Setbacks and Trials
SETBACKS
I hate to say but can safely say that everyone will have setbacks from time to time. Some are even devastating. I believe that bad things can happen to good people and when that happens we should be there to help not judge.
Some great people have said that they believe that everything that happens to you happens for a reason. They say that everything is God’s will and that He is in control and that we must trust Him and learn valuable lessons from our setbacks or trials. We must trust that He knows what’s best for us. They also say we should be grateful for everything.
I don’t know if they really mean and take what they are saying literally. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe everything happens for a reason, I believe that is a motivational myth. I believe bad things happen and they shouldn’t. We shouldn’t be grateful for everything, we should be grateful in everything. God doesn’t cause bad things to happen, but he can turn everything into good.
I don’t believe bad things come from God or the universe or from karma. The Lord’s Prayer says that we should pray that we would be delivered from evil, not into it. I think that the Earth is good and is full of His glory. I think karma is good and wants to reward us of the good we do. I think the universe is good and positive and sends us positive vibes. I believe God is good and kind and loving and is not mad at mankind but wants to bless and forgive and help all of us.
Religion may think He is an angry vengeful God, I don’t. Some may think of Him as a heartless judge I don’t. Some say he doesn’t like certain religions, or Nations, or types of people, I don’t,  I believe He loves all people and He forgives us of our mistakes, sins, faults and failures. No one is perfect and that is why we have setbacks, roadblocks, trials and even death.
Even the apostle Paul said that he was not yet perfect but strive for the mark and His high calling; he said he saw things in a glass darkly, blurred. The very word mortal means death doomed. We are doomed from the time of our birth. But the good news is we can choose what we do with our lives. We can choose our attitudes. We can choose how we react to our trials and setbacks.
The first step in handling the bad things that happen to you is to understand their origin. They don’t come from God. They don’t come from karma. They don’t come from some universal judgement to punish you. Think about the words Mother Nature and Our Father, as in the Lord’s Prayer, the sun, the moon, Spirit, wind, water, life and air. There is not a conspiracy against you. The universe is conspiring for you and to bless you. One of the definitions to the word conspiracy is; any concurrence in action; combination in bringing about a given result.
God, the universe, karma and all the angels are not conspiring against you, they are plotting for you. I believe in synchronicity. He may be judge to the world, God to religion but He is Father to me. Think of these sayings:
You gave your good Spirit to instruct them, your manna you did not withhold from their mouth, And You gave them water for their thirst. Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground. God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude. The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works. O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His loving kindness is everlasting. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God turned it for good.
And my two favorites and why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, and if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? If you then being human know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more
will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?
I can’t imagine a God giving someone death and cancer to teach someone a lesson. I can’t imagine a person doing it. If bad things don’t come from God, where do they come from? Some people believe in a devil. If you do don’t worry about him, the apostle James says resist the devil and he will flee from you in terror. Jesus said we have authority over him. The apostle John said his power is destroyed.
So where is all this bad stuff coming from if not from God or the devil? The apostle James said every good and perfect gift comes down from God, and then he said when we are tempted, do not say that came from God for He can neither be tempted nor does he tempt any one. Where do these test come from and why.
Some people misquote the apostle James and say the test and trials perfect our faith and that’s why God sends us test. “For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.â€
Test and trials don’t perfect us nor does the test and trials help us grow. It is not the tests that help us grow any more the barbell in the gym helps our muscles grow. It is our faith resisting the test that helps us grow. It is our muscles resisting the weights in the gym that help us to grow. A test is not from God to you, it is against you and God, resist it. It is not God’s will so resist it with your faith.
It is not the test or the trial or the setback that helps you grow spiritually, it is your strong faith resisting it. Another motivational myth here; what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Not true, what doesn’t kill you might make you weaker. What doesn’t kill you might make you wounded, it might make you bitter, hateful, angry, unforgiving, full of doubt, ungrateful, tired, broken, bankrupt spiritually and financially and then those things will kill you.
It is not the dumbbell in the gym that makes you stronger, it could kill you. If someone drops a three hundred pound weight on your throat that won’t make you stronger that will kill you. A test is something that is opposing your faith. A test or a trial or a setback or something bad is not in agreement with your faith, it is opposing your faith.
If you believe that God and the universe are good and on your side and that as the apostle Paul says God wants to bless you with His riches and goodness, and as the apostle John says He wants you to prosper even as your soul prospers and then you have a financial setback, that is your faith being tested. But if you believe in poverty and that you should be poor and that God wants you poor, when you have a financial setback, your faith is not being tested it is being confirmed,
If you believe in life, happiness, health, prosperity and that you have a divine purpose and then something happens to create a road block or a set back and you cannot go forward, your faith is being tested. Now you have a choice, you can let the test win or you can do as the apostle Paul did and fight the good fight of faith! You can become an over comer. You can choose to be the head and not the tail, the victor not the victim. The choice is yours what will you do? Resist and allow your faith to grow or let the trial defeat you or kill you or make you bitter and weaker and hinder you from reaching your goals or reaching your true potential?
A lot of bad stuff happens to really good people. A loss of a child is one of the worse. A loss of a spouse, divorce, bankruptcy, addiction, being put in prison, a child abducted or killed, accidents, horrible accidents, becoming disabled, being born disabled, ridiculed, persecuted, living in a country where the government causes great harm. Don’t let these things hinder you or kill you or cause you to give up hope. Even in death the apostle Paul says that death has lost its sting.
One of the first things we should be doing when it comes to setbacks is that we should be praying that God’s will, will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Pray that we will be delivered from evil. Then we need to make a solid choice stand strong in the midst of the storm and to continue to pursue our true purpose and life’s work. We need to keep our eye on our goal, on the mark and on our one true calling. Our one true purpose should be like a light house that we are fixed on and headed towards no matter the storm.