We are seeds planted in the garden of life; our trials and tribulations, everything we have fought for, are for the benefit of others. The conflicts and hardships that we have endured produce changes for the better that others will enjoy. The rough, rocky, and narrow roads that we have traveled will create bridges of safety and paths of comfort for future generations.
Conflict produces character. God allows trials and conflict in our lives to shape us and mold us. He never gives us more than we can handle. He gives us experience in our walk so that we can help others out from the same situations we were once in. As we grow, the people around us begin to notice the changes. We can share with them the experiences we have been through and they are inspired by our perseverance through conflict.
Conflict at the time we are going through it, is not pleasant. We may feel alone, isolated, and uncomfortable, as if nobody seems to understand what we are enduring at the moment. We may feel hopeless at times, as if this current situation will never end; I will never get out of this hole, I am alienated in a prison cell, everyone around me hates me for no reason at all. God, where are you?
Conflict can be harsh treatment from a misunderstanding. People do not understand you, so they label you and spread a bunch of gossip about you. You have been hurt in your past and you still have wounds on your soul. Sometimes your wounds bleed, coming to the surface in a way that causes others to sense something wrong in you; but they do not understand you so they label you and spread some gossip around. Then they alienate you and treat you like a leper. Many people who experience this end up being left to their own demise and they eventually self-destruct. God wants to use our experiences through conflict to help save these people from self-destruction.
Conflict is a road map through a trial. As you go through that trial, you are gaining experience on how to deal with the particular situation, and you can share your experience in dealing with it so that others will be able to overcome. Conflicts can cause tears; but with patient endurance, someday those tears will not have been shed in vain. Experiencing conflict produces tools that people can use to their benefit.
Inner conflicts will weigh you down if they are not dealt with. Inner conflicts can make your life a mess as it stirs up some baggage within you. It is unraveling the bad so that it can be replaced with good. God uses conflict to build character in us and remove sin. Isaiah 1:25, 26 reads “I will turn my hand against you, and thoroughly purge away your dross, and take away all your alloy………Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city”. Just as the dross rises to the top of silver, refining it, so God uses trials and conflict in our lives to purify us, purge us, and use us for his glory.
God has a unique plan for each and every person he has created. He calls us out of our old ways to prepare us to be used for something new – His plan for our lives. In the book of Isaiah, God declares that in the midst of conflict he shall provide comfort for his people. “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it will spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.......because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise.”
Praise God for conflict! It seems strange to think this way at first, but as you begin trusting in God, it only makes sense to be thankful that God has you in his hand. He uses conflict to mold us and shape us. And how much better the experience would be if we willingly surrendered to him instead if trying to fight it! God loves us very much and he loves us just the way we are, but he does not leave us in the condition we were in when he found us. No, he has something better for us, and he uses conflict to perfect and complete us. He wants to make us more like Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment