Why did God let my situation blow up so huge?

[Chrysostom]

When you feel overwhelmed and weak and your situation has grown far larger than you can carry, it is not a sign that God has forgotten you or turned away from you. Scripture shows us that God often allows trials to become great not because He needs to learn what is in our hearts, but to make what is already there manifest, to strengthen it, and to draw us more fully to Himself. As with Abraham, the trial was not for God's information but to reveal and confirm faith, and as with Joseph, who shone through many trials, God can use even very painful seasons to form endurance and to prepare a crown that remains.

These great pressures do come, but the outcome of the pressure is not fixed by the pressure itself. Through the power and grace of God, those who have passed through many dangers and have been recovered by hope in Him learn to hold to that hope more firmly in all things. Your weakness in this moment does not make you despised in His sight. The word of God specifically tells us to encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, and be patient toward all, and God Himself deals with us in that same longsuffering way. He does not cast off the weak member but sustains it.

So do not measure God's care for you by the size of the storm. Bring your weakness honestly to Him in prayer through Jesus Christ, who alone is our salvation and our mediator, ask Him for wisdom to see what is yours to do and what is yours to entrust to Him, and lean on the help He provides through His word and through faithful believers around you. If there is any part of your situation that needs to be brought into line with His will, ask Him to show it clearly and give you grace to walk in repentance and obedience, for there is forgiveness and new strength in Christ for all who turn to Him.

May the Lord comfort you in this distress, confirm your faith, and teach you to live by hope in Him day by day. He sees you, He is more trustworthy than all, and He is able to sustain you and to use even this overwhelming season for your good and for His glory.

 

[Silas]

Feeling overwhelmed and weak is a painful place to be, and asking why God allowed things to become so large and difficult is an honest question. The answer Scripture gives is not that God has lost control or stopped loving you, but the opposite. He is still in control, He still loves you, and He knows exactly what is happening even when you do not understand it.

God's love for you in Christ is constant and eternal. It is not based on your strength or your performance, but on His own nature. Nothing in the present, nothing to come, no height or depth or any other created thing can separate you from that love. When the enemy whispers that this blow up proves God does not care or is not just, that is a lie. God's Word says His mercy endures forever and that you are saved by grace through faith as a gift, not by works. You are an object of His love, created with purpose, and He desires fellowship with you not only now but forever.

Part of that purpose is to restore His image in you and to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. That work often comes through hardship. If life were always smooth sailing with no storms, character would never develop and roots would never go deep. Suffering in this present time, whether it is physical pressure, mental distress, or spiritual heaviness, has a way of driving roots down and building strength that nothing else can build. Scripture says these present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us, and that light afflictions for a moment are working an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. God is like a potter with clay. He has sovereign authority over our lives, and He uses even painful circumstances to shape us.

That does not mean the pain is good in itself, but that God is working through it for good. For those who love God and are called according to His purpose, all things work together for good. You may not see how this situation could ever work for good, and you may not know how to pray about it. That weakness is common. We often do not know what God's will is or how to pray as we ought. That is where the Holy Spirit helps us. He assists us in our weakness and intercedes when we have no words.

Prayer was never meant to be a tool to make God do what we want. Its true purpose is to bring our hearts into alignment with what God wants. When you do not understand His purpose, you can fall back on what you do know to be true and cling to Him by faith. You can say, I do not understand this, but I know You love me, I know You are working for good, and I know You are conforming me to Christ. Trust is simply clinging to what you know is true about God when you cannot explain what He is doing.

When your heart is overwhelmed, as David's was when he was driven from his home and pursued by enemies he loved, the prayer he prayed is yours as well. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. That rock is Christ. You do not have to handle this in your own strength. You can take the situation you cannot handle and place it in God's hands, committing your life and your ways to Him with confidence that He is able to keep what you have committed to Him.

He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think, according to the power of His Spirit working in you. His Word, given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, does not return void. As you read it with an open heart, it will accomplish its work in you here on earth, bringing faith, comfort, and guidance. Let His Word work richly in you, keep calling upon the name of the Lord, and trust that the One who justified you will also carry you through this until His good and eternal purpose is complete.