In strength training, muscles are built by tearing them and then resting them. While they are resting, they are building stronger muscles because of the scar tissue that is being built around the tearing that has been done. Spiritual strength is similar – the bad times will create character as we apply God’s principles rather than reacting out of our flesh – not all bad times are bad! Have you ever had a time in your life that you thought was the worst – only to find out later that it was a very important growing time in your life? God can and will use anything if we let Him.
In 2 Kings 14 we read about a king that was not the best king Israel ever had but I was surprised by what God did through him:
“In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.”
The kings of Israel are always listed as having done right in the eyes of the Lord, or having done evil. And often the ones that are called “evil” are also referred to as making Israel sin. In this case – the king was called evil – and yet, in this dark time of having an evil king, God did what only God can do – He caused something good to come out of it. Right in the middle of bad leadership He restored land and He fulfilled a prophecy spoken by Jonah.
Maybe things look bad – maybe you are in the middle of the darkest part of your life. God is still capable of bringing to you restoration of loss and fulfilling His promises to you. Just because it seems bad, doesn’t mean that it handicaps God from doing something miraculous! And while He is doing something miraculous He is also building you some strong spiritual muscles. You are looking pretty amazing by the way!
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