There Is A Reason

“For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.” (De 32:47 AV)

The thing to which the LORD is referring is the experiences Israel is having while wandering in the wilderness.  The hardships of their pilgrimage are actually their saving grace.  We have to remember they have come from a situation of bondage where their captors took care of their basic needs.  Egypt supplied food, shelter, and protection from enemies.  In turn, Israel supplied hard labor to build their cities and pyramids.  Sort of like where our nation is quickly headed.  Once the populace is controlled by the benefits of the government, the government will collect their due!  But I digress.  Israel is now free.  They had not been free for over four hundred years.  This was new to them.  They had to learn how to become a strong nation.  This can only be learned through hardships and trials.  Through crisis, they were made stronger.  They had to learn hard things because their future required them to do hard things.  Therefore, what seemed to be pointless was not.  The future would tell the story of why the LORD had them suffer in the present.  It was for their own good and purpose in life

This reminds me of the movie Karate Kid.  Remember that one?  The movie was about a young man who wanted to learn the martial arts.  He could not afford to go to a school, and the school he wished to attend wouldn’t accept him.  So, he lived with an older oriental man who was a grand master in the martial arts.  In exchange for serving as his house boy, the master promised to teach the young student the art of Karate.  Mixed into the storyline was a constant theme of, what seemed to be, pointless chores required of the young man.  One of those chores was to daily wash and wax the master’s car.  How often does one need their car washed, anyway?  Not daily.  There were other chores this young man performed as well.  But it was this car-washing chore that most moviegoers remember to this day. Why?  Because this young man had finally had enough.  He was not learning any karate and it seemed as though all he was doing was chores.  He finally snapped.  He vented his frustration at the master and complained that he was being used.  All he did was chores and he hadn’t had one karate lesson.  The master took the young man into his studio and commanded he block the thrusts of the old man’s hands.  This he did instinctively.  Then the old man said, “Wax on, Wax off”.  What the young man did not realize is that through the hardships of labor, he was actually building muscle memory which would translate into his stated goal of learning the martial arts.

It is hard to endure tough times when we cannot see the purpose behind it.  This is the time to give the LORD the benefit of the doubt.  He has a plan. He knows where He wants us to go and what it will take for us to get there.  He knows the experiences we need.  He knows the training we must strive to complete.  There is a plan.  There is a purpose.  There is nothing we will go through which is not part of God’s strategy.  There is no fate.  There is no change.  There are no random events of life that happen in and of their own design.  It is all part of what God desires from the life He created and granted to us by the wonders of His grace.  Most of the time, we cannot see the purpose.  Sometimes we can.  Most of the time, we do not.  Faith is necessary to navigate through times of life that are unbearable.  God does not owe us an answer.  He does not owe us an explanation.  He almost always gives one, but we are not entitled to it.  Simple trust and obedience are all that is required.  Doing so with gratitude knowing it will someday make sense is the way to please the LORD.  It is not in vain.  It does have a purpose.  Yielding to the circumstances of our divine appointment and seeking ways to use it for the glory of God is the best way to transverse our time on this planet.  Otherwise, we will be full of questions that may not have answers and misery over lack of comfort.  It is not in vain.