Trusting God when He Breaks Your Heart

{As I write these words to you on Trusting God when He Breaks Your Heart, I tread very cautiously, as I understand the great responsibility of speaking rightly and truthfully to you on the character of God. With much prayer and after months of working to write this article so that it speaks nothing more and nothing less than God declares in His word, I ask God to show you glorious truths about Himself and to reveal the knowledge of God to you in a deeper and more intimate way.}

Christians are often quick to be "nice" and "careful" to not blame God for the tragic and painful valleys in our lives. But in doing so, we're not always very accurate to maintain the integrity of His words about Himself. When our hearts are broken, our lives are devastated, and our dreams turned to grief and pain, we blame Satan, our enemies, or even "bad luck," but Christians often hesitate to credit God as the Author of their heartaches and sorrows.

Job says: "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

WE know from scripture that the end intended by the Lord was good and that God is good and merciful, but, from what we see in scripture, JOB never saw "behind the scenes" to the spiritual interactions in the heavenlies. He was called to trust God, but it doesn't seem that God reveals to Job during his earthly life the workings of Satan and the purposes of Job's sufferings (Job lost his animals, his fortune, his servants, all his children, and his health).

WHO does scripture say caused Job's sufferings: Satan or God?

Job 42:11, "[Job's brothers and sisters] consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the Lord had brought on him."

We read in Lamentations 3: "[God] bent His bow and set me as a target for the arrow. He made the arrows of His quiver to enter into my inward parts... He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust."

I've heard Christians encourage one another not to blame God in our times of deepest pain and miry pits of depression and struggle. We refer to God's "allowing" our struggles and pain (which is true), but we are careful not to assign too much "cause and effect" to God. We plead with others not to grow angry with God, and we say things like, "God must have thought you were strong to let you go through this," or "God won't give you more than you can handle," or Marilyn Monroe's "I believe that everything happens for a reason."

I disagree with those who extrapolate beyond that on which scripture is clear -- the Bible does not say that God created evil. God does only good, and His way is perfect. However, in dismissing erroneous theology, sometimes we throw out clear biblical truth in an effort to counter what we believe to be incorrect.

We oftentimes discount the fact that God is responsible for your pain and my pain. Nothing can get to you unless He allows and ordains it. He gives and takes away. He opens and closes. He kills and makes alive. He IS sovereign, and He IS perfect.

My beloved friend, if God "causes grief, then He will have compassion according to His abundant lovingkindness. For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the sons of men" (Lamentations 3:32-33). He is gracious, compassionate, and loving, and He's the only One on Whom you can cast your pain and struggle and heartache.

You need to take up your case with God.

Just as it was not given to Job to understand in this life why God brought this trouble on him, it is oftentimes not given to us to know why God brings pain and heartbreak into our lives. You may not know this side of heaven the purpose and meaning of the grief that God has brought upon you, but God HAS given to you to know that HE IS GOOD. He is compassionate. He is holy and right and just. He is full of lovingkindness. He is merciful. He loves you.

And God calls you to trust Him.

"Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."1 Peter 4:19

Receiving the pain and heartaches of my own life as bestowed by the hand of my Father has been incredibly difficult and very personally soul-wrenching. However, by KNOWING God and KNOWING His truth, I am free, and He is my peace.

I have wrestled with God, and God has blessed me.

Before I began blogging here at Bless Your Heart and Home, I wrote an article on what God has taught me about Himself through a particular trial I have dealt with during the last few years. While the article was written last fall the week after our second miscarriage, I offer it to you this week with much prayer and in the hope that the words and rawness of my grief and struggle during that time will lead you to the cross and to the only One who can bear your pain and heartache. I will be posting it here very soon.

"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." Job 13:15

With much love, amanda

Resources and Links

..A song for the brokenhearted: "Though You Slay Me," by Shane and Shane, and featuring John Piper.

..Yes, God Will Give You More than You Can Handle, by Michael Hidalgo at Relevant Magazine.

..When God Doesn't Make Sense, by Dr. James Dobson (an affiliate link to Dr. Dobson's book at amazon.com)

..When the Hurt Runs Deep, by Kay Arthur of Precept Ministries (an affiliate link to Kay Arthur's book at amazon.com)

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