Problems are a way of life. Everybody has them; even those who seem to have it all. Better to choose for our problems through obedience. Better to choose our problems than to have them chosen for us.
When we choose for our problems we don’t take some masochistic delight in them, but we’re mature enough to accept there will always be something to worry about.
By choosing to embrace our problems we emulate Jesus when he embraced the pain and humiliation of the cross.
The Truth of Problems
Due to the nature of our thinking, feeling selves, we have this underpinning predilection for maintaining our mental, emotional, and spiritual homoeostasis. We seek control.
We have the inbuilt desire to be happy or problem-free. It’s a rare individual who takes strange amusement in embracing their problems, though nearly all of us will feign the false capacity to bear well under pressure.
So, against the grain of wanting to control our worlds comes the inevitable problem, or series of problems. And they will always come, whilst we live in a quavering world.
The Other Side of the Truth
There is another truth that we don’t see half as obviously.
The other side of the truth of problems is there are always options regarding our perception of them, and our response to them.
We can see them as things disturbing our equilibrium and troubling our focus. Or, we can see them as opportunities, bright with God’s promises.
The first response, where we commonly see the hindrance value in our problems, creates the potential for further problems. Our mood, for instance, may be altered, which in turn might compromise important relationships. Such an unbalanced view of life might upset some, and some may feel inclined to rescue us. Others could have little sympathy, and their perceptions of us sour.
Emotional responses beget emotional responses.
The second response is much better. Sitting atop the water, with a firm under-keel in spite of the undercurrent, means the lapping waves breaking against the hull do little to impinge the buoyancy of our craft.
Achieving such buoyancy in life is enabled through the practice of choosing for our problems, actively anticipating them, and being entirely prepared to deal with them. That, also, is faith—trusting that things will work out if we continue to contend stoically.
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God has set a secret in each of our hearts. We will not be happy until we find it. That secret is the victory seed. And the way to access this precious seed—that will grow our lives—is through our problems. This is why problems are the anointing of opportunity.
Is that victory seed being nurtured so fruit will flower within us?
Our problems have a Divine purpose. They are what make our victory seed germinate. Only through our problems will we experience the exhilaration of eventual victory.
© 2011 S. J. Wickham.
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