Friends,
Meet my MOMs Together and Mom Initiative colleague, Lindsey Bell. Lindsey knows what it is like to have a struggle and to feel as if God isn't fixing it. Have you felt that way? I know I have. Lindsey's post is hope-filled and encouraging especially for those times you need to come out swinging instead of surrendering. YOU will love her words--especially if you feel beaten down in your circumstances. At the end of this article Lindsey is doing a big give-away in celebration of her book, Unbeaten, being released! Check it out. ~Lori
Meet my MOMs Together and Mom Initiative colleague, Lindsey Bell. Lindsey knows what it is like to have a struggle and to feel as if God isn't fixing it. Have you felt that way? I know I have. Lindsey's post is hope-filled and encouraging especially for those times you need to come out swinging instead of surrendering. YOU will love her words--especially if you feel beaten down in your circumstances. At the end of this article Lindsey is doing a big give-away in celebration of her book, Unbeaten, being released! Check it out. ~Lori
When God Doesn’t
Fix Your Problem
What if God doesn’t fix your
problem?
Of
course, I hope He does. I hope He heals your body, provides a spouse, grants
you the child you long for, provides a job, or whatever it is you want Him to
do. But what if He doesn’t? What if, for whatever reason, God chooses not to
heal your body?
It’s one thing to trust God when
He answers your prayers; it’s a whole different story to trust Him when He says
no or doesn’t say a thing at all. Will you remain faithful even if your
greatest fears come to pass?
This
is the question Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego each had to answer.
If God
didn’t save them, would they still follow Him?
Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar. Their story is
recorded in Daniel 3. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered the citizens of his kingdom
to bow down to a golden image he had created. Anyone who refused would be
thrown into a fiery furnace.
Most
of the people living in Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom obeyed. They didn’t want to
face the rage of a man who was known for being hasty with his sword. Three men,
however, refused to bow their faces to the ground in front of an idol.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego believed God could save them from the hands of
Nebuchadnezzar and from the fire.
These
men standing up to the king who held their lives in his hands is amazing in
itself. Even more amazing, though, is that these men realized God might not
save them — and were okay with that! Even if God does not save us, they said to
the king, we will not serve your gods (Daniel 3:18).
Impressive
faith, huh? Because of this bold proclamation, I expected God to save the men.
If I had been He, I certainly would have. With a speech like that, these men
deserved to avoid the heat. Apparently, though, God didn’t see it that way.
God
didn’t prevent their fire, but saved through it instead. Isaiah 43:2 says...
“When
you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the
rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will
not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”
Nebuchadnezzar
ordered the fire heated seven times hotter than usual. Then he had the three
men bound and thrown in. The furnace was so hot it killed the soldiers.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in contrast, weren’t harmed at all. The flames
did not singe their hair, and the text says they didn’t even smell like smoke.
When
Nebuchadnezzar saw the men walking around in the fire that killed his soldiers,
he jumped to his feet and said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the
fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
(Daniel 3:25)
God didn’t prevent Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego from being thrown into the fire. What He did instead was
join them in it.
That
might be what He does for us too. He might not prevent the fire, but He will
join us in it.
He’ll
walk with us on the hot coals and make sure not one hair on our heads gets
singed. He’ll make sure when we leave the fire, there’s not even a smoke smell
lingering on our clothes.
This post contains an excerpt from Unbeaten: How
Biblical Heroes Rose Above Their Pain (and you can too) by Lindsey Bell
(CrossRiver Media). Used by permission.
This post is part of Lindsey’s blog tour to celebrate her new Bible
study and devotional, Unbeaten: How Biblical Heroes Rose Above Their Pain (and
you can too).
To celebrate her book, she’s giving away a HUGE bundle of books! Leave
a comment on this post to be entered to win. You can get more entries by
commenting on other blogs in the tour as well. Get a full list of participating
blogs here.
About Unbeaten:
Why does life have to be so hard?
Difficult times often leave Christians searching the Bible for
answers to the most difficult questions — Does God hear me when I pray? Why
isn’t He doing anything? Does He even care?
In Unbeaten, author Lindsey Bell shares the stories of
biblical figures who went through tough times. Through this 10-week Bible study
and devotional, she reminds readers that while life brings trials, faith brings
victory. And when we rely on God for the strength to get us through, we can
emerge Unbeaten.
About Lindsey Bell:
Lindsey Bell is the
author of Unbeaten: How Biblical Heroes Rose Above Their Pain (and you can
too). She’s also the author
of the parenting devotional, Searching for Sanity.
She’s a stay-at-home mother of two silly boys, a minister’s wife, an avid
reader, and a lover of all things chocolate. Lindsey writes weekly at www.lindseymbell.com about faith, family, and learning to love the life she’s been
given.
