Seeing Backward

MIRROW LAKE post by Cosmo

Seeing Backward
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2, by Os Hillman

"O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed" (Ps 30:7).

It is often difficult to recognize the hand of God when we are in the midst of adversity. We often feel God has hidden His face from us. When the Lord takes us through deep valleys, there will be fruit from the deep valley that we cannot see. You must press into Him with all you have during this time.

God uses the deep valley to frame our lives to create a change in our nature, not just a change in habits. The depth and width of our valley is often an indicator of the level of calling and influence we will have on others in the future. Our adversity is not just for us, but others who will be in our future path of influence. This is not very comforting when you are in the middle of the valley, but know this is a truth in the Kingdom.

It is often years later when we discover the wisdom of God and why He intentionally led us through the dark valley. Life is often lived forward, but understood backward. It is not until we are down the road and we stand on the mountain looking back at through valley that we can appreciate the terrain God has allowed us to scale and the spiritual deposits He has made in our life while we were there. "He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light" (Job 12:22). When you begin to realize this, you sit back and breathe a sigh of relief because you know that God was in control all along. It didn't seem like it at the time, but He was.

Do you find yourself in the valley? Now is the time to fully trust Him to guide you to higher ground.

Today's Prayer

Dear Father in Heaven, You know how hard it is to see your children and families hurting when they do not communicate with you and one another, when they are self-centered, out of your will, and following the wrong paths. Maybe they get too busy to nourish the really important relationships in their lives. I pray right now for my own family, for all of the families around the world, for husbands and wives who have grown apart or are on the verge of divorce, for children who are rebellious and angry, for parents who are too busy and irritated, for those who are bitter or hurt.

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Heavenly Father, please reach down and tug on their hearts, speak to their minds, and show them the way. I pray that the root of their problems will be exposed and that through the Holy Spirit, through Your Word, through a caring friend or a concerned Christian, or whatever way you know is best, that you will turn around those lives that are headed the wrong direction and put them back together. I pray that these families will become healthy, happy, God-honoring, communicating and loving families. And God, for the families that are doing well, I pray that you would protect them from the evil one; surround them with guardian angels; and keep that family under your wings of love and guidance. Thank you, in Jesus' precious name, Amen.