About 2-3 weeks ago I released the topic "Where is God when we need Him most?" in which we talked about how for those who love and honor God, all things work together for the better even when we don't quite see it; even when all points to the fact that God has "forgotten" us. Ironically for me, literally within 1-2 days from this incident, a situation happened at home with my family which greatly upset me and made me very angry towards God. This, mainly, because the situation revolved around something that I have been praying about to God for decades. Something I've felt God, many years later, has not yet answered. Anyhow, I got angry to the point where I did not wanted to talk to God, read about Him, or even felt comfortable just praying. Definitely not proud of myself for taking such an action but... well, I guess as humans we all have the right to fail when tests start coming in. I definitely failed mine.
The situation I was in made me think about all those moments in which biblical characters or groups of people actually got upset towards God and how God, in time, answered them. For instance, Job, Jonas, Moses, and the people of Israel (among others...). It took me about 1.5-2 weeks before I felt like I really wanted to be back in 'good terms' with God. I really felt I missed His companionship and presence so I went back on my knees. As always and as most of us have felt often times during prayer, I felt that I had committed such a great sin that I did not deserved God's attention... I felt I was not being heard and that my prayer barely made it past my roof. Confused and in "spiritual pain" I decided to ask God for one single 'proof' that He was listening to me. I asked that if He was indeed there with me, He should give me a new topic to talk about during my next post/video. I kid you not... about 20 minutes later, the following Bible portion came to my mind:
"And He said, 'Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father'. From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, 'Do you also want to go away?' But Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'" - John 6:65-69
Right away, within 20 minutes God had answered me... I had my short, yet, important topic to discuss in mind. I felt: (1) that God talked to me directly and (2) that this was the topic I should talk about in my next post (this one). See, as upset as I got, as frustrated as I got... where was I going to go? To whom was I going to go? There's no place I'd rather be than next to Jesus, there's no better feeling for me than knowing that God and myself are in 'good-terms', there's nothing that this world can offer that can fill my life up as God can. I completely understood what Peter was saying to Jesus in that verse because that's exactly how I felt at the moment. Serving Jesus has, is, and will forever be a pleasure to me and by me being 'upset' at Him, I was going to solve nothing.
While reflecting on my own lesson, it also came to me the fact that God had made a promise to the people of Israel; He promised He was going to lead them into the promised land. When reading the story of the people of Israel in the Old Testament, is not hard to understand that despite their complaints, rudeness, and 'angry-ness' towards God... God kept His promise and eventually led them into the land. They definitely had hardships, lessons to learn, they did "suffer" to some extent... but it was all God molding their characters and attitudes and leading them into the land He has promised them. That's the God that I worship!!!
God does NOT promises that His followers will have a "peaches n' cream" life on earth, He does NOT promises that all will always be good, he does NOT promises that we'll never endure pain and hardships... what He DOES promise is that He will make everything work for the best in our lives.
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28
He promises that if we allow Him to do so, He will fulfill His plan in our lives and make us full and complete again. He promises that He will help us endure the hardships and most importantly, that one day He'll bring justice about the world and reward us His people with eternal life next to Him. So going back to our original question... "To whom shall we go?"... well, to nobody but Jesus. In the end, all of us find a purpose and life-long peace in Him. There's nothing or no one else that can fill the void He can.
Thank you so much for being with us here today, God bless you and until next one!
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