Sunshine or Stars

“No, you’ll never be alone, when darkness comes I’ll light the night with stars; hear my whispers in the dark.” ~Whispers In the Dark, Skillet

I’ve been realizing more and more that God isn’t here to make all our problems go away, but here to help us live a full life, and deal with the problems we face. I first started thinking about it when I read this quote from Donald Miller (A Million Miles in a Thousand Years):

“Growing up in church, we were taught that Jesus was the answer to all our problems. We were taught that there was a circle-shaped hole in our heart and that we had tried to fill it with the square pegs of sex, drugs, and rock and roll; but only the circle peg of Jesus could fill our hole. I became a Christian based, in part, on this promise, but the hole never really went away. To be sure, I like Jesus, and I still follow him, but the idea that Jesus will make everything better is a lie. It’s basically biblical theology translated into the language of infomercials.”

Jesus said to come for Him for, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” He never said that all our problems would go away, or that it will always be day time, or that our burden would be lifted; but when the night comes He will light it with starts, or when we have burdens He will be there to help us carry them. I think sometimes our problem as Christians is that we think Jesus died to take our problems, instead of our sins, or that when we are washed from our sins, we think we are washed from all our problems and that life will be blue skies from now on. So when there difficulties show up in life we second guess ourselves, “What did we do wrong in our relationship with Him?” or even second guess God, “Why has He left me?” or “Why isn’t He fixing this, I’ve prayed hard enough!” I started to realize all the expectations I had put on God.

But what was hardest for me to grasp, though, is that the same goes for “inside problems” as well. For me I always expected outside troubles and hardships, but thought that life inside would be smoother sailing. But that’s not the case. When I would have character issues, or when God would show me things about myself, I would expect them to change. like that. But I have begun realize that there will always be a battle, and it’s inside and out.

There won’t always be sunshine, but when there isn’t He will provide the stars!