelter, he could see no future and even contemplated ending the life that has brought such misery to him. His thoughts were awash with conflict..."What is the point? I tried so hard to be spiritual and peaceful...what is the point when the world just proves to you that you have been a fool and wasted your time. Not only have I wasted my time, but my belief that God would help me has allowed me ignore the world around me and now things are even worse than they would have been, had I not believed."

The morning came with a strange and almost feverish dream of clanging and distant echoes and a whir that repeated itself in an almost tormenting fashion. Quickly, his eyes open as it dawns on him that the noises are outside his dream. His first gaze lands upon his hut, still smoldering...but then he sees the most wonderful thing ever to be in all the world...a hand. This hand reaches down to him and a voice says smoothly, but with authority, "Don't be afraid...I'm here to help you. Everything is fine now. You're going home."

As it turns out, a passing ship saw the smoke from the burning hut and came in closer to see what it's cause might be. The reality is that God does not do good or bad things for us...he helps bring about what is best for us. We can judge things to be terrible or bad, but God can and will work with it so that all things work together for good.

A perfectly spiritual response to the burning hut would have been an awareness that this will lead somewhere...that something good can and will come from it...to actually be thankful in the knowledge that God is not unaware of your situation. It's when things appear the darkest is when it's more evident that opportunities and choices are being set at your feet by God. We bring about the circumstances that enable the dark moments, but it is within these moments that we generally truly open up to being helped and it's in these moments that we often see and accept an answer that God has provided.

God's answers are always there and it's not necessary for him to allow things to get traumatic for us to learn and accept things, but often, trauma and conflict is the only thing that we initially accept. When the weight and misery of what we have taken on gets so unbearable, many of us finally turn to God and open up to receive from him the answer that was always available and just sitting there for us...waiting for us to be open to receive it.

The lesson or concept to embrace is that it's not necessary for things to get to a terrible place before you accept the answers that God has already provided. You can just choose to be open and choose to see that the circumstances in your life, no matter how good or bad they might appear to you, can all lead to a greater good...somehow...someway. It doesn't matter if you can fathom it or not. Actually, you have to accept that you can't fathom it. By accepting only as far as you can fathom, you are restricting God who can fathom far beyond anything we can imagine.

You are not alone. God is not unaware of your needs...real or just perceived. God sent the Holy Spirit to work in your life so that your life will improve and be healed. It is the purpose of the Holy Spirit to do everything and anything that will draw you towards the light, so be thankful for everything and you will then see the God in your situation and you will experience and receive the healing it provides.