He does it because He knows me

 “Much-Afraid trembled and looked at him shamefacedly. ‘I don’t think –I want- hinds' feet, if it means I have to go on a path like that,’ she said slowly and painfully. 

“The Shepherd was a very surprising person. Instead of looking either disappointed or disapproving, he actually laughed again. ‘Oh, yes you do,’ he said cheerfully. ‘I know you better than you know yourself, Much-Afraid. You want it very much indeed...’” (Hind’s Feet on High Places, by Hannah Hurnard)  

It’s amazing to me how deeply and intimately God knows us. I feel like this conversation (and many others in this book) have happened between me and God.  

He brings me places I do not want to go, but only because I have earnestly asked for the end-result that He is after.  

He knew it wouldn’t happen any other way, so He brought me this way.  

He loves me enough to answer the prayers I prayed that were from the depths of my being –prayers He Himself planted there.  

He loves me enough to go against the temporary desires, the fleeting ones that make me forget my eternal ones.

But then, when He answers it, I find myself on uncomfortable ground.  

The flesh fights hard against the discomfort.  

I can’t see that He is working in the very thing I am fighting against to give me His dearest treasures –treasures I myself have asked Him for, treasures He longs to give me.  

But that is exactly what He is doing.  

“For You look deep within the mind and heart, O righteous God.” (Psalm 7:9)

 

He is acting according to what He sees there. The things He knows about us. 

He is giving us the gifts we asked for.  

In the fire, dross is removed, and we are transformed into pure gold.  

In the flood waters, filth is being washed away. 

In challenges, weakness is being filled with His immeasurable strength. 

In injury and pain, we are given the chance to know His healing touch. 

In seasons of loneliness, we can experience Him as our most intimate Friend.  

Sometimes He must break us down so He can build us stronger in Hi
s strength.

And in all of this, He grows in us His heart of immeasurable love and compassion for others around us. 

Trials and challenges are never just there to make us suffer. They are His means of giving us true life -life which we ourselves deeply desire.

Look up, child of God. If you’re in the fire right now, your Heavenly Father might just be giving you an eternal gift that you have long desired but never knew how to attain. 

“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’...” (2 Cor 12:9)