When we are grasping for lifelines, when we are in tears, when we feel that our lives are unraveling, in those very moments when we most need the Lord to intervene and change our lives the most dramatically we often make the statement "Take it away Lord!"  In the most difficult challenges of our lives we look to God and often ask Him to take it away, to erase the trial, to change the circumstance, or to take us out of it.  Yet, He most often chooses to leave it as it is, to leave us in it, to make us endure the trial.  We must therefore ask ourselves why He does this, because when the Lord does something there is a reason.

I asked God to do that for me in the midst of my trial, more then once, and I asked Him why He didn’t, why He made me endure it.  His answer every time was to stop asking Him to take it away and to start depending on Him for the strength I needed to endure it, and to allow Him to take away the fear I had that made me ask Him to remove it.   It is fear that forces us to ask Him to do this, because we fear we will not endure.  He was forcing me to depend on Him rather then on myself for what I needed to endure the trial.  He was answering the promises He had made to give me strength, comfort, peace, and shelter.  He was changing who I was while I was enduring the trial, He was changing me more then ever before during my walk with Him.  He was molding me into who He desired me to be.

So is He going to take us out of the trial or change the circumstances around us when we cry out desperately to Him in trial? Only if that is what will give Him the most glory. U sing every circumstance to mold us into the person He needs us to be, to do what He wants us to do for Him is what He chooses instead. Molding us is His desire.  As we become more and more like Him our fellowship with Him is more intimate. He died so that He would once again have fellowship with us. Why would He remove that which allows Him to mold us the most?  Molds us the most? Yes, admit it, trial molds us the most. At least I can admit that, for I know that in the years I have faced my trial with the Lord I have learned more about the Lord and His desires for my life then in all the years I walked with Him previous to that.  As a result of that my relationship with Him is more intimate, and that is His desire.

So the Lord chooses not to remove us from trial in order to mold us, to teach us, to show us how He works in our lives, so that we will depend on Him so that our level of intimacy with Him will increase immeasurably.  I know that the Lord is molding me in the midst of trial, that He is fulfilling His promises while doing that, and that He so desires to have fellowship with me that He died to gain that.  I am certainly not going to squander that, I am going to lay myself upon God’s Anvil and allow Him to make me more and more like Him every day so that my fellowship with Him can become more intimate. For I know that as that fellowship gains intimacy I gain more insight into who my Lord is, what He desires of me, and how I can fulfill that. After all, pleasing Him is my most ultimate desire.

I have to be honest, there have been times the weight of my trials have just brought me to tears before God. What about you? If we are all honest we can likely say yes.  Then there are those times we refuse to cry because perseverance is the ability to withstand the pressure of a trial and remain strong under it.  Is that really the truth however?

Have you ever thought about that question?  What perseverance isn’t.  It isn’t faking, it isn’t putting on a mask and pretending.  It isn’t a vain attempt at pretending we are capable of holding up under pressure and stress while we are collapsing on the inside, unable to ask for help in an honest way even before God.  What?  If we are not honest about the pressure, honest about what it is doing to us, then we will not be honest about the need for help.  If that is the case, then the pressure continues to build because we have now put ourselves in the way of receiving the help we so desperately need.  Often it is us that needs to get out of the way so we can get what we need.

At the same time we need help, we block it from coming.  By making ourselves believe we are doing fine by lying to ourselves, and to others, we are the cause for our own suffering.  Yes the world can be cruel, it can be difficult, and it can be the source for trials.  However, there is available to us help, but if we do not allow ourselves to be honest we will not receive what we are need of.

This help, the Lord.  Yet He is not going to force upon us a solution we do not ask for, or a will we do not want to follow.  He has for us promises 0f comfort, peace, strength, shelter, and help.  Yet if we are not honest about our need, we are not going to accept what He is offering to help us for those needs.  It is much like the independent child refusing the needed help from the parent, when the parent knows they have what the child needs, and the parent knowing they cannon force the child to accept it.  God has what we need, but our refusal to be honest about our need blocks His ability to give it to us.  We need to get out of the way of the giving

What excuses might we use?  I am sure you have your own, I have had mine.  Our emotions can sometimes wreak havoc on our ability to admit our need.  Maybe you say I just don’t cry, I can’t cry it will show my weakness, I refuse to show my anger, I get too angry, I am depressed, I am overwhelmed with grief, I am burdened with sorrow, I am extremely lonely, or some other overwhelming feeling that you don’t know how to express.  Remember this–Christ felt every possible emotion you have ever felt when He walked this earth, only He felt it pure and unchanged by sin.  That means He understands that emotion even better then we do ourselves.  As well, the Lord created us with these emotions, so His understanding of them is perfect, so His help will be the perfect help we need in that moment.

What we must do is go to Him in honesty, with a full outpouring of our emotions and what we need.  He is listening, and wants to know our burdens.  He is not fooled by our masks and our attempts to hide our inner most thoughts, desires, and needs.  We must always go to Him honestly if we expect to gain the things that we need the most, for He has not only promised them, He desires to give them to us.  We must get out of the way of the giving.