God Is Your Solution, Not Your Problem

Have you ever thought that “without God life would be so much easier”? Or this one, “if God only would approve of this; I would be on my way”. You see, God does not respond to what we do; we have to choose to respond to what God

does. God is our Solution, not our problem!

He chastises or instructs us with His Word. He doesn’t cause our problems. He tells us, “If you do this, I’ll bless you. If you don’t do it, you open yourself up to the strategies of the enemy.” Deut 28:1-2,15. So, whose fault is it if we choose to do the wrong things and get in trouble? Ours. We made the choices.

When we get stuck in a hard place, sometimes it is hard for us to understand where the real problem lies. It is difficult for us to see that we are the ones who opened the door to our troubles. It is so much easier to think, God has missed it here. It’s called deception.

It’s also easy to look back at the Old Testament people and think, Adam, how could you have been so foolish as to not obey God? Israel, why did you keep refusing to listen to the prophets that were sent?

But we can be just as foolish. We let ourselves get out of the will of God through disobedience, and then when things don’t work for us and we struggle, we ask, “Lord, why did you let this happen to me? How come You’re not doing something to get me out of this?”

I’ll tell you something that will save you a lot of heartache: It is never God’s fault, and He is never your problem. You have to get that truth down in your heart before the hard times come. Then the next time pressure hits and satan tries to get you to blame God, you can refuse to bow your knee. You won’t budge, because you know beyond a shadow of doubt that God is never wrong.

You just say: “Lord, I don’t understand what is going on here. But I know that You haven’t missed it, because You are faithful. I believe I receive Your wisdom in this situation. Now, I am asking You, Lord, to show me what I need to do to establish victory.”

If you would read Jeremiah chapter 15 you would read that Jeremiah didn’t do that. As he sat there feeling sorry for himself, he began to accuse God; none of have ever done that right, but Jeremiah did!

He had to endure all kinds of abuse from the Israelites whenever he went to prophesy to them. He was appreciated by hardly anyone except God. Once the king secretly sent for Jeremiah at night and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?”

Jeremiah replied, “There is…thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon” Jer.37:17. That wasn’t the word the king wanted, but that was the word from the Lord that Jeremiah had. What else could Jeremiah do but speak it forth even though the king put him back in prison?

Throughout his ministry, Jeremiah was treated badly by his countrymen. In Jer 15:15 we see that he was feeling a little sorry for himself. He said, “O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.”

This was one of those “Lord, don’t You care?” kind of days for Jeremiah. You know that kind of day, when everything I going wrong and you feel like praying, “Lord, don’t you care about me? Don’t You care what they are saying? Don’t You care that this is happening?”

This is what God’s response was to him:
Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.

Jeremiah had to turn to the Lord. He had to get God’s Word straight into his heart. He had to quit putting that vile unbelief, accusing God for not caring enough or not seeing. That’s the same mistake that you and I must be careful not to make.

If anyone has missed it we have. God hasn’t missed it. He’s never wrong. He’s never late. He is always righteous and just. We should walk in such reverence of Him that we dare not even consider that He might be slack in His work.

At time you may have thought, I’m doing everything I can. I have even kept my confession right. I don’t know why this isn’t working for me. Why isn’t God doing something for me?

Then one day as you drive along in your car listening to a tape or something and the Word you are listening to drops into your heart. Suddenly, God lets you see what a weak job you’ve actually been doing and you just melt on the inside. You say, “Oh, God, forgive me Lord, I repent. I see now what I’ve been doing wrong. Forgive me for that. I repent.”

I know I am not the only one who has lived through that scenario! But I thank God that I did. I don’t want to get crosswire with God. I don’t want to be self-righteous, thinking I am right and God is missing it. But you don’t have to feel condemned about it. You are God’s child; He expects to have to correct us at times. He doesn’t hold that against us.

Just choose to be tenderhearted and quick to repent; it’s a choice! Don’t let anything get in between you and God.

This article is NOT an excerpt out of the book. Many times I take an excerpt out of a book and post it, but not this time. Although I didn’t read the book, I know it must be excellent. Billy Joe was my pastor for 6/7 years; he was the best and definitely my hero!