I started this century with months in a wheelchair after undergoing hip replacement surgeries and bone grafting. People were so supportive and caring. A day never went by that someone didn’t ask, “How are you doing under the circumstances?”
Seven years ago this week, I was diagnosed with cancer. I praise God that it was discovered in early stages. After surgery and a few days with a radiation implant I was on my way to a speedy recovery. People in my life were very supportive. Concerned friends and acquaintances always wanted to make sure I was doing okay physically, emotionally and spiritually, under the circumstances.
Five years ago I was laid off from my day job. I prayed that freelance writing and speaking would meet every financial need that I had, but at that time, it seemed impossible. I prayed for God to open another door, according to His purpose. Again, our friends were concerned and asking how we were doing, under the circumstances.
Today I walk. Today I am cancer free. Today God blesses my life with His provision so that I may work for Him.
We all experience circumstances in our life. Often, through no fault of our own, life hands us one circumstance after the other until we are treading water barely able to keep from being swallowed by turbulent tides.
Many would say that, as believers, we have a life preserver for the times when we feel like we cannot tread water for another moment. When our circumstances have overtaken the depths of our soul we can cry out to God for help and He will be there. Under the circumstances we will be okay, if we just have faith.
There is a sweet assurance in that idea. However, I don’t believe that it is the way God intended our faith to be exercised. When we wait until we are drowning to call out to God our faith is used as an insurance policy. Not just fire insurance, but flood insurance.
If we look at Romans chapter 8, verses 35 through 39 we find that our circumstances are opportunities for us to display the conquering power of Jesus Christ, through our faith.
35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, "For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NAS)
I have not personally experienced the persecution that was present for Christians in Rome
No matter how things have looked from the outside, every circumstance I have been through has been used for the Glory of God if it was given to Him, for His purpose, from the beginning. Each time I have learned invaluable lessons. Every victory strengthened my faith and fervor for the Lord. Through each triumph has come opportunity to reach out to people I would have never been able to understand without the circumstance I walked through.
The times in my life, and there have been several, when my circumstances swallowed me were the times that I kept trying to cope with my circumstances or try to fix things myself. Spiritual bruising happened every time. I was riding my circumstance like a bull, trying to make the 8 second buzzer. And, like the cowboy who holds on after he is in trouble, I have gotten tangled in the rope and been beaten more severely than if I had just let go. It took me years to realize that we are not called as believers to live under our circumstances or to fix situations on our own.
What if Christ would have been swallowed by His circumstances? Defeat looked absolutely imminent from Golgotha , yet we know that He reigns victorious. What if the circumstances of the cross would have been the end? What if Christ would have waited until He could no longer “fix” things to cry out to God? Even as the divine Son of God He had free will and could have refused to complete the plan.
The reason that Christ could take every step through His circumstances was that He knew from the beginning that whatever He would endure was for the Glory of the Father and the salvation of the creation that He loved. He knew that everything meant for evil would be used for good when it was done with a pure heart, giving all honor to God. He did not walk to Calvary under the circumstances of the cross. He walked to Calvary knowing that He was born of God, and would be victorious.
1 John 5:4 & 5 says, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (NAS)
As believers we are born of God. We are called to walk victoriously through every trial that comes our way; not to be under our circumstances, not in spite of our circumstances.
We are called to live each day, each hour, and each minute by faith, knowing that no matter what we may be going through God will use it for His Glory and our good when we give it to Him completely. The victory in our lives is what shines as a beacon to the rest of creation, telling them the good news of the resurrection plan. By overcoming the world and every circumstance in it, in the name of Jesus, we rise again, with Him.
** This article was oringinally written before the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We are all shocked by the horrific scenes and the life threatening conditions. Truly many thousands will not survive this disaster. Under their circumstances seems like an understatement. But, God will use even this disaster if people hand Him their broken pieces an allow His will to prevail in their lifes.
I pray mostly for those who do not know the Lord Jesus. The thought of those who did not accept Christ’s offer of salvation is heartbreaking in these situations. Please keep the families of those lost, and the people who are still displaced, injured or sick in your prayers. I don’t know how I would have survived anything in my life without the Lord and the prayers on my behalf, and my circumstances are trivial by comparison.
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