Episode #178 Seeking God’s Wisdom about Difficulties and Difficult People – Know You from God’s Point of View

Hey friends. Do you have a difficulty in your life that you just can't seem to move past? Maybe it's a difficult circumstance or chronic pain that just lingers around. Maybe it's an obstacle or a struggle that you move past, but then it comes around again, or maybe you even have a difficult person in your life, a relationship that is just so hard to navigate and you don't know how to overcome it.

Well, if any of those apply to you, I'm so glad that you're here today because that is what we're talking about on today's episode of Good God Talks. And I want to bring this encouragement to you because especially when it comes to areas or relationships of difficulty, sometimes we can fill in the answers that we think God would say instead of actually asking him questions and waiting for his response. Now I see this in my own life when I look back at difficult circumstances, difficult relationships where I almost assume, well, of course God is going to say to love that person or to be more patient or to trust him or whatever.

Those things might be true. But that's not the full scope of who God is or how He engages with us. And sometimes I can beat myself up in a way that's not helpful. I have a friend, Stephanie Kelsey, who's a fantastic relationship and executive leader coach. And she talks about, that kind of pain as pom pom bruises. Basically you're beating yourself up or other people can beat us up with this like rah, rah, buck up perspective. And in doing so we can minimize the struggle that we're going through.

We can put burdens on ourselves. We can condemn ourselves or shame ourselves instead of simply acknowledging what we're going through and allowing ourselves to navigate them honestly so we can walk through them and receive more of what God has for us in them instead of just feeling like, man, I should just buck up and not feel this way.

And that's the same approach that I'm inviting us to take as we go into these conversations with God today, because God's perspective is so far beyond ours.

We can come to him boldly and with confidence as his kids, knowing that he plans for our good. And also with the awareness that the things that are incredibly hard, maybe even impossible for us are not difficult for God.
In Jeremiah 32:17 Jeremiah is praying and he's asking God for understanding and he says,

“Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:17)

We see this message reiterated actually in the beginning in Genesis, when God tells Abraham and Sarah that they're going to have a son. And in Genesis 18:14, it says,

“Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:14)

See these things that can plague us, that can weigh us down, they're not hard for God. But we don't need to jump ahead and assume what God wants to tell us about it and assume that he's going to give us pom pom bruises to buck up and try harder and believe better and be kinder.

We actually get to approach God and ask him genuine questions about what he wants to show us.

Maybe he wants to show you something about that person that you've never seen before. Even divine insight into things that are hard in their lives or in ways that you can approach them differently or reasons why their actions really push your buttons.

Maybe God wants to show you a path through the difficult circumstance or why it keeps popping up. Or give you an entirely different perspective of it all together.
I don't know what those things are. And the best part about this podcast is I don't need to know what those things are. By listening to these episodes, you're creating the space. You're engaging in this regular habit of asking God questions and anticipating his response.

And so don't fill in any of the answers you might assume for the Lord. He might tell you the exact same thing you're thinking he will. But don't rush off. Don't run ahead. Wait and listen for Him and see what He has to share with you today. And so here's our question:

God, what do You want to show me about this difficult person or difficult circumstance in my life?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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