Ever wonder why you are in your current situation, whatever it is?\u00a0 May be good…may be bad.\u00a0 Hard or difficult.\u00a0 Ever ask, “Why me?” as you think about your lot in life?\u00a0 I think it’s a common question we ask when things go wrong.\u00a0 “Why me, Lord?\u00a0 What did I do to deserve this?”\u00a0 Sometimes answers for that question are hard to come by.\u00a0 Simple answer, I guess, is “Why not?”\u00a0 I mean, what’s so special about any of us that should disqualify us from bad times?\u00a0 Jesus said He makes the sun to shine on and rain to fall on the evil and the good. (Matthew 5:45)<\/p>\n
Funny, though, we rarely ask the same question when things go well, as though we certainly deserve THAT.\u00a0 Yet, in the same way that bad things happen to all sorts of people, so do the good things….it’s just unmerited favor.\u00a0 There is nothing that we do to deserve those things.<\/p>\n
My question goes deeper:\u00a0 What are we going to DO with them…the circumstances, that is?\u00a0 Sometimes you ask someone how they are doing and they respond, “Well, under the circumstances, I’m doing pretty well.”\u00a0 I once heard someone retort, “What are you doing under<\/em> the circumstances?” The point is that, for those that are in Christ – those who have committed their way to and are Christ-followers – there is no need to be under circumstances; there is no reason at all why circumstances, either good or bad, should dictate our lives.\u00a0 Scripture says that we are “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37) and earlier in the same chapter that, “…all things work for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”\u00a0 (Romans 8:28)<\/p>\n As Shakespeare put it, “Ah, there’s the rub!”\u00a0 That last part, “…who are called according to His purpose” is key.\u00a0 If we are called according to His purpose,” then Christ is Master of our circumstances, so that no matter what happens, it will work out for His glory…which is the good.\u00a0 That doesn’t mean everything always works out the way we want or to the end to which we would say, “Man, that’s awesome,” yet it will work out to that which is THE good<\/em>.<\/p>\n Case in point.\u00a0 This morning, I read the following from a Christian newswire:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now, everything is not working out for what people would generally consider “good” for those who are being persecuted, yet when you look at the result, the Gospel is spreading and God is getting glory.\u00a0 Those very Christians facing the persecution are calling that “Good”!<\/p>\n There is a lady in the Bible that I always think of when I’m reflecting on this topic.\u00a0 It’s Esther.\u00a0 This was a simple Jewish girl taken in by the king of Persian to be his wife.\u00a0 It didn’t make much sense unless you simply write it off to the king liking the looks of a beautiful young lady.\u00a0 If you know the story, you remember that there was a plot to kill all of the Jews by a rat named Haman.\u00a0 As the story unfolds, there seems to be only one person who was in a position to do anything about it.\u00a0 Yep, our girl, Esther.<\/p>\n I wonder if she ever sat alone and night and, thought, “Why me, Lord? What is a simple Jewish girl like me doing as the Queen of Persia?”\u00a0 She probably did.\u00a0 We know<\/em> she did when everything started going bad as the plot was discovered and she was asked to approach the King on behalf of her people (which the king, at this time, didn’t know they were her people).\u00a0 She didn’t want to do it, knowing that to approach the king without being summoned could result in death, even for the queen.\u00a0 I love her cousin, Mordecai’s, response to her.\u00a0 He said, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.\u00a0 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.\u00a0 And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”\u00a0 Man, what incredible words of wisdom spoken!\u00a0 I have such admiration for this guy because not only did he have complete confidence that God would deliver, he spoke incredible words of wisdom to his queen cousin, giving testimony to God sovereignty through<\/em> circumstances!<\/p>\n The result?\u00a0 Queen Esther determined to bust up into the king’s court, declaring, “…if I perish, I perish.”\u00a0 She decided that she would not be ruled by her circumstances, but that God’s power<\/em> would cause her to rule over<\/em> her circumstances…and all the Jews were saved.<\/p>\n What are you doing with your circumstances?\u00a0 Are you saying, “Why me?” or “Why not?”\u00a0 Are you living under your circumstances or are you saying, “Lord, I don’t why you have allowed me to be in the place that I’m in, but I’m going to look for ways that I can bring glory to you, believing that you can use me to impact my world for Christ…and if I perish, I perish.”<\/p>\n\n